Italy Advisor

If you want to go to Florence and explore Toscana, just take a last minute flight and go!!! But to see what? Let`s  check it out together.

First stop during the first week of September will be the famous “Palio di San Rocco” in Figline Valdarno, a small village located about 30 kilometers south-east of Florence. It is one of the first “palio” competitions in Tuscany, which includes almost five days of medieval competitions such as jousting, archery, and a horse race.

If you’ll come around on September 6 and 7 , a beautiful outdoor Feast of Rificolona is waiting for you: one of the oldest festivals in Florence! This particular festivity is also celebrated in other parts of Tuscany on September 7. The Festa della Rificolona is also known as the Festival of the Lanterns. On this day, people commemorate the eve of the birth of the Virgin Mary, though probably the festival became an important event after Florence’s victory over Siena in 1555. Young lad and older persons take part in a lantern parade, where hundreds of mostly hand-made lanterns are displayed. Fantastic will be also the boat parade along the Arno. The festival is enriched by a large fair in Piazza Santissima Annunziata: a plenty of street performers, food vendors, music, and more.

Late September or early October at Palazzo Corsini, you will enjoy also the “Mostra Mercato Internazionale dell’Antiquariato”, a prestigious biennial antiques fair. A special occasion for  serious collectors to be in Florence! A number of other cultural programs takes places during the time of the fair, such as musical performances and galas.

On September 13 if you reach Lucca, you will join the Luminara di Santa Croce, a beautiful torchlight parade made in honour of the “Volto Santo”, that is the “Holy Face” wooden crucifix figure. It is usually kept in the cathedral, but on this day it  is showed around by torchlight. The city is lighted with thousands of candles  as the parade goes through Lucca’s historic center at night.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 1st, 2011 at 8:00 pm and is filed under Events in Italy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.