Our Fontanini Nativity

What's so much fun about collecting Fontanini nativity figures and buildings? Their variety and the infinite ways you can expand your set! There are so many beautiful and fun buildings, set pieces and figures to add, including a Poultry Shop (complete with chickens), Olive Oil Press and Olive Merchant, a Flower Cart, Winemaker's Shop, Bethlehem Inn, Shepherd's Tent, Spice Shop, King Herod's Palace, City Walls, a Fishing Pond, Synagogue Building, Jewelry and Weaving Shop...the list goes on and on and on! You can add all kinds of animals to the set as well: camels, horses, cows, pigs, turkeys, cats, and sheep. Small accessory kits include child's toys and games, musical instruments, fruit baskets, vegetation native to Bethlehem and so much more. Many of the buildings and tents include small lights which make for a beautiful and dramatic scene in the evening, and there is even a fountain with running water you can add to your collection as well.

The figures themselves are each charming and so beautifully crafted. From baby Jesus and Mary to Roman Guards, villagers and shepherds each with their own name and story, and of course angels and kings there to celebrate the birth of Christ. Building a Fontanini scene can be a wonderful way to introduce a child to the story of Jesus and the Nativity, and inspire creativity and imagination with the many different ways you can build your Fontanini scene. We set up our own nativity on an old Italian cassapanca in our home collection, using then the storage boxes for the buildings and tents to expand it outward on several levels. We then covered them with white cloths, although this year we plan to build some more study stages for the set and use more of a desert-theme setting.