Photo by James A. McBride
Ermelinda Sgro of Glassboro shops for Nativity figurines in Italy every year
GLASSBORO — In July Ermelinda Sgro will be traveling to Italy again, as she does every year, to pick up more figurines — particularly a comet — to add to her rather elaborate Nativity scene she assembles each Christmas.
“I can’t find a comet here,” she said.
Ermelinda, a pharmacist, came here from her native Naples in 1962 and set up her practice. “Figurines are made in many parts of Italy but the best are from Naples and Sicily,” she said.
“Mary and Joseph couldn’t find a place to eat or rest. They were sent away. And the baker is there making bread, the bread of life.”