Giovedì 25 Marzo

Can anyone guess the significance of this day? I should imagine not. We do not typically place the celebration of the new year any later than can be allowed for the Chinese new year. The Florentines, though, until the year 1750 celebrated the coming of the new year on the 25th of March. This is also the Feast of the Annunciation (precisely nine months before December 25th. Now it all makes sense!).

Most Florentines these days don't even seem to know this is a holiday for them, but if you make your way to the oldest Renaissance piazza, it is not so quiet as it usually is.

Today, on this feast day of the annunciation, it looks like a little carnival, with everything from fried things and hot dogs to lampredotto sandwiches. I actually ate a lampredotto sandwich.. something I'd said I wouldn't do upon first hearing of it. It's not exactly the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of Italian delicacies, but as it is a Florentine favorite, I had to try it. With the presence of lampredotto, you'd probably already guessed that Italian fairs don't quite look like Mississippi fairs. The sweet tea is replaced with bottles of wine. Cheesy fries are replaced with a selection of locally produced, artisan cheeses; the funnel cakes with schiaccata bread. The chicken-on-a-stick is replaced with prosciutto, or the whole pig...

There were plenty of goods for sale, also. I stopped at the first booth to buy some kitchen towels. There was such a variety of little booths, though: the stand with artificial flowers; a hippie stand, too, with clothing and such; a little man selling cd's out of the back of his van; the Native Americans selling, well, Native American things; and the cheap make-up booth. There were a few that were not quite so out of place like the woodworker, but for the most part, it was a strange combination of a carnival, a renaissance re-enactment and a flea market, with some Native Americans thrown in on the side.



My school had sent out an e-mail letting us know there would be a parade, but as it was past the scheduled time, I'd begun to think they'd been misinformed. We were just about ready to leave the festivities, having had our fill of Italian fried foods, when we heard trumpets and drums. What more do you need to have a parade, I ask you? Women in long, renaissance-period dresses with flowers in their hands, and men dressed in renaissance suits complete with feathers, tights, and cute little matching shoes.


They marched through the piazza and across the crosswalk and right into the church. We, naturally, followed them inside. The nave was now bursting with colors and feathers, but there was a steady stream of people heading further into the church. We followed, once again, expecting a further continuance of the renaissance-clad procession. Instead, we found that we were intruding on mass, and not wishing to be disrespectful, retreated back to the nave. The sea of colors was still waiting right there. We snapped a few more pictures and returned to the carnival outside. A few minutes later, the drums and trumpets started up again and the procession left in the same manner as they had arrived.

Happy New Year!