Tuscan public holidays

Visit Tuscany is an excellent idea and knowing which are the Tuscan public holidays could be really useful for your vacations! Why? Because visiting the land of the Renaissance during these days can offer you much more than the other moments of the year. infact public holidays mark many special events, like historical and religious ones.

This can permit to you to discover Tuscany in a total different view, even thanks to the many shops and business that stay open throughout the bank holidays in Tuscany, to not mentioning the uncountable attractions

Let’s discover what are Tuscan public holidays, how we call them and what traditionally do during those special days:

Tuscan Public Holidays

1.       New Year’s Day January 1 (Capodanno)

2.      Ephiphany January 6 (Epifania)

3.      Easter (Pasqua) – You should try Colomba once in life!

4.      Easter Monday (Pasquetta)

5.      Liberation Day April 25 (Festa di Liberazione)

6.      Labour Day May 1 (Festa dei lavoratori / Primo Maggio)

7.      Republic Day June 2 (Festa della Repubblica)

8.      Mid-August Holiday  August 15 (Ferragosto)

9.      All Saints’ Day November 1 (Ognisanti)

10.   Feast of the Immaculate Conception December 8 (Assunzione dell’Immacolata concezione)

11.    Christmas Day December 25 (Natale)

12.    Boxing Day December 26 (Santo Stefano)

Events and Festival Calendars

FEBRUARY/MARCH

• Viareggio and Pisa:
  Carnival parades with creative and imaginatively floats

MARCH/APRIL

• In many places
  Palm Sunday: Blessing of the palm branches with procession.
• Florence
  On Easter Sunday visitors and residents go to the Piazza del Duomo for “Scoppio del Carro”. It is an igniter shaped like a dove shoots on a rope from the cathedral altar, to a festively decorated cart in order to set it alight.
• Prato
  Parade of the Holy Belt

APRIL/JUNE

• Florence
  The oldest italian musical festival, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

MAY

• Alberese
  Festival of Butteri (1-3 May), the Tuscan cowboys from Maremma have a rodeo;
• Cortona
  Giostra del Archidado: Festival of Archers with historical costumes.

MAY/JUNE

• Torre del Lago
  Puccini opera season

JUNE

• In many places
  Corpus Christi processions
• Fiesole
  Estate Fiesolana: Theatre, dance, music, and film festival (from mid Jun until the beginning of August)
• Arezzo
  Giostra del Saraceno, the third Sunday in June, an equestrian tournament first mentioned in 1593.
• Pisa
  Regatta di San Ranieri: Rowing regatta on the Arno River on 17 June.
• Florence
  Calcio Storico Fiorentino: ball game in historical costumes on the Feast of St. John on the Piazza della Signoria.

JULY

• Arezzo
  Arezzo Wave: an open-air festival with excellent artists from the International music scene
• Siena
  Palio delle Contrade: the famous historic horse race on the Piazza del Campo
• Grosseto
  International Jazz Festival
• Pistoia
  Summer Festival: the biggest Italian rock and blues festival
  Giostra dell’Orso: on 25th July, an historical equestrian game
• San Giminiano
  Concert and opera performances on the cathedral square
• Volterra
  Open-air theatre performances

JULY/AUGUST

• Montepulciano
  Bravio delle Botti, a horse race like the Palio, which had taken on 29 August and today it is not longer carried out on horse-back but with barrels of 80kg/176lbs, which are rolled down the main street by representatives of the different part of the town
• Carrara
  Historical Marble Lizzatura: In the magnificent set of the marble quarries of Carrara, in the picturesque setting of the famous Ponti di Vara, it renews the unforgettable and unique in the world of lizzatura of marbles. With hard work and difficult maneuvers to be executed, a Lizzatori team will go down the route of the running, overcoming a gradient of 50%, a more than 20 ton block, from the quarry to the loading dock, reviving the ancient transport of marble blocks method, as was done in past centuries. The audience can enjoy an unforgettable and unique event in the world.
• Siena
  Jazz Concert and workshop

AUGUST

• Montalcino
  Trush Festival, on the second Sunday in August every year the hunting season is opened with the Thrust Festival. Drummers, pipers, and knights in historical costume form a parade which goes up to the Fortezza, where the best archer of the quarters compete
  
• Massa Marittima
  Balestro del Girifalco, town festival with archery contest in medieval costume
• In many places
  Procession and fireworks on 15 August for Ferragosto and for the Assumption of the Virgin
• Cortona
  Sagra della Bistecca,  on 15 August the famous Florentine Steak is the celebrated with a festival and market in Porto Santo Stefano
• Siena
  Palio delle Contrade, edition of the 16 August
• Alberese
  Torneo dei Butteri, equestrian competition of the Maremman cow boys

SEPTEMBER

• Arezzo
  Giostra del Saraceno, a competition that goes back to the crusades
• Pienza
  Fiera del Cacio, sheep’s cheese festival on the first Sunday
• Sansepolcro
  Palio della Balestra, historical crossbow copetition, on the second Sunday in September
• Lucca
  Luminara di Santa Croce, torch-light procession on 13th September
• Forte dei Marmi
  Satire Festival, cabaret, talk show and video shows

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

• Impruneta
  Festa dell’Uva, the Chianti hosts the largest wine festival of the region on the last Saturday in September
• In many places
  Wine Festival in mostly of the Chianti Villages at the end of September and beginning of October

DECEMBER

• In many places
  Christmas Markets