What Rome’s Official Christmas Tree Says About Italy

Last year’s tree arrived half-dead, shedding needles and nicknamed Spelacchio (“Mangy”) — yet people grew so fond of it that they attached handwritten notes to it and created a Spelacchio Twitter account. This year’s tree is 65 feet tall, lush, covered with 60,000 lights, and sponsored by Netflix. (The ornaments have red Ns on them.) Journalist Ilaria Maria Sala argues that this is all too fitting. — The New York Times