Christmas is the most favourable moment of the year to express and share the strength of goodness, of love given and received, above all within the family, among people who love one another.

In the magic of the Christmas spirit, we can all find in our hearts that precious ingenuity we had as children: that inclination towards goodness and sincerity that we need to nurture at every stage of life.

                                                                            Andrea Bocelli

The operatic tenor Andrea Bocelli has released a new Christmas album, on which he sings every song together with his son Matteo and daughter Virginia, entitled "A Family Christmas". Although Matteo (24) has not yet fully matured as a musician the way his father has, he strongly resembles him. Virginia, Andrea's 10-year-old daughter, on the other hand, brings a wonderful childlike innocence to the whole album. Though still a little girl, she shows a capacity for musical performance that her father should be proud of.

We are especially moved by the song "Il Giorno più Speciale". This song feels much more personal than the other songs on the album. A family singing together - it almost looks like an impromptu family sing-along on Christmas Eve.

"A Family Christmas" has only just been released, but work on it began several months earlier. "A summer Christmas is a little hard to imagine. First we filled the house with fully decorated Christmas trees", Andrea recalls. "We even tried turning the air conditioning up to the max, but summer stays summer... On the other hand, the music helped us get into the Christmas spirit earlier".

For Matteo, this was a new opportunity to collaborate with his father, following the success of the song "Fall on Me". "You always learn something with Dad", he says, also speaking on behalf of his 10-year-old sister Virginia: "In the studio we were all very free to record, each of us with our own emotions, but it's always good to have advice from someone with a 30-year career behind him, like our father".

But what happens at the Bocelli house on Christmas Day? Little Virginia explains: "First, we go to Mass. Afterwards we have tortellini for lunch, then panettone, … and then we open our presents". Then, after dinner, the last presents are unwrapped: "In the end everyone collapses! Because with all that panettone…", jokes Matteo.

Speaking again about Christmas, Virginia mentions "Il Giorno più Speciale": "This is the most beautiful day of the year, precisely because you're with family and friends." Virginia then reveals the most popular Italian saying for Christmas: "Christmas with your family, Easter with whoever you like".

Virginia, who charmed the world's greats - from American President Biden to Queen Elizabeth - with a duet with her father on Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, reveals further details of Christmas at the Bocelli house: "It's a special holiday, because an important person is born, Jesus, to whom we truly owe everything. And then, that's when it comes and brings God comes and brings gifts. At home we make both a nativity scene and a tree; besides that, we decorate some of the rooms. That way, at every moment, we remember that these are different days from the rest. This year, singing with my father and Matteo, I have to say I've felt Christmas approaching for several weeks already".

Virginia has her own particular taste when it comes to her favourite Christmas songs: "There are the traditional ones I listen to, often through my father's voice, ever since I was born. Then there are the ones I hear in church, and the ones I've come to know from film soundtracks".

Virginia has a special thought for less fortunate children too, for whom she wishes this Christmas: "that they can learn, that they can learn a great deal and recognise their talents and then pursue them. I'd like them to have enough food, and friends they can joke around with, and a family in which they feel loved. I hope they won't be sad, even if they lack everything I've wished for them. Because if they're alive, if they were born, it means every door can open, and happiness can come through those doors. So I wish for them to know how to be optimistic, to know how to hope, and for the grown-ups to hear them when they ask for help, to be respected, to be loved".

She has already received her best gift: "I really love to sing,  to play the piano and to do rhythmic gymnastics. These are the things I love doing, the things that make me feel free. Singing with my father and Matteo was really lovely. It took me some time to get used to having so many people in front of me, but essentially we sing for others above all. On this album, rather than learning new things about music, I realised more that, during a song, you need to listen to those singing along with you. I understood that we have to be present with our whole being when we make music, and know how to enjoy ourselves while we try to do something better".

