Since 2002, Jesolo has celebrated Christmas with the Sand Nativity, an event that attracts thousands of visitors every year thanks to its extraordinary sand sculptures created by artists from all over the world.

For the 2025 edition, the theme is inspired by Canticle of the Creatures by St. Francis, eight hundred years after its composition: a universal message that unites interreligious dialogue, reflection on the care of our “Common Home,” and a focus on integral ecology, in line with the principles of the encyclical Laudato si’ by Pope Francis.

The works on display will guide visitors on a journey that evokes the historical reality of St. Francis’s time, reflects on today’s environmental challenges, and offers a vision of harmony between humanity and nature. Among the installations is also a tactile sculpture designed for the visually impaired and for anyone curious to experience direct contact with the sculpted sand.

As is tradition, the event will support charitable projects: since 2004, thanks to visitors’ donations, over 1.12 million euros for humanitarian initiatives around the world.

Key dates

• Tensile structure installation: starting October 14, 2025
  
  
• Sand compaction: October 20–31, 2025
  
  
• Sculpture: November 6–19, 2025
  
  
• Opening: Monday, December 1, 2025, at 6:00 p.m.
  
  

Exhibition opening

From November 29, 2025, to February 8, 2026

Hours:

• Monday–Friday 9:30 AM–12:30 PM and 2:30 PM–7:30 PM
  
  
• Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays: 9:30 a.m.–7:30 p.m. (open all day)
  
  
• December 21–January 6: 9:30 a.m.–7:30 p.m. (open all day)
  
  

Side events

• December 1, 2025, 3:30 p.m.: conference on interfaith dialogue with representatives of the major religions and students from Montale High School and the Cornaro Hotel Management School.
  
  

Late January 2026: a meeting titled “Creation as Seen Through the Rules That Govern It,” featuring students and physicists.