Events In Florence

ART - INTERNATIONAL CRAFTSMANSHIP FAIR
Fortezza da Basso
Viale Filippo Strozzi, 1 - Florence. Phone. + 39 055 49.721 - Fax: + 39 055 49.73.237
Features: You will be able to enjoy Florence at its best in Spring and take advantage of many opportunities from discounts on the admission ticket and meals to the playroom for small children to a bank window. There will also be an area dedicated to gastronomic delights where you can select delicious genuine specialities. A bookshop will also be there where you can browse and buy special publications, an area for meetings and talks on the craft, and a section dedicated to live demonstrations by master craftsmen.

FESTIVAL DEI POPOLI
Istituto Italiano per il Film di Documentazione Sociale ONLUS. Borgo Pinti 82 rosso - 50121 Florence. Phone: +39 055 244778 - Fax: +39 055 241364
Features: Florence film festival with international and Italian category.

FLORENCE BIENNALE
Fortezza da Basso, Viale Strozzi 1 - Florence. Phone: 055 463 3385 - Fax: 055 486 034
Features: It was started in 1997 by brothers Pasquale and Piero Celona as the need was felt for an important international venue that would make it possible for talented career artists to exhibit their latest works in a panoramic survey of contemporary art.

PITTI IMMAGINE
Florence hosts five fashion events that are among the most important in the international calendar; Pitti Immagine Uomo, Bimbo, Filati, Casa and ModaPelle.

FLORENCE GIFT MART
Fortezza da Basso, Viale Strozzi 1 Florence - Phone: 055 477 841 - Fax: 055 480 110
Features: The Fair aims to present to the public original objects suitable as gift items. The exhibition prides itself on attracting the most refined designers and creative experts in the field.

THE FLORENCE MARATHON
It's the fascination of centuries of arts, history and culture which accompanies you pass by pass along the 42,195 of the Florence Marathon. A unique event for thousands of sportsmen and of running fans coming from all over the world which takes place every year punctually at the end of November.

SCOPPIO DEL CARRO (Explosion of the Cart)
Easter Sunday. It takes place in front of the Cathedral. The ceremony is thought to be related to the cult of fire transmitted from ancient pagan to Christian culture. From very early times it was the custom to light a holy candle which was then taken in procession from the church of Santa Maria Sopra Porta to the Baptistery.
From the year 850 onwards, Pope Leo IV ordered that on Holy Saturday lighted torches should be distributed to all the worshippers. One of the men participating in the First Crusade (promoted by Pope Urban II) was Pazzino de' Pazzi, who after the conquest of Jerusalem brought back some stone splinters from the Holy Sepulchre. For centuries the Pazzi family were responsible for lighting the Easter flame and organizing the Carro until the middle of the 19th century, when the main line of the family died out.. The 16th century also saw the introduction of the Colombina - the dove - into the ceremony. In 1765 the Pazzi family donated a new cart to the city following the destruction of the old one. Even now the cart arrives in Piazza del Duomo on the morning of Easter Sunday drawn by a pair of white oxen and accompanied by a lively procession of trumpeters, flag-wavers and other people in traditional costume. The explosion takes place at twelve o'clock, following a ceremony that begins several hours earlier in the church of SS. Apostoli. The priest takes the ancient flints brought back from Jerusalem by Pazzino de' Pazzi and rubs them together to produce sparks to light the Easter candle, which in turn is used to light coals in a "fire holder". According to a popular legend, if there is some obstacle in the flight of the dove, the next harvest will be a meagre one. To guarantee that the show goes off successfully, a fireman hides inside the cart and, if the dove plays up, lights the fuse of the first cracker.

FESTA DELLA RIFICOLONA
"Ona, ona, ona, ma che bella rificolona. L'é più bella la mia di quella della zia. La mia l'é co' fiocchi, la tua l'é co' pidocchi". The feast of the Rificolona is one of the most celebrated feasts of Florence and it is celebrated on 7th September, the day before the religious feast of the Nativity of the Madonna. To reach Florence for the 8th of September, farmers and mountain dwellers set out a few days before with torces and lanterns to help them lit the country roads at night. The arrival of these people was an unusual sight for Florence and was an occasion for merriment and scorn by the bourgeois Florentine citizens towards the country folks due to their awkward clothing. The Florentine youth ended up calling the countryside women "ferucolone" for their large and prosperous bottoms. According to other historians, the feast was established to commemorate the conquest of Siena on the night of the 2nd August 1554.

CALCIO STORICO FIORENTINO
Piazza Santa Croce (Tel. 055-26.16.052). On 19, 24 and 28 of June three matches of this old sport are played in Piazza S. Croce where more than 500 between actors and players in sixteenth century costumes take part in this world famous celebration. The four teams represent the four historic districts of the city center.