Florentine Week – Florentine New Year

The Florentine New Year and its festival

Florentine Week is the widespread festival through which the Municipality of Florence celebrates the Florentine New Year, the city's ancient New Year's Day that falls on March 25th, the feast of the Annunciation. For centuries, from the Middle Ages until 1750, Florence aligned the start of its civil calendar with this date, nine months before Christmas: a custom maintained even after the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, until the grand ducal decree in 1749 set the New Year to January 1st. Florentine Week brings this memory back to life with a calendar of hundreds of events spread throughout the Tuscan capital.

A festival spread throughout the historic center

The initiative, promoted by the Municipality of Florence together with trade and cultural associations, municipal libraries, the Florentine Civic Museums, MUS.E, the Metropolitan City, and other local partners, offers a rich program:

• Guided tours and walks to discover the Florentine spirit, among palaces, churches, and lesser-known corners of the city;
• Fairs and markets dedicated to artistic craftsmanship and local products;
• Workshops and open studios of Florentine artisans, from ceramics to leather goods, from micromosaics to goldsmithing;
• Activities for families and children, shows, and cultural initiatives in libraries and civic museums;
• Special lighting: during the week, historic gates and iconic monuments are illuminated in red, the color of the Florentine lily.

The Historical Pageant of the Florentine Republic

The heart of the festival is the Historical Pageant of the Florentine Republic, which on March 25th parades through the streets of the center with costumed figures, starting from the Palagio di Parte Guelfa and reaching the Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata, where Florentines historically went on pilgrimage to the effigy of the Annunziata. The pageant renews a moment of strong civic unity with medieval roots and represents the most heartfelt event of the entire festival.

Tradition and the Florentine spirit

Florentine Week is not just a historical re-enactment: it is an opportunity to rediscover the city's identity, its symbols—the red lily on a white field, the Marzocco—and the artistic crafts that have made it famous worldwide for centuries. Historical dinners, Calcio Storico matches, city awards, and neighborhood initiatives complete a program that involves all of Florence and its inhabitants. An unmissable event for those who want to experience the most authentic Florence, far from the usual tourist routes, in the heart of Tuscany.