Florence’s Paper Lantern ‘Rificolona’ Festival
Saturday 7: RIFICOLONA (Paper Lantern Festival)
History provides the cornerstone of Florence’s annual Rificolona festivities in honor of the Feast of the Virgin Mary and the start of construction of the Florence Cathedral (Duomo) on September 8, 1296.
During the Renaissance, Tuscan farmers and shepherds would arrive in Florence on the evening of Sept. 7. Often traveling from the countryside and mountains at night, lanterns (rificolone) provided visibility for their path. The pilgrims would congregate in Piazza Santissima Annunziata (Holy Annunication square), dedicated to Mary, and after religious observances, hold a market.
Apart from the actual participants, little has changed today. Hand in hand with their parents, children walk through the streets carrying candle-lit paper lanterns (known as rificolone) when darkness falls on Sept. 7.
Rificolona festivities start at on September 6 with a paper lantern making workshop for families at Le Murate on via Ghibellina (4 – 7 pm); click here for info and reservations. Another paper lantern workshop will be held at the Giardino di Borgo Allegri (Borgo Allegri neighborhood park) on September 7 from 10 am to noon, which will be lit at 5 pm. Both workshops are free: participants are asked to bring paper and cardboard.
On the same day, a procession of people will begin to walk to Florence from the sanctuary of Santa Maria dell’Impruneta, one of the most ancient and important Marian shrines in Tuscany, at 4 pm. The church’s Madonna dell’Impruneta icon, carried to Florence’s Santa Felicità church in medieval times, is believed to have saved the city from the plague.
In commemoration, the procession will stop at Santa Felicità before moving to the Piazza Signoria to meet up with a parade of headed by city dignitaries, then to Piazza San Giovanni across from the Baptistery. Illuminated by rificolone, it will arrive in Piazza Santissima Annunziata where traditionally Florence’s archbishop and the mayor will speak (9:30 pm).
