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The night between April 30 and May 1, 2011 in Florence will be a fun “notte bianca”, a “white” all-night arts festival all around the city.
This year, the city of Michelangelo’s David will live a long sleepless night with special opening of several museums until midnight and entertaining events lasting until the early hours of the morning.

Palazzo Vecchio will be open all night until 6am with guided visits to the walkway of the Tower of Arnolfo available.

The Uffizi Gallery, Palazzo Strozzi (where the exhibition dedicated to Picasso, Mirò and Dalì is currently taking place), the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, the Marino Marini Museum, the Castle of Acciaioli in Scandicci (with an ongoing exhibition to the Ghirlandaio artistic family) and many other art sites will be open until midnight with free admission.

See a map of all the Florence museums and sites with special opening: Open museums – Map

Read about open air events »

Just a few days to Easter and Easter celebrations throughout Tuscany start tomorrow, Holy Friday.

Friday 22 and Saturday, April 23

According to Christian tradition, the Friday before Easter, called Holy Friday, commemorates the Passion and Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. For the occasion, many Tuscan cities organize processions and small religious celebrations.
In Castiglion Fiorentino (Arezzo), tomorrow night (Friday), more than one hundred people will recreate the main scenes of the last days of Christ until his crucifixion. On the following day, a statue of Jesus will be rushed in a procession to the Collegiata Church for the midnight mass.
In San Gimignano, Chianciano Terme, Seravezza, Grassina and Montespertoli – just to mention some of main events – the streets will be the backdrop to the religious processions and celebrations organized by the inhabitants.

In Florence, in the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, on Friday at 5.30pm the Passion of Christ and Adoration of the Cross will be commemorated. On Saturday at 10.30pm there will be a vigil of the holy night for Easter.

Continue reading more about Easter celebrations and museum openings »

Trees are in bloom, the sun is shining bright and temperatures are very pleasant: Spring has finally arrived in Tuscany!

Take a look at all the events organized in Tuscany for this first weekend of Spring, the calendar is full of many various types of proposals.

It starts with VerdeMura, an exhibition of plants, flowers, garden furniture and products organized within the town-walls of Lucca. The exhibition starts today and continues until Sunday 27.

Then several events dedicated to sweets or flea markets and antiques. While sports fans, particularly motorbike-lovers, will have the chance to participate in the Mugello Motor Fest at the Mugello International Circuit in Scarperia. On Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 visitors can also have the chance to test bikes by the most famous worldwild motorcycle manufacturers. You’ll find all the information on the official website of event.

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Here is a more detailed program of what is going on in Florence tonight in celebration of 150 years since the unification of Italy, called Notte Tricolore, or Tricolor Night in honor of the Italian flag!

Piazza Signoria
19.00 Concert by the Orchestra a Plettro Ottocento Toscano
19.30/22.00 Artistic exhibit by the Accademia delle Belle Arti di Firenze
20.30 Concert by the Orchestra Filarmonica Gioacchino Rossini
21.00 Show “Viva l’Italia” by Aldo Cazzullo inside the Salone dei Cinquecento in Palazzo Vecchio, in collaboration with the Teatro Stabile di Verona
21.30 Parade in historical costume by the Florentine Republic with flag throwing exhibition by the Bandierai degli Uffizi
22.00 Performance by the MaggioDanza
00.30 Fireworks from Palazzo Vecchio

Piazza Duomo
19.00/02.00 The song of the Elements. Florentine artisan for the Italian flag – high quality workshops and lab workshops will be hosted in the square by the Fondazione di Firenze per l’Artigianato Artistico in collaboration with CNA Firenze, Confederazione Nazionale Artigianato Piccola e Media Impresa, Confartigianato Imprese Firenze.

Piazza S. Croce
19.00 Gira l’Italia: activities for families with children by the Laboratorio d’arte of the Palazzo delle Esposizioni e Scuderie from the Quirinale in Rome
19.00/00.00 Là dove ‘l sì suona. Azioni sulla Divina Commedia will be readings from the Divine Comedy by All’improvviso Dante – 100 verses for Florence
19.30/22.00 “Alla ricerca del fiorentino d’oggi” by the dell’Accademia della Crusca
20.30 Gira l’Italia: activities for families with children by the Laboratorio d’arte of the Palazzo delle Esposizioni e Scuderie from the Quirinale in Rome
21.00 Lo stravizzo delle parole. Linguistic games with Emanuele Baldi by the dell’Accademia della Crusca
23.00 Music concert by Funk Off and Sound Street Band

More events
Both the Museum in Palazzo Vecchio and all of the State museums (including Uffizi and Accademia) will be open until 1.00 a.m.
Show “Notte italiana” by Maurizio Scaparro at the Teatro della Pergola at 21.00
Organ concert by the Conservatorio di Musica L. Cherubini in Basilica S. Croce at 21.00
Concert by the military corps of the Italian Red Cross at the Conservatorio di Musica L. Cherubini at 21.00
Palazzo Aperto: exhibits and music by the Tuscany Regional Council in Palazzo Panciatichi e Bastogi from 20.00/01.00
Fanfare by the Associazione Nazionale Bersaglieri-Sezione Aldo Marzi of Florence at 21.30
Film on the Italian unification by Regione Toscana and Fondazione Sistema Toscana

Enjoy the celebrations! And remember March 17 is a holiday but State museums will be open and the following will have special exhibits: Bargello, Costume Gallery, Modern Art Gallery, Petraia Medici Villa, Poggio a Caiano Medici Villa, Castello Medici Villa garden and the Orsanmichele museum (generally closed).

