A giant lit Christmas tree was seen floating on Trasimeno Lake in Italy this week, delighting tourists and locals during the holiday season.
It is the world’s largest floating Christmas tree, according to those who designed it, and tourists came to Castiglione del Lago from all around the country to admire it.
“For me, it’s beautiful, it’s already the third year that we come”, Emma Pasquini said. “We came for the first time before the pandemic and then we came back this year.”
“It really makes you feel the spirit of Christmas”, added her husband Emilio Pasquini.
The tree is made of one hundred and sixty five 9-metre supporting poles, seven kilometres of electric cable, 2,600 perimeter lights, and it’s over one kilometre long.
More than 100 volunteers took part in this project, which started in 2019.
“It is a really complicated and huge job,” the President of Castiglione del Lago’s events association, Marco Cecchetti, told Reuters. However, he stressed that “it’s a green tree because it consumes only a little more than 10 kW.”
In addition, the energy to light the project comes from certified renewable sources, a unique example in Italy, according to project organisers.
The tree needs daily checks, small and large-scale maintenance, but so far, only seven bulbs out of 2,600 have been replaced by volunteers since the project was launched.
The nearby Christmas Village of Lake Trasimeno also features a monumental nativity scene and stands where people can enjoy hot drinks and admire the floating tree from a distance.
People visiting the Christmas Village must have their COVID-19 health pass checked before accessing the area, which can host 300 people at a time.
