Two Days, One Spirit: Rificolona ‘Festival of Lights’ and Nativity of Mary Celebrations 2025
Florence comes alive each September with two beloved traditions, the Rificolona (Feast of Lights, or the Paper Lantern Festival) on Sunday 7 September and the Nativity of the Virgin Mary on Monday 8 September. Both occasions honour Florence’s history and are jam-packed with fun for those of all ages.
Rificolona: A Night of Lanterns
The streets of Florence will glow with the warmth of hundreds of paper lanterns on the evening of September 7. The festival is rooted in tradition, originating from the 17th century when peasants and farmers would journey to Florence on the eve of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, bringing along their produce to sell at Piazza Santissima Annunziata, where services were being held in her honour. Lanterns would guide their way on their long journeys down the Tuscan hills, lighting up the sky with accidental beauty. Today, Rificolona has grown into a joyful, citywide celebration.
In the days leading up to the festival, Florentine neighbourhoods (quartieri) host free lantern-making workshops for children to craft their own ‘rificolona’,. This in itself has become a light-hearted competition, the winner of the ‘most beautiful rificolona’ wins a prize (indeed, there is a tradition of mischievous Florentine children playfully blowing out each other’s lanterns during the parade). One such lantern-making workshop is being held at the garden on Borgo Allegri near Santa Croce in Quartiere 1, at 4:45 pm on Saturday 6 September. Those involved will also receive a free snack.
The lantern parade on the 7th will begin this year at 4 pm at Impruneta’s Basilica, reaching the city of Florence at around 7 pm, in Piazza Santa Felicita. From there Florentines will join in with the procession, which is expected to move through the historic centre and end at the Piazza Santissima Annunziata (at around 9 pm), on the way crossing Ponte Vecchio, and through Piazza della Signoria, and Piazza Duomo.
At Piazza Santissima Annunziata, the festival officially commences at 9:30 pm with speeches from local authorities, followed by games and festivities for children. The Graziano Grazzini Award will be presented to the most beautiful rificolona, who will also be presented by ACF Fiorentina a football jersey and ball signed by Moise Kean. Popular folk and rock musicians Tommaso Imperiali & Five Quarters will also be performing.
The Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata will remain open until the end of the evening, allowing the community to bask in its grandeur, and remember the spiritual ties to the festival.
The Nativity of the Virgin Mary & Free Cathedral Museum Admission
On the day dedicated to the birth of the Virgin Mary, 8 September, Florence honours the mother of Christ. This date is especially poignant for Florence, given that the city’s cathedral is called Santa Maria del Fiore (Saint Mary of the Flower); the iris being Florence’s emblem.
This year also marks the 729th anniversary of the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, the institution founded in 1296 to oversee the cathedral’s construction and conservation. To celebrate, the Cathedral Museum (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo) in Piazza Duomo will open its doors for free from 8:30 am until midnight (last entry 11 pm).
Families with children aged 5 to 10 can join a special 90-minute educational workshop (at 5 pm and 6 pm), concluding with a hands-on activity in the museum’s classroom. Reservations are required by emailing edu@duomo.firenze.it.
The museum itself is home to masterpieces by Michelangelo, Donatello, and Ghiberti, as well as the original works once housed in the cathedral, baptistery, and bell tower. Its collection preserves the very heart of Florence’s spiritual and artistic identity.
Two Days, One Spirit
Together, the glow of paper lanterns and the reverence of the cathedral museum remind Florentines and visitors alike that this city’s celebrations weave together playfulness, faith, and artistry. September 7 and 8 are days when Florence both looks to its past and lights the way forward, in honour of the Virgin Mary and the community that continues to celebrate her.
(Molly Jayne Evans)