Spring will arrive in less than 20 days but we had some really cold days during this week in Tuscany. The weather forecast for the weekend fortunately is pretty good and it seems we’ ll have rising temperatures in all the region.

This weekend precedes March 8, date that this year on which we’ll celebrate both Fat Tuesday (the last day of carnival before Ash Wednesday) and International Women’s Day.

To celebrate International Women’s Day, women have free entrance to all State museums and places of art in Tuscany (this initiative, promoted by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, is valid for all State museums in Italy).

Throughout this weekend, March 5 and 6, celebrations of Carnival will continue which end this year on Tuesday the 8th. You can find a selection of major events dedicated to Carnival in this other post we dedicated to the events of Carnival 2011 in Tuscany.

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Piazza della Repubblica in Cortona

Counting on good weather, this weekend is certainly dedicated to enjoy Carnival and its masked parades. There are many nice events all around Tuscany and we have collected a list here in a post devoted exclusively to this Carnival 2011.

If you’ re not going to participate in one of the many festivals or parades in masks, you can choose to visit “Danza in Fiera” in Florence, a large event dedicated to dance, or the Chocolate Festival in Scandicci or maybe one of the antique markets around Tuscany happening this weekend.

Some details on the dance fair: Florence is hosting “Danza in Fiera“, a great dance festival organized in the Fortezza da Basso, from Thursday 24 to Sunday, February 27. Dance events, free classes, workshops and more for all lovers of dance. View the full program here.

Read full article >>

Tuscany is preparing to celebrate the Carnival with many amusing events organized in next weeks in the main cities as well in the tiny villages of the region.
From the great and famous Carnival parades in Viareggio to the events in smaller towns, such as the Carnival at Mugello in Dicomano or San Gimignano, there are a lot of funny and colorful appointments for both adults and children.

Viareggio and its famous allegoric floats

Viareggio offers one of the most famous Carnival parade in Italy. Its allegorical floats in paper mache animate every year the seaside avenues of the city, well known as “La Passeggiata”.
On Saturday 19 a cerimony will officially open this Viareggio Carnival 2011. The real parades will take place around 3 pm on Sunday 20 and 27 of February, March 6 (Sunday) and Thursday 8. The final parade on March 13 will start at 5pm. The events required entry tickets.The Viareggio Carnival is really a funny (a bit crowded) event, enjoy a short video of one of its past masked parade.

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The weekend before St. Valentine’s Day, this year falling on Monday, has chocolate as one of its best protagonists. Love and chocolate are a perfect match, are they not?!

There are 3 chocolate-flavored events in Tuscany this Saturday and Sunday, February 12 and 13:

In Fiesole, a short distance from Florence’s historical center, on Sunday you’ll find the “Chocolate Festival”. The stands, located on the central Piazza Mino, will offer specialties prepared by master chocolatiers from all over Italy.

Piazza Santa Croce, in the historical center of Florence, hosts until Sunday the sweet temptations of the “Chocolate Fair”. The large square is animated by many stands full of sweets proposed by Italian and international master chocolatiers.

From this Friday until Sunday in Livorno you’ll find the sixth edition of the handmade chocolate festival called Chocolandia. Confectioners will involve visitors in tastings, new recipes and tips about chocolate.

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The weekend is about to start – weather forecasts are for splendid weather with spring-like temperatures – what better news to start off the weekend?

This weekend offers many events both in Florence and Tuscany for all tastes and for all, from food fairs for foodies (that’s a mouthful!) to antiques markets to the feline expo in Pisa to several Carnival “previews”. I’ve organized events by type, let’s get planning where to go!

Continue reading »

During the past few days, Tuscany has enjoyed an amazing climate: high temperatures reached about 15°C (59 °F) and it seemed to already be spring time!
But it’s still January and over the next few days, the weather forecast predicts a heavy fall in temperatures. Anyway, the weekend is almost here and it’s rich of interesting events in which to take part of.

To prompt our blog readers to get out of the warmth of their homes or rooms, here are some of the most interesting events in Tuscany and Florence we recommend this weekend:

Antiques Markets:

- In Viareggio (Lucca) throughout the weekend, January 22 and 23, visit “Il Tarlo al Mare”, an antiques markets organized every month in Piazza Campioni.

- Prato on January 23 awaits all antiques-lovers and collectors at the market “Collezionare in Piazza”, organized in Piazza San Francesco.

- On Sunday 23, the street of the historical center of Montevarchi will be filled with the stands of the market called “Mercato di Via dei Musei” offering antiques, collector’s items and handicrafts.

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