19, 20 and 21 November: what to do this weekend in Florence
A weekend full of events, some already with a Christmas flavor, ranging from art to shopping. Here are our tips.
Festivals
The Tortello, truffle and ancient flavors of Mugello festival will take place in Vicchio until November 28th. From Thursday to Sunday for five weekends you can eat traditional dishes: potato tortelli, handmade tagliatelle with Tuscan ragù, truffle or porcini and again tripe, loin, lampredotto, onion soup, boiled boiled and then steak, rosticciana and roast suckling pig.
Second and last weekend in Calenzano in the company of the 25th edition of the Extra Virgin Olive Oil Market Exhibition. Stands open from 10 to 19, admission only with green pass and mask.
After two years, the “I have it with oil” festival returns from Saturday 13 to Sunday 21 November every day from 19:30 at St. Art in Calenzano, via G. Garibaldi n. 7. It will be necessary to book between 14:00 and 19:00. Among the dishes on the menu ribollita, leek soup, penne with meat sauce, sausages and beans, turnips and rosticciana, and like doldi castagnaccio, homemade tart, apple and cantucci pie and vinsanto.
From 20 to 21 November PrimOlio returns to Bagno a Ripoli, to the Giardino dei Ponti and on Via Roma with its tastings of ripolese extra virgin olive oil, farmer’s market, tasting lessons with oil sommeliers, live pressing, street food and much more.
Markets and fairs
First weekend with the Christmas market in Piazza Santa Croce. The wooden houses will host delicacies from all over the world, from French biscuits to osso buco through to mulled wine, and interesting gift ideas in view of the approaching Christmas. HERE all the information.
First weekend of Christmas markets also in Empoli. Here the Christmas holidays began last weekend, but from Saturday the wooden houses will be open in Piazza della Vittoria with gifts and food and wine.
In the square of the multifunctional center of San Donato, the lights of the wooden houses of the Christmas market will turn on. The 45 wooden houses will host sweets, gift ideas and “everything that makes … Christmas” explain the organizers; in particular you will find gift items, products and various food specialties.
The great viale Europa fair is back. The appointment at the end of November will be an opportunity to find the first Christmas gifts. There will be stands with household products, clothing, footwear, linen, costume jewelery, typical food and wine products, brigidini, porchetta and much more.
In piazza Niccolò Acciaioli, this Sunday, Galluzzo in Fiera will take place. The appointment organized by Fiere Fivag Cisl Firenze will be the right opportunity to discover the local handicrafts, clothing and linen stalls and obviously among the food and wine stands where you can taste typical products of our areas.
All weekend markets
Waiting for Christmas for young and old
All holidays and weekends from 13 November to 6 January at Villa Montalvo, in Campi Bisenzio, there will be the World of Santa Claus. During the event there will be a market, wooden toy workshops, entertainment shows and Santa Claus will meet the children and listen to their wishes. Among the attractions Minnie and Mickey Mouse, the Avengers team, the bedroom of Santa Claus and also his living room, the sleigh with the reindeer puppet, the inflatables, the train of wishes and the village of the elves with the post office; not to forget the Christmas market and the food area dedicated to Tyrol.
As already mentioned, two Christmas markets will start in Florence, the one in Piazza Santa Croce and the one inside the square of the San Donato multipurpose center. The Christmas air, however, does not stop there, but in the surroundings of Florence there are other events related to the future December holidays.
Appointment in Empoli with “The Magical World of Santa Claus”, the attraction that in 2019 transported over six thousand people, including children and families, to the fairytale environments of Santa’s house in the North Pole. In Empoli, in addition to the market and the World of Santa Claus, Casa delle Mascotte, the Mattoncino Village, will also kick off.
Magicians and goblins, street bands and traveling shows, ice skating and other attractions for all ages. And then Santa Claus, who will make his appearance on numerous occasions and in multiple performances, even during the same evening. From Saturday 20 November the “Magic of Christmas” will light up in Castelfiorentino, punctuated by the illuminations that will make the Christmas atmosphere even more suggestive starting from 17.30.
Exhibitions and culture
In the Uffizi, among the rooms of Leonardo, Raffaello and Michelangelo, the temporary exhibition Lo Sfregio can be visited. The exhibition puts in dialogue the bust of Costanza Piccolomini Bonarelli, by Bernini, and the photos of Ilaria Sagaria with whom she recounted the pain and rebirth of women victims of acid attacks. HERE for all the information.
Those who love art this week can choose from numerous events: Jeff Koons is the protagonist of a large monograph at Palazzo Strozzi entitled “Shine”, in fact in the exhibition there are his most sparkling and mirrored works that allow the visitor to become a work himself. At the Strozzina, with free admission, there is Alter Eva an exhibition that through the works of six Italian artists, triggered, starting from a female point of view, a reflection on the future based on new principles of natural and social coexistence.
