10 events not to be missed this weekend
Our guide with the events not to be missed this pre-Christmas weekend including concerts, exhibitions, Christmas markets and a special event at the Four Seasons in Florence.
40 years of Florence as a Unesco heritage
Forty years ago – on 17 December 1982 – the historic center of Florence became part of the list of sites UNESCO World Heritage Site. Four decades later, and after the area was extended in 2021 to include the hill that goes from San Niccolò to San Miniato, the Municipality of Florence – World Heritage Office and MUS.E intend to celebrate this special anniversary with two initiatives free dedicated the first to families with children aged 8 to 12 and the second to young people and adults.
Biagio Antonacci in concert
Biagio Antonacci back in concert in Florence. The singer-songwriter will be at the Nelson Mandela Forum on a special stage: located in the center of the building. Thanks to the stage positioned in the centre, the public will be seated at 360 degrees and will have the opportunity to closely retrace all of his greatest successes together with the Milanese singer-songwriter.
Open day at the Four Seasons
Sunday the luxurious Florentine hotel opens its doors to citizens, curious and lovers of the Christmas festivities. The event is a tradition consolidated over the years and loved by the whole city, which involves restaurants and local producers, with entertainment, a market and music for a party that enlivens the entire Gherardesca Garden, open to all. The proceeds of this year’s day will be donated to the Patrizio Cipollini Foundation in support of ten young refugees who will be introduced into the world of work in the hospitality sector and to the Tommasino Bacciotti Foundation, in favor of families with children suffering from brain tumors. Entrance to the park: minimum offer of 1 euro per adult. Furthermore, the Il Palagio restaurant will move for a special reason inside the Lobby as The Reds & the White returns, the charity dinner and auction in favor of the Patrizio Cipollini Foundation, with a menu based on Savini Tartufi and Ferrari wines.
Christmas market in Santa Croce square
Last weekend, in Piazza Santa Croce, with the much loved and awaited German Christmas market. A perfect appointment to buy Christmas presents or to spend an afternoon and an evening surrounded by fairy lights, the scent of mulled wine and obviously tasty dishes from almost all over Europe. HERE for all the information.
Among the markets we also point out these appointments (excellent for finding some Christmas gifts):
Christmas market in San Donato
The appointment with the Christmas market. Its 45 wooden houses will host delicacies to taste and also artistic crafts, jewels and much more.
The Christmas markets in and around Florence
A Christmas Carol, the musical
A Christmas carol arrival at the Verdi Theater. To accompany the spectators in the magic of history, in musical format, Roberto Ciufoli. The show is set on Christmas Eve, in London in 1843, and everyone is about to celebrate the anniversary. Only the old usurer Ebenezer Scrooge can’t stand this holiday…
The interpretation of dreams
Stefano Massini completes his over ten-year work on The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud, begun in 2008 and studded with prestigious public occasions, including the intermediate stage of the highly successful novel published by Mondadori in 2017. Where do we go when we dream? What are we trying to say to ourselves in that suspended, further and intermediate space that welcomes us as soon as we close our eyes? Every being dreams, beyond the fact that it retains memory: our existence is a succession of nocturnal visions, elaborate and complex architectures, whose construction obeys a natural necessity. And then the question becomes: why do we dream? Why is it a vital and unavoidable need for human beings?
Green Line
Change the name but not the magic. F-Light, the name by which we have known the Florence Festival of Lights in recent years, will be called this year Green Line. As we had to anticipate, this decision is linked to the current issues of sustainability, ecology, energy saving, care for the environment and heritage. It will therefore be a year zero for the event which, however, will not abandon the magical touch that enchants young and old every year.
The Ferris wheel
The first weekend of December is also the first weekend in the company of ferris wheel, one of the two biggest attractions of this Christmas and which we are sure will make you fly high. Seeing Florence from a height of 55 meters will be a unique experience.
10 things to do in Florence to experience Christmas
The skating rink, the market and the street food
In addition to the wheel, however, the gardens of the Fortezza da Basso will also be animated by the longest ice skating rink in Europe on which both adults and children can have fun. All around there will be the Christmas market with wooden houses and kiosks with street food.
Trees and lights: all the streets and squares of Florence that light up for Christmas 2022
Santa Claus and the elves in Piazza Signoria
Even this year Santa and the elves they will descend from Palazzo Vecchio to wish adults and children a merry Christmas. The event is part of the municipal calendar of Christmas events and will be an excellent opportunity, weather permitting, to give the little ones the magic of Christmas.
Elliott Erwitt
Villa Bardini pays homage to the great photographer Elliott Erwitt who turns 94 this year. The exhibition is curated by Biba Jackets, in collaboration with Sudest57. The photographs on display offer a cross-section of the history and customs of the twentieth century through portraits of great movie stars, powerful of the world, who go beyond the characters by showing their intimacy and humanity. Over 70 shots chosen by the curator and by Erwitt himself to tell a cross-section of the history and customs of the twentieth century with his irony. On display are the famous portraits of Che Guevara smiling, Kerouac, Marlene Dietrich, and still photographs that have made history such as that of Jackie Kennedy at the funeral of her murdered husband, or the disagreement between the two leaders Nixon and Khrushchev, in which Nixon’s pointing finger makes him appear almost threatening, altering the perception of the observer.
Olafur Eliasson at Palazzo Strozzi
The exhibition visible at Palazzo Strozzi is the largest ever held in Italy by Olafur Eliassion and will allow visitors to immerse themselves in his artistic world through a broad overview of works from his thirty-year activity, but also through new works designed specifically for Palazzo Strozzi. Often using elementary materials such as light, water and fog, Olafur Eliasson is famous for an art that reflects on the idea of perception and in which the viewer is at the center of the experience as an active protagonist. HERE to see the video of the exhibition.
Florence-Fiesole-Florence
The “Florence-Fiesole-Florence” Christmas race is back with the 42nd edition. Appointment for December 18th at the Asics Firenze Marathon Stadio “Luigi Ridolfi”