The Love Italy Guide № 009: La Befana

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On the night of 5 January, while most of Europe has packed Christmas away, an old woman in a headscarf and patched skirt is said to fly over Italy on a broomstick, dropping down chimneys to fill children’s stockings with sweets — or, for those who misbehaved, a lump of black “coal.” Her name is simply a worn-down version of Epifania, the Italian word for Epiphany, and for centuries she, not Santa Claus, was the one Italian children waited for. This is Guide № 009 in The Love Italy Guide series.

Who La Befana Actually Is

La Befana is the gift-bringer of the Epiphany, the feast the Catholic Church marks on 6 January to commemorate the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus. She arrives on the night of 5 January, the eve of the feast, which is a national public holiday across Italy. Unlike a jolly, red-suited figure, she is pictured as a bent old woman, wrapped in a shawl and a long skirt, often with a wart and a worn broom — closer in look to a storybook witch than to Babbo Natale.

The name itself tells the story of how she came to be. “Befana” is a corruption of Epifania (Epiphany), which passed through the dialect form Befania before settling into the figure we know. We should be clear that she is a folk character, not a saint or a scriptural person: she grew up alongside the religious feast rather than inside it.

The Legend of the Three Kings

The best-known story ties her directly to the Magi. As the three kings travelled to Bethlehem following the star, they are said to have stopped at the cottage of an old woman to ask the way. She gave them food and shelter but, busy with her sweeping, declined their invitation to come along and see the newborn child. Afterwards she regretted it, filled a basket with gifts, and set out to find the baby herself.

According to the tale, she never found him — and so, every year on the eve of the Epiphany, she visits every house with children, leaving a small gift in the hope that one of them might be the child she missed. The broom she rides is the very one she was sweeping with when the kings called, which is why she is so often shown with it.

How the Night Works

The ritual is domestic and simple. Children hang up a stocking — la calza — before bed on 5 January. In the morning, well-behaved children find it stuffed with sweets, chocolate, dried fruit and small toys, while those who misbehaved are left carbone, “coal.” In practice the coal is a bluff: it is almost always carbone dolce, a hard black sugar candy, and nearly every child gets a piece of it tucked in among the treats as a wink.

Many families leave something out for the Befana in return — commonly a mandarin or orange and a small glass of wine, and sometimes a broom so she can sweep the house. That sweeping is part of the meaning: she is traditionally said to sweep away the problems of the old year, clearing the way for the new one. The Epiphany also closes the Italian festive season, summed up in the rhyme “L’Epifania tutte le feste porta via” — Epiphany carries all the holidays away.

Where to See Her

The town most associated with her is Urbania, in the Marche region, which styles itself the official home of the Befana and hosts a national festival over the first days of January, complete with a “Casa della Befana” and a children’s post office for letters. The regional tourism board, Turismo Marche, lists it among the area’s winter events, as does Italy’s national portal, Italia.it.

In Rome, the long-running Epiphany market in Piazza Navona, documented by the city’s tourism office Turismo Roma, fills the square with stalls of sweets, toys and nativity figures through to 6 January. In Venice, the Reale Società Canottieri Bucintoro, the city’s oldest rowing club, stages the Regata delle Befane each Epiphany morning, when rowers dressed as the old woman race down the Grand Canal to a giant stocking hung at the Rialto Bridge.

Older Roots Beneath the Story

The Magi legend is Christian, but folklorists commonly argue that the figure carries older midwinter elements. She is frequently linked to pre-Christian traditions around the turn of the year — the idea of an aged woman who embodies the dying old year and is, in some accounts, symbolically burned in effigy on bonfires, a custom still kept in parts of northern Italy. The broom, the sweeping-away of the old, and the timing around the solstice are all often read as survivals of agrarian renewal rites layered under the feast.

We’d stress that these origins are interpretations rather than settled fact. What is certain is that the Befana was, for generations of Italian families, the main gift-giver of the season — and in many households she still shares the job with Babbo Natale rather than having been replaced by him.

Myths Worth Retiring

Myth: La Befana is a sinister witch. She looks the part, but she is a benevolent household figure. Her broom is traditionally a tool for sweeping away the troubles of the old year, not an emblem of sorcery.

Myth: Naughty children are really punished with coal. The “coal” today is carbone dolce, a sugar candy, handed out playfully — most children find a lump of it regardless of how they behaved.

Myth: She is just an Italian version of Santa Claus. She is a distinct tradition tied to the Epiphany on 6 January, not Christmas, and in much of Italy she long predated the widespread adoption of Babbo Natale.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does La Befana come?

She arrives on the night of 5 January, the eve of the Epiphany, and children open their stockings on the morning of 6 January, which is a public holiday in Italy.

Is La Befana the same as Father Christmas?

No. She is a separate figure tied to the Epiphany rather than to Christmas Day. Today many Italian children receive gifts from both Babbo Natale on 25 December and the Befana on 6 January.

What do children actually find in their stockings?

Typically sweets, chocolate, dried fruit, mandarins and small toys, plus a piece of black sugar “coal.” The coal is the traditional sign for having misbehaved, but it is usually given to everyone as a joke.

More The Love Italy Guides

The Love Italy Guide is a numbered series — one tightly focused subject at a time, each with its own downloadable collectible edition. Guide № 001 is Fresh Pasta, Guide № 002 is Ferragosto, Guide № 003 is Espresso, Guide № 004 is Italian Hand Gestures, Guide № 005 is La Passeggiata, Guide № 006 is Limoncello, Guide № 007 is Italian Opera Tradition, Guide № 008 is Murano Glass, This is Guide № 009. More editions are on the way.

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