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Florence’s Feast of St. Lawrence Celebrating the Saint
[Susan Glasspool]
Almost all tourists or students who come to Florence find themselves sooner or later in the area of San Lorenzo. Some go there to visit the magnificent Medici Chapels with the sublime sculptures by Michelangelo, the Laurentian Library and the beautiful Basilica, one of Brunelleschi’s great legacies to the world. Others instead go there to browse around the market with its variagated stalls selling leather and dresswear, bags, silks and other typical Florentine products, a motley and fascinating hotchpotch of languages, people, goods and cultures and quite fascinating.
We do however advise you to take care what you buy in markets as it is now a crime to buy (as well as sell of course!), copies of well known brand names. Also if you think you might need to change or replace your purchase, remember to ask the vendors if their stall can always be found in the same place on other days!
More adventurous tourists discover the Central Market inside the massive Victorian-style metal structure, half hidden by the market stalls, which often passes unobserved. It was built in the late 19th century by Giuseppe Mengoni, on the example of Les Halles Market in Paris.
Many Florentines like to do their shopping here for this fascinating structure contains a riot of gastronomic products, meat, fish, cheeses, wines, oils and other delicacies, and where almost all the stalls offer tasting sessions to attract passing clients.
It is a popular quarter, once dominated by the fact that the Medici family lived here (the “back door” Palazzo Medici Riccardi gives onto the square) and considered the Basilica their own family church.
August 10th is the Feast of St. Lawrence, the quarter’s feast day, also celebrated throughout Italy as the night of shooting stars and often combined with wine tastings, especially in winegrowing areas. Don’t miss visiting the area, made more colourful with a Procession of the Florentine Republic, when the city authorities, accompanied by colourful flag bearers and pageantry, offer celebrative candles in the Basilica.
Initiatives include guided visits and special openings of the Medici Chapels. In the evening the whole neighbourhood participates in the distribution of the traditional lasagna and water melon in the square, reminiscent of the ancient celebrations of the Guild of Bakers, whose feast day this once was.
So don’t visit San Lorenzo for your sightseeing and shopping in the daytime alone but come back again in the evenings, especially for the St. Lawrence festivities, to enjoy a Bohemian, colourful and culturally interesting atmosphere that is enjoyable for Florentines and tourists alike.
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http://www.sanlorenzo.firenze.it/