25 Mar The Two New Year’s Days of Florence
The city of Florence can always surprise you!
Because we love to celebrate, we don’t have just one New Year’s Days, but two!!
Visit Florence in March and celebrate the Florentine New Year’s day!
If you come to visit Florence in March, make sure to be here on March the 25th because it is the Florentine New Year’s day!!
To understand why, let’s go back in history! During the Middle Ages, we used to start the year not on January the 1st but on March the 25th, the day of the Incarnation of the Verbo Divino.
The Church wanted to remember the moment of the Announcement of the Conception of the Virgin Mary by Archangel Gabriel. As a mater of fact, it’s nine months before Jesus Christ was born on December 25th.
A strong dedication to the Virgin Mary is still alive in Florence
The people of Florence had, and still have, a strong dedication to the Virgin Mary. That’s why most of the churches in the city are also dedicated to her.
This is also the reason why, when in 1582 the official calendar was changed into the new current one, the Gregorian calendar, in Florence we maintained the celebration on March the 25th.
We have to wait until the XVIII Century and the arrival of the Loraine family, the family that arrived after the Medici to rule Florence and Tuscany, when, in 1749, the Grand Duke Francesco III, with an official decree, moved New Year’s day to January the 1st, conforming with the rest of Europe.
In Florence we keep our traditions
But we haven’t given up! For us traditions are still strong! Today, on March the 25th the city organizes the historical parade through the streets of the city center. This is a very fun and fantastic occasion for you to see the historical traditional costumes of Florence!
Come to visit Florence in March!