Matteo explains what Christmas means to him. "It represents the moment when the family gathers together again and you see your closest friends. Specifically, it's the chance to be with my father, who since my childhood has often travelled all over the world". For Andrea Bocelli, Christmas also has a deep religious meaning: "We celebrate the birth of the Saviour, who, besides saving humanity, brought a revolutionary vision of the world which, if put into practice, would make it possible to create an earthly paradise".

He recalls childhood family Christmases: "When you're small, of course, your thoughts are closely tied to material traditions. At the same time, Dad was often away for work, and what pleased me most was the idea of having the whole family at home".

And Christmas songs have always brought the Bocelli family together: "In our house the traditional musical backdrop is Dad's album 'My Christmas' (2009). This year we'll probably add our new album  'A Family Christmas' too", explains Matteo.

"Il Giorno più Speciale" is a true hymn to goodness, for as we read the words and listen to the melody we feel as though we are carried off on some imaginary, yet real, journey, alive with an invitation for all of us to sing together, calling us to truly live out, to the full, the sense of peace and brotherhood that Christmas gives us: "I have received too much in life from Christmas. We hope our music will bring the spirit of Christmas into the homes of many families. I think there's nothing more beautiful than singing with your own children; I consider it a privilege", said Andrea.

Andrea adds: "What a miracle life itself is, how contagious and powerful! The power of goodness! Reflecting on how beautiful and great it is to do good, we can grasp this if we join our strength, if we fill ourselves with love, join hands and turn, in prayer and listening, in peaceful humility and gratitude, to the One who is the creator of this supreme wonder. The world belongs to those who work for the good, the world belongs to those who are passionate about life, who choose to be on the side of good, without fear of taking part in its making. For, it is worth recalling once again, as St Francis said, "we receive by giving, we find ourselves by forgetting ourselves.

The birth of Jesus is thus at the heart of both the Bocelli family's Christmas music project and their life: "There is a spiritual Christmas, my own personal one, and there is also the commercial one, which irritates me. Christmas represents a precious opportunity to reflect on the privilege, on the miracle of life (too often taken for granted), and on that immeasurable gift, faith, which restores to us the certainty of a future homecoming. But also for those who are still searching for faith, Christmas is the most favourable moment of the year to express and share the strength of goodness, of love given and received, above all within the family, among people who love one another. In the magic of the Christmas spirit, we can all find in our hearts that precious ingenuity we had as children: that inclination towards goodness and sincerity that we need to nurture at every stage of life".

This is what Andrea has tried to pass on to his children: "I think I've passed on the spiritual priority of Christmas to my children through a consistent attitude, through the example that Veronica and I have given them. Reflection on the religious meaning of Christmas is at the centre of our family conversations throughout the day. A day we always begin by taking part in Holy Mass".

Andrea,  alongside his wishes for peace and tranquillity, cannot help but say a word to those suffering because of the wars in the world, starting with the one in Ukraine: "This will be a sad Christmas for many, and a worrying one for everyone in the world. I hope that music will work a small miracle and lead us to reflect on the authentic values of Christmas. I believe that music, and art in general, is a gift from heaven that can speak to our spirit, make us better and, as Aristotle already said, 'change the moral character of the soul'. Music can be a support for the development of peace among people, and so can this album, precisely because of the intensity of the good that the individual themes of these songs can convey".

Pope Francis defined the Christmas of Jesus as "a feast of trust and hope": "I make the Holy Father's reflection my own, putting forward a message of trust in the human being, in his goodness and his intelligence, in his ability to choose the good at the right moment. I remain convinced that the greater part of humanity wants peace, non-violence".

On the other hand, living a spiritual life, holding a dialogue with one's own soul, is always an act of courage, Bocelli adds: "Everyone, without exception, can and must try to make their contribution, so that life may find its perfect expression. Is there a better occasion than Holy Christmas for finding inner peace and reflecting on the values we ought to cultivate, as well as the negative ones we ought to abandon? That is my wish; that is what we humbly wish to be remembered by, through this album: a small musical gift from a family, for families".