The Rificolona in Florence

Book a stay in Florence for 7th September 2009. The city will host the Rificolona, a celebration mainly for children, which is held on the eve of the Madonna’s Nativity, in Piazza Santissima Annunziata. Some people believe that the Rificolona stems from the arrival in Florence of the farmers and mountain populations from Casentino and Pistoia, looking to celebrate the religious event in the Florentine church and making the most of the possibility to sell their products at the fair held in the same square on 8th September.

The farmers had torches and lanterns with them for lighting their way into the city. The first “rificolone” (paper puppets with a light inside) were made by the inhabitants of Florence, inspired by those lanterns. Hanging from the windows of the houses, they managed to create an original and appealing environment. This is a historical and traditional event, that promotes and enhances and attachment of the inhabitants to their land.

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St. John's Day

On June 24, Florence celebrate the feast of St. John the Baptist, patron of the city, a day rich of interesting and involving events for both tourists and for the Florentines. Among the most fascinating folk events in Florence, this appointment also offers the tournament of "soccer in livery”, a competition that has its roots in the Medicean Age and that today takes place every year in Piazza Santa Croce, the day of St. John, among the four districts of the historic town: players of the district of S. Spirito form the team of "Whites", those of S. Maria Novella the "Reds", those of S. Croce the "Azures" and those of S. John the "Greens".

The event is preceded by a historic parade through the streets of the city and ends in the evening with the fireworks "i fochi".

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Firenze, Cradle of Renaissance

Is starting tomorrow the evocative exhibition "The origins of Renaissance", dedicated to research the roots of that artistic and cultural phenomenon of the fifteenth century that has deeply marked the history of Florence, Italy and the all the world, promoting a renewed interest on the humanities and for the Fine Arts.

The event, which will end next November 30, is patterned along a route very particular: it involves some locations immersed in the wonderful and green scenery of the Mugello (as San Piero a Sieve, Borgo San Lorenzo, Scarperia and Vicchio), which were among the first to witness the rebirth of culture after the obscurantism (real or assumed such) of the Middle Ages.

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The Shape of the Book

The rich variety of exhibitions, museums and galleries in Florence is really wide. From February 14 to July 31, the Medicea Laurentian Library proposes a new exhibition devoted to writing. The event, entitled "The Shape of the Book: from Roll to Code (3rd Century BC - 19th Century AD)", enables to discover the materials and the various tools used to write from Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century, both in the West and the East.

The exhibition is divided into two sections, one old and the other more recent, which are characterized by exposure of ancient pottery, fragments of papyrus rolls, wooden tablets, scrolls up to books made in medieval monasteries and rolls from China and Japan.

Info: www.bml.firenze.sbn.it

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Ludus in fabula

The Museo Archeologico Nazionale of Florence, with the collaboration of Istituto degli Innocenti presents the exhibition "Ludus in fabula. Games and images in antiquity", a journey through the History that Florence offers with the representation of life and games of children in the remote past of humanity. The large number of finds, mainly from the Collezioni Medicee and consisting of dolls and toys (also made with nuts and bones), is accompanied by a series of images of children during antiquity.

The exhibition is open from February 3 through June 2008 and is characterized by the free entrance.

Info: tel. 05523575

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