September in Florence: Be.Long, experience the city like a Florentine

Traditional festivals, wine, new exhibitions and the Antiques Biennale: the best of this September in Florence with #EnjoyRespectFirenze!

September is a wonderful month to visit Florence! The city is vibrant with traditional festivals and unmissable events, the heat starts to ease off as we prepare to welcome autumn, and the Chianti hills burst with life as new wine emerges with the grape harvests.

September is a popular month for a pleasant stay in Florence and its surroundings, with many young Italian and international students arriving in the city to start their university experience, becoming true temporary citizens, belongers! For this reason, Il Marzocco is the #enjoyrespectfirenze symbol of September, a month in which ancient traditions and the future all come together. The Marzocco is the famous lion of the Florentine Republic, emblem of the defense of the city and of Florentine pride (the original statue by Donatello is in the Bargello Museum, the copy is in Piazza della Signoria).

Florence is alive! Florentines do not live in the works of the Renaissance, but in the present. It’s the perfect time to engage in a dynamic and productive cohabitation: residents who welcome visitors, and visitors who identify with the residents. The Marzocco is keeping an eye on us!

And now, let's see what there is to do in Florence to experience September like a true Florentine!

UNMISSABLE EVENTS THIS SEPTEMBER

La Rificolona – September 7

On September 7, as per tradition, the Rificolona festival will be held at 9pm in Piazza Santissima Annunziata. Much loved by Florentines