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At Christmas 1223, in the hamlet of Greccio, Francis of Assisi imagined a "real" Nativity scene. A cave, a manger, an ox, a donkey, villagers... The living nativity scene was born. The idea, inspired by the Holy Land, aimed to teach catechism through images and real-life experiences. Medieval accounts, from Thomas of Celano to Bonaventure, recount the emotion of that night and how the model spread throughout Christian Europe, from nativity scenes Italians to altarpieces from the 13th and 14th centuries. Very quickly, nativity scenes moved out of churches and into homes, while artisans produced more and more figurines and decorations. From Greccio to today's homes, the Christmas "scene" is a direct legacy of this Franciscan experience, a true educational revolution in the Middle Ages.