December arrives heralding a month of joyful excitement and the Cattolica Aquarium is preparing to welcome it in celebration, opening to the public on 7 and 8 December, every Sunday in December and every day from 26 December to 6 January 2025, with themed displays and curious characters that seem to come straight out of a Christmas storybook.
The fascinating Underwater Nativity Scenes are back: the Cattolica Aquarium interprets the Italian tradition in an evocative way, with a series of underwater Nativities, including the "Christmas of the Sea", a work created by master ceramist Maria Cristina Sintoni, on display in the large central tank, where Italy's largest bull sharks swim in 700,000 litres of sea water.
An ideal destination even in the cold winter, the Cattolica Aquarium can be visited indoors. The experience covers four itineraries included in the same ticket: Blue, dedicated to marine life, with thousands of species including Humboldt penguins, bull sharks, and colourful species of fish; Green, which houses the reptile house; Yellow, dedicated to river ecosystems, with otters and caimans.
A fourth path, the Purple, hosts the educational and informative exhibition 'Giant Insects XXL Edition', with giant resin reproductions of insects, some enlarged up to 200 times.
Animal feeding takes place every day, appointments open to the public, guided by experts, included in the visit.
For the more curious, there are the Incontri Straordinari: guided tours with limited number of visitors, led by experts, to be booked on the spot: "Dietro le Quinte" takes visitors to the places of the experts, "I segreti del rettilario" goes in search of the mysterious world of reptiles. On festive days there will be a free children's make-up session for young visitors.
The Cattolica Aquarium is open from 10.30 am to 6.30 pm. Tickets can be purchased at the ticket offices from 10am to 4.30pm, or online, saving money, or in combination with the other Costa Edutainment parks Oltremare in Riccione and Italia in Miniatura in Rimini. For more information, the website is www.acquariodicattolica.it