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This year we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy and for this occasion the 17th of March has been proclaimed a national holiday. Schools and public offices will be closed all over Italy but whether shops and restaurants close is up to the owners to decide.

There are events planned at all levels, in Florence and Tuscany and throughout Italy. In Florence, the city is organizing several initiatives to commemorate this important anniversary and at the same time involve all citizens in the celebration.

The night between March 16th and 17th will be a “Tricolor night” in honor of the white, red and green Italian flag. Many events will start at around 7 pm on Wednesday the 16th all over Florence, from special colored lighting of iconic buildings to open-air concerts.
For the occasion, all the city and state museums in Florence (including the Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia) will be open until 1 am.
Three central important Florentine squares have been designated to celebrate three Italian “talents”: the beautiful Italian language, art and craftsmanship.

- In Piazza Santa Croce the Italian language will be celebrated with public readings of Dante’s Divine Comedy. At 9pm within the beautiful Basilica of Santa Croce you can attend the concert by the Cherubini Conservatory.

- In Piazza Duomo, the celebration of Italian crafts starts at 7pm with stands that showcase the excellence of Florentine craftsmanship.

- Piazza della Signoria will be dedicated to Italian art. The Philharmonic Rossini will perform in front of Palazzo Vecchio starting at 8:30pm while at 10:30pm the square will host a performance by the dancers of Maggio Danza.

An occasion for a special vacation to Florence

The arrival of spring and these interesting events organized for the Unification of Italy offer a special occasion to spend a few days in Florence.

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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.

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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!

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Chianti wines from the Chianti Rufina DOC area around the town of Dicomano in Mugello met with great success at a recent presentation at Gross Umstadt, Dicomano’s sister city in Germany.

Both Fattoria il Lago and Frascole, two local wineries from Dicomano, went to Gross Umstadt to present six wines on a special dinner organized at a well-known city restaurant to promote the wines from Dicomano as well as other gastronomic products such as cheese and olive oil. The wines presented during the evening were: Chianti Rufina (Frascole and Il Lago), Chianti Riserva (Il Lago and Frascole), Venia (Frascole) and Vin Santo (Il Lago).

Each of the six wines were paired with Tuscan dishes especially prepared for the evening and tasting notes were presented by Enrico Lippi and Filippo Spagnoli, members of the two family-owned wineries. The public included wine producers from Gross Umstadt (famous for its own production of Riesling wine) as well as the mayor Joachim Ruppert expressed appreciation for the wines as well as the tasting notes by Lippi and Spagnoli.

Last year, local officials had announced the Vasari Corridor was closing for restoration, then in April we had the good news that it would continue to be open for a few more months. Tickets were very quickly sold out. Due to the popular demand, the Corridor was once again open from September until December 2010.

Several people have posted on our forum asking whether tickets were still available or whether the period was going to be extended. Restoration has yet to start, so once again we have some good news! The superintending body over the corridor has announced that it will be re-open from February 2 to April 15th, with 6 visits per week. You have to call Firenze Musei to book your visit at +39-055-294-883 (don’t worry, they do speak English).  The guided visit is in Italian but the guides when possible try to accommodation foreign language speakers. There will be two visits on Wednesdays and Fridays at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. and two on Thursdays at 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Tickets include entrance into the Uffizi Gallery and cost € 10,50 until March 7th, then the costs will rise to € 14 after from March 8 since an exhibition called “Figures, memories, space. Drawings from Fra Angelico to Leonardo” will open in the Uffizi Gallery. Remember to call and reserve your visit today!

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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Here we are. The countdown for toasting the new year, 2011, has started. Florence has prepared several events for all those wishing to celebrate in the city’s main squares. These are the main events and squares:

Piazza Santa Maria Novella:
In front of the Santa Maria Novella train station will be the main concert of the Italian band Elio e Le Storie Tese which will start around 11.45 pm. Before, at 9.15pm, there will be two Florentine bands, Ganzi and Hacienda. Then from 1.45 am there will be a DJ set with Lorelei, Pulse and Gianpaolo D’Amico.

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