FLORENCE: SAINT LAWRENCE FESTIVITY

The Florentine storic processionLike every year on 10th August, in quarter San Lorenzo in Florence, took place the celebration in honor of Saint Lawrence and the Church of which he is also a patron.

The procession, that here we show with some pictures, paraded on the streets in the city center to the Basilica of San Lorenzo (Saint Lawrence), the most antique in the city.

Loved through the centuries, by Lords and poor people, the Church was consecrated in 393 from Saint Ambrose.
The Church became famous thanks to Medici family who created there their own mausoleum ( Cappelle Medicee, in reality are the part of the monumental complex of San Lorenzo).

The festivity in the honor of the Saint, prince of martyr, has antique traditions: on 10th August, apart from costume procession (which takes place also nowadays on the day of San Lorenzo), there was also horse Palio, from Porta San Gallo to Borgo San Lorenzo and during the celebration Mass memorabilia of the Saint were exposed.

(more…)

Florence celebrates the festivity of its Patron

Firenze: I fochi di San GiovanniOn June 24th, like every other year, Florence celebrates the festivity of San Giovanni Battista, Saint Patron of the city. According to the tradition, it’s a day in which several festivities take place in Florence throughout the day, such as parades, the ’sbandieratori’ show, the Rowing Club competition along the river Arno, fireworks, the famous marathon called “Notturna di San Giovanni”, and to conclude the night, the famous fireworks (the ‘fochi di San Giovanni’) at around 9:00pm.

This year, however, the festivities will start a day before, on Saturday. On the 23rd of June there will be a couple of activities that you won’t want to miss: the Notturna di San Giovanni (marathon race) and “Nottarno” the white night in “Oltrarno” (the southern streets of Ponte Vecchio) that offers music, art shows and several amusement activities throughout its squares and quarters. For this special occasion, all restaurants will remain opened throughout the night with tables on the streets and squares. (download the program in pdf)

For the second year in a row, the final match of Calcio in Costume (football in costumes) has been cancelled. The famous Historic Florentine Football, was a peppy medieval version of football played in Santa Croce square. In fact, in 2006 the match was cancelled with a specific motivation: “The unjustify events that took place on the opening match of the 2006 edition, forced the Municipality of Florence to take action on this important sporting event.”

But this will not discourage Florentine people, as they are preparing themselves for a weekend full of festivities and events. And now, as customary, here we give you some curiosities you could eventually have missed or never heard.

(more…)