Jenny Saville, one of the greatest living painters and leading voice in the international art scene, exhibits her works in some of the most important museums in the city: Museo Novecento, Palazzo Vecchio Museum, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Museo degli Innocenti and Casa Buonarroti Museum.
The multimedia exhibition dedicated to Salvador Dalì (here you can see a preview of the exhibition) can be visited at the Cathedral of the Image in Piazza Santo Stefano al Ponte.
“Dante. The Eternal Poet” is the exhibition hosted in Santa Croce dedicated to the Supreme Poet, an evocative architectural video projection covers the internal walls and the dome of the Pazzi chapel with light.
“The admirable vision. Dante and the Comedy in the symbolist imagination” is the title of the second exhibition scheduled at the Bargello National Museum in the year in which the seventh centenary of the poet’s death occurs. The exhibition, curated by Carlo Sisi and Ilaria Ciseri, open to the public from 23 September 2021 to 9 January 2022, aims to investigate the artistic perception of the Divine perception of the figure of Dante and the Divine Comedy in the literary and context between the 19th and 20th centuries.
For children we remember the Dinosaurs exhibition in Vicchio: in a large green area they will be able to admire life-size dinosaurs in a vast green area.
Perfect for children, but not only, is also the I LOVE LEGO exhibition at the Museo degli Innocenti in Florence, within the centennial setting of the Istituto degli Innocenti which has always been committed to welcoming and defending and promoting the rights of children and teenagers.
In Florence you can visit the Selfie Museum, a particular exhibition, organized like a labyrinth and consisting of over 50 rooms and more than 70 installations. Perfect for taking pictures and immersing yourself in the art conceived and created by over 400 artists.
The exhibitions to see in Tuscany
Theaters and shows
The 62nd Festival dei Popoli, the international documentary film festival, will be held in Florence (and online on the mymovies.it platform) from 20 to 28 November in La Compagnia, Spazio Alfieri, Cinema Stensen, Istituto Francese and Mad – Murate Art District cinemas. ; Florida Shipyard Theater and 25 Hours Hotel. The event – chaired by Vittorio Iervese and directed by Alessandro Stellino and Claudia Maci – will present the best of international documentary cinema in a program of 80 films, accompanied by numerous international and national guests.
At Puccini there is Il Lercio Show. Lightning jokes and unlikely news programs will keep you company for an entire evening, at the end of which the name of the next Foreign Minister will be drawn. No selection at the entrance, unless you are the current Foreign Minister.
On Sunday 21 November at 4.45 pm Little Red Riding Hood will be staged with the puppets of Stac; the show is part of the review For grandi e Puccini del Puccini Theater.
To the Teatro della Pergola, from Tuesday 16 to Sunday 21 November, Elena Sofia Ricci and Gabriele Anagni make their debut in the timeless classic by Tennessee Williams Sweet to youth, signed for the direction, sets and costumes by Pier Luigi Pizzi, who uses Masolino’s translation of ‘Friend.
To the Verdi theater James Conlon’s debut as honorary director of the ORT finally arrives, the event was postponed due to the pandemic. Protagonist of the sixth production of Cartellone 21/22, the American maestro of Lucanian origins is an authentic star – formerly at the helm of the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Paris Opera, the Rai National Symphony Orchestra, currently the Los Angeles Philharmonic and of the Baltimore Symphony – which, however, tends to avoid the poses of a star. Indeed, when he gets on the podium he avoids shining the spotlight on himself: he is rather interested in the coherence and cultural relevance of his programs. On the program Dmitrij Shostakovič in the eighth string quartet, an indictment of every dictatorship. It is framed by two Mozart symphonies: the K.338 and the K.551.
Teatrodante Carlo Monni hosts Montabbano sono! ”, the comedy based on the story of the same name by the writer, journalist and television author Alessandro Robcchi. A particular clinic to re-educate, to the sound of trash TV and idiotic quizzes, those who do not comply with the rules imposed by cinema and television. The show will be staged on Saturday 20 November at 9.00 pm (repeated on Sunday 21 at 4.30 pm).
After almost three years of absence from the Florentine stages Lorenzo Baglioni returns to his city, with a new show full of music built together with his audience. This is “Canzoni a teatro”, an overwhelming theatrical concert that will make its national premiere on Friday 19 November at 9.00 pm at Rifredi Theater (via Vittorio Emanele II 303) and will be repeated on Saturday 20 at 21.00 and Sunday 21 at 16.30. The singer-songwriter, author, actor and presenter famous for the didactic songs that brought him to Sanremo and with which he won more than 90 million views on the web, will propose all his most loved hits in 100 minutes of live show, from “Il Congiuntivo” to “L’arome Secco Sé”, selected on social networks together with his followers, specially rearranged for the theater, as well as an unreleased track