Events & Things to Do in Florence, Italy, in August 2018
A traditional Italian proverb goes as follows: “Christmas with your family, New Year’s Eve with whoever you want”.
In a city like Florence, you will have no difficulty choosing how and with whom to spend the longest evening of the year, given the many events promoted and organized in the city for New Year’s Eve 2014.
We begin with the New Year’s Eve Dinner, a tradition Italians would never give up.
If you feel like getting away from city chaos while at the same time enjoying a wonderful view of the city, you could spend New Year’s Eve at the Hotel Il Salviatino in Fiesole, where you can experience the atmosphere of the Roaring Twenties.
In 2013, the twenties have come back into fashion thanks to the return to cinema of The Great Gatsby, Baz Luhrmann‘s masterpiece that made many people reopen the pages of F.S. Fitzgerald. Specifically, the Great Gatsby’s parties have inspired the New Year’s Eve at Il Salviatino Hotel: you enter a Renaissance villa decorated for the occasion in vintage style, you can enjoy delicious dishes cooked by the hotel’s chef, and to finish, you can go wild by partying with live music and by maybe even dancing the Charleston at first light.
For those wishing to dine in the historical city center and in a rather unusual location, the solution might be to go to Gri, an old Anglican church beautifully restored and converted into a restaurant in Piazza del Carmine, the same one that houses the Brancacci Chapel and Masaccio’s frescoes. The chef will tickle your taste buds with a wide selection ranging from traditional Italian Christmas dishes to the most original offerings. After dinner, you can listen to ” La fascia del cotone” (The strip’s cotton), a big band composed of nine members who will play swing sounds, to be followed by dj sets.
If you wish to dine intimately but to also go out after and spend some time with others, you must make sure to go to one of the five Florentine squares offering a free concert. In Piazza della Stazione, next to Santa Maria Novella Train station, the pop singer Max Pezzali will be livening up night by performing his greatest hits. He will also be joined by other artists and Florentine bands.
In Piazza della Repubblica, there will be a swing and jazz concert; in Piazza Santissima Annunziata, a performance of gospel music; in Piazza della Signoria, the traditional classical music concert; and finally, in Piazza Annigoni, there will be room to dance to music and dj sets.
If you don’t like the cold and want to spend New Year’s Eve 2014 in Florence in the warmth, you can enjoy your evening at Teatro Verdi, next to Piazza Santa Croce, where there will be a performance of “Quando la moglie è in vacanza”, whose original title in English is “The seven year itch”. It is a comedy about the erotic obsessions of the average man as well as a ferocious satire against the respectability of the “middle class”, which seems to have no bounds and is compared to the ambitions of a girl who tries to redefine her identity by engaging in the world of show business. Given that it has been over sixty years since its debut, the text still maintains a fresh outlook on the behavior and relationships between males and females.
All that remains is to wish you a happy new year!
Pictures by Massimo (New Year’s Eve in Florence) and by altissimoceto.it (Hotel Il Salviatino, Fiesole, Italy)
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