Things to do: December in Florence

 

The festive season is upon us, and Florence is bringing us its many highlights. The summer crowd has waned and the streets are more vacant, and considerably colder. This may seem disheartening, although it simply presents us with many opportunities to enjoy the city in all of the ways that is not possible during all of the other times of the year. Here we have some of the most awesome highlights for you, and some of the best events for you to attend – whether that means taking a stroll around a new exhibition, the Christmas, markets or enjoying the city going into full-cultural-overdrive.

The Nativity Scenes are here:

During the month of December, Florence will be sprinkled with a number of nativity scenes around the city. There will be a good possibility that you will find a couple by simply walking around yourself, although it is handy to know that the most notable scene will be located close to the Duomo. A clue for one of the more hidden or more private scenes would be to go to Piazza Santa Felicita to the Santa Felicita church.

An opera by La Lirica di Firenze:

The ensemble La Lirica di Firenze will perform within the Palazzo Gaddi Arighetti – one of the more impressive feats of Florentine architecture – on the 23rd of December. Be escorted through the building, and see its amazing frescoes while on a mini-tour. This will lead you into the festival hall where the performance will begin. You can buy tickets for this and a few other operas through this link: http://www.musicainmaschera.it/ENG/Spettacoli_Firenze.asp

Only the best Christmas markets:

From between the 28-29 November and 17 December and 10am ‘til 10pm each day, the Christmas markets will open, emulating those famous German stalls, albeit with their own Italian and Florentine twist. Piazza Santa Croce redecorates itself as a Christmas village, and over 50 sellers set up stall, some with traditional German Christmas products, but most with their own varieties of incredible Italian cuisine.

Enjoy the lights:

On the 8th of December, the F-Light Festival hits town. The whole festival is split into more than 20 different events. First, the Christmas tree at the front door of the Duomo goes alight on opening day, and all through the month for almost every day a new location is added to the list off illumination – ongoing until the 7th of January. Check out this link for a more in-depth view of each event: http://www.flightfirenze.iT

 

River-to-River Indian Film Festival at the Odeon

Until the 8th of December, the organization focused on the cultural arts, titled ‘River to River’ will be exclusively showing Indian movies. Couple with Indian cooking classes, this is a great chance to try something different and see something unique at the famous Odeon cinema. One of the only festivals in the world dedicated entirely to Indian films. View more on these movie showings by clicking on this link here: http://www.rivertoriver.it/en/

Gamo: Contemporary Music

At the Museo Novecento on December the 10th, the GAMO ensemble with be playing original music by Stefano Pierini, accompanied by off-stage voice actors, and soprano Ljuba Bergamelli. All as part of the 38th edition of the GAMO International Festival; a celebration and promotion of the ‘Italian international scene’. For more information, see the Museo Novecento website here: http://www.museonovecento.it/en/programmazione/

And those are six of some of the greatest things for you to be doing this December, and to take some stress off yourself with all of that Christmas shopping. We hope you enjoy your Christmas and have a lovely time this December courtesy of Visita Florencia.