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

Anyone who will be spending New Year’s Eve in Florence and wants to spend the last night of the year outside can choose from four different free performances.

In the main square right in front of Santa Maria Novella train station a rock concert will take place starting from 9.00 pm where great Italian singers Irene Grandi, Lucio Dalla and the Negrita will be performing. After them there will be a DJ set going on until 2.00 am. Irene Grandi (Florentine singer) and the Negrita (Tuscan rock band) are both Tuscan musicians and are loved by mostly young people, while Lucio Dalla (singer from Bologna) is generally more appreciated by a more grown up crowd.

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Everyone loves Christmas. I think Florence is magical during this time of the year. Maybe because of the thousands of lights along the streets, maybe because of  the nice Christmas decorations in the shops – or maybe because I got married in December .  I love Florence at Christmas time.

Starting from Piazzale Michelangelo, you can admire a breathtaking view of Florence that looks like a postcard. When it’s dark, everything lights up and you can see the Christmas trees and decorations in homes through the windows. Coming down into the city and crossing the Arno, you can feel that Christmas is all around. This year the municipality of Florence lit up all the avenues with thousands of blue Christmas lights which warm the atmosphere from Piazza Beccaria to Fortezza da Basso.

Most of the streets in the city center are also decorated and illuminated for Christmas. Via dei Calaziuoli is fabulously decorated with thousands of lights set as a rich drapery – it looks like the Red Carpet! Even smaller streets such as via della Condotta and others are illuminated by colorful lights shaped as snowflakes or falling snow. Then in Piazza della Repubblica stands a grand Christmas tree near to the characteristic merry-go-round for children. The shops and their windows are also embellished by Christmas decorations as well as Christmas trees decorated with various trimmings and colorful lights. Florence is just missing Santa’s bells to be perfect.

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Joust Tournament

We spent this last weekend around Monteriggioni since its medieval fair has become one of our favorite summer events. We took advantage to visit the area as well, visiting Colle Val d’Elsa and we’ll soon post about what we saw there.

“Monteriggioni di Torri si Corona” or “Monteriggioni Crowned by Towers” (the phrase comes from Dante Alighieri) is a medieval fair that takes place over two long weekends every July in this beautiful castle near Siena. The castle, very well conserved, is a pleasure to visit and ideal setting for recreating past eras.

It is easy to go back to the Middle Ages when surrounded by the large defensive walls and giant towers, walking amidst knights in armor, minstrels, musicians and tables set up to illustrate medieval crafts. A step back to medieval times is always fascinating, not least because it offers the possibility of being centuries away from our responsibilities of daily life especially once we turn off our cell phones .

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It’s time for one of our favourite events in Tuscany: the medieval festival of Monteriggioni. Monteriggioni is a beautiful medieval castle with giant towers near Siena. It has been the setting of several medieval battles between the armies of Florence and Siena, and it’s the perfect location to recreate medieval times.
The festival started last weekend on the 3d of july, we will be going this friday (10th) and saturday, maybe on sunday too for the last day. Learn more about the festival on the official site of “Monteriggioni di Torri si Corona” .
This video, from last year’s edition, shows a reenactement of the medieval battle during the siege of the castle by the Florentines, in 1526. Unfortunately the audio of the first part is only in Italian!

I have finally edited and uploaded on our Youtube channel a video of this year’s Regatta of San Ranieri. It was a little bit long to wait in the sun for over an hour, anyway here you have it all in less than 5 minutes . You can find more info on the Regatta here on our article.

If you were in downtown Florence in the area around the Duomo or Piazza della Signoria this past Saturday afternoon, you likely encountered a parade in historical costume, drums, flag throwers and even a cannon! This procession went from the Palagio di Parte Guelfa to the Duomo to meet a large cart full of wine bottles before continuing on to Piazza della Signoria. If you saw all of this you might also have wondered what exactly was going on. What you witnessed is the welcome by Florence of the “carro matto” (crazy cart) from the nearby wine producing town of Rufina!

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We just got back from the year AD 1398 as did the hundreds of people that attended the medieval festival in Volterra this past weekend, the city’s largest annual event. We also got back to work after our short holiday, and that made it especially hard to return to modern times!

On Sunday August 24th for an entire day for a small fee of 9 euros we entered medieval Volterra and we were able once again to imagine how it was to live in that age.

Read more about our day in medieval Volterra »

This Sunday August 17 and next Sunday August 24 in Volterra enjoy a recreation of a medieval town with craftsmen, musicians, jugglers, and people dressed in period clothing as either common people or noblemen. This year the festival takes place inside the city walls in the park by the fort that affords more space than the past editions held in just the central streets around Piazza dei Priori.

Read more on Volterra AD 1398, a day in the Middle Ages

The pop visionary David La Chapelle opened his photographic exhibit last week at the Forte Belvedere and the evening was unfortunately marked by a tragic event: Veronica Locatelli, 37 years old, suffered a fatal 8 meter fall from one of the bastions of the fortress. A tragic incident for which we wish to express condolences to the Locatelli family. The fortress was closed for a few days after the accident.

If you will be in Florence between now and October 16, you can visit the extraordinary exhibit of over 100 photographs that present and critique a consumerist, individualist America. A student of Andy Warhol, La Chapelle worked for magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair and the New York Times Magazine. He has also been sought after for provocative portraits by celebrities, including Madonna, Naomi Campbell, David Bowie and Paris Hilton.

The exhibit illustrates La Chapelle’s decision to turn his work into art. You can read more at www.davidlachapelle.it. The entrance fee to the exhibit is 8 euros.