Discover Tuscany’s Blog: exploring Tuscany and all its hidden corners…

Starting January 17, the Vasari Corridor will once again be open for special visits. This is a wonderful opportunity to get into and view the special art collection along the corridor, as well as experience the view of Florence as the Medici saw it! The special visits are offered directly by the Superintendance of the Florence State museums several times a week up until April 27 at a very low rate of € 10,50 per person.

The visits are for small groups of less than 5 and are perfect for couples. They are, unfortunately, only in Italian, but if you don’t mind this or know a bit of Italian, this is the best way to get into the Corridor as it isn’t open all of the time nor to everyone. The only way to generally see the inside of the Corridor is with tour groups that cost from € 80-100 per person, so this opportunity is really good for this reason.

To reserve your spot (better do so quickly as they often get booked quickly), you need to call +39-055-294-883. Days for the visits are: Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9am and 11:30am; Wednesdays and Fridays at 2pm and 4:30pm.

Learn a little more about the Vasari Corridor here.

The Cavalcata dei Magi – Cavalcade of the Magi
from Palazzo Pitti to the Duomo
Parade starts at 14.30 from Piazza Pitti

This Friday, January 6, Florence celebrates the Epiphany with the great cavalcade of the Magi! The Three Kings bringing their gifts to a baby Jesus in the manger where he was born is set up in front of the Duomo and their symbolic arrival into Bethlehem is accompanied with a large parade in historical costume paying tribute, with over 500 participants from all over Tuscany and Italy. There are ladies and lords, knights, country folk, soldiers and much more! The Sbandieratori or flag-throwing company of the Uffizi enchants the public with their skills in throwing and waving their flags along the way and in Piazza della Signoria.

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Hope you all had a wonderful New Year’s Eve and that 2012 is off to a great start!

Here are some of our pictures from some of the piazzas and musical concerts in downtown Florence. It was a bit chaotic – it was fun and great to see so many people out on the streets celebrating!

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So once again this weekend we have another holiday coming up: New Year’s Day! Practically everything will be closed on Sunday, even those museums usually open on that day.

Like last weekend, on New Year’s Eve most everything will be open but closing about an hour earlier than usual. This includes the Uffizi and Accademia.

So after your late-night celebration on New Year’s Eve (see our post from yesterday offering suggestions of what to do), you might want to sleep in a bit on Sunday. No problem at all! But eventually you’ll get hungry and then after a meal you might want to do something in the afternoon, like see a little more of Florence .

Don’t despair – not everything is closed!
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Many of you will be celebrating Christmas in Florence and seeing your questions on our forum, we know you want to know what to do – and what you can do – particularly on December 25 when all museums will be closed. Did you know that December 26 is also a national Italian holiday?

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The next few days will see Florence under some very special lighting! The Firenze Light Festival, or F-LIGHT for short, will run from December 8-11 and will see the monuments in Piazza Signoria, Ponte Vecchio, Piazza Pitti, Ponte Santa Trinita’, the Santa Maria Novella Piazza and Piazza della Repubblica all lit up in various ways. From highlighting their geometric shapes to artistic installations, make sure to walk around after dark and take the city in a whole different light! We’ll try to go out and take some pictures to share with you in the next few days

Additionally, tomorrow December 8 the Christmas tree in Piazza Duomo will be officially lit up by Florence’s major, Matteo Renzi. It will be a magical night to walk around the city and enjoy your holiday shopping or just the season!

If you’ve walked anywhere in downtown Florence over the last few days, you’ve seen the Christmas lights appearing all over the city while shop displays have put up their Christmas decorations a few weeks ago. Tomorrow is December 1st: the holiday season is definitely here! If you’re looking for a special gift to take back home with you or just take in the holiday atmosphere, head to one of the following events dedicated to the holiday season.

Christmas Market – Piazza Santa Croce

November 30 – December 18 Every day, 10am-8pm Starting today, head to Piazza Santa Croce to travel to the traditional German/European Christmas markets – lots of ideas of gifts as well as warm wine and cider, bratwurts, crepes and more to snack on. The market continues until the 18th of the month.

Fierucola dell’Immacolota and di Natale – Piazza Santo Spirito

December 8 and 18 All day Every month on the 3rd Sunday of the month, you’ll find the Fierucola in Piazza Santo Spirito. All of the participating merchants are small family businesses that are dedicated to seeing high quality products: you’ll find organic produce, sauces, honeys, handmade items and much more. In December, aside from the Christmas one that falls on December 18th, you’ll also find a special edition dedicated to Virgin on December 8th but in Piazza della SS Annunziata, not in Piazza Santo Spirito.

Christmas in Town – Via delle Cascine

December 7-11 Every day, 10am-10pm December 11: 10am-9pm Market with lots of Christmas items and toys, a Santa Claus with his elves, a play area for children and lots of places where you’ll be able to eat local dishes and products as well as local “fast food”. There will be a lottery and shows where children can participate – fun for the family!

Ice Skating in Florence – Parterre, Piazza della Libertà

November 26 – January 8, 2012 Every day, 10am-11.30pm Fridays-Sundays open until 1am This week the ice skating rink at the Parterre opened up to allow all of us in Florence to enjoy some fun on the ice! The large central area is made into a large rink to hold up to 200 skaters. If you don’t have ice skates, don’t worry, you can rent them for € 6. If you’re looking for something to do on New Year’s Eve, a special party will be organized to welcome 2012! We hope you have a great December in Florence!

From September 29, 2011 to April 15, 2012
Palazzo Medici Riccardi – Museo Stibbert – Museo Bardini – Museo Horne – Museo Salvatore Romano – Palazzo Davanzati – Fondazione Salvatore Romano – Museo Bandini – Museo Casa Rodolfo Siviero

Florence’s network of “Small Great Museums” has set a pretty spectacular offer for visitors to Florence over the next 6 months that will give visitors the chance to see a great deal of treasures off the beaten path for most visitors to Florence. Each museum has its special collection, many of them the personal collections of antiques collectors from the 19th century, the treasures they decided to keep instead of selling or auctioning around the world. These collections now are part of small, separate museums such as the Horne, Bardini and Stibbert – all named after the collectors themselves.

From now until April 15, the museums are showing off their collections with a special focus on the Florentine artistic craftsmanship and the golden era of when private antiques collectors in Florence were very active.

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The Opera del Duomo, the body that owns and manages the religious buildings in Piazza del Duomo, including the cathedral, the climb up the bell tower and the cupola, entrance into the Baptistery, the crypt under the cathedral and the beautiful Opera del Duomo Museum introduced a few weeks ago a various combination tickets to make it just a bit easier to visit these monuments.

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We’d like to share our shots from the parade in historical costume that made its way through Florence’s historical center on Friday in celebration of St. John the Baptist, Florence’s patron saint. The parade made its way to Piazza Santa Croce, accompanying the players of the Blue team from Santa Croce and the White team from San Frediano that were disputing the final match. The Blue team won – here are some newspaper shots of the game and of the victory celebrations.

The parade is a bright and colorful affair, with soldiers, guards, nobles and ladies in their fine clothes, drummers, cannons, flag throwers and much more! We love the colors, hope you enjoy the pictures if you weren’t able to see them in person yet!

View more photos of the historical parade in Florence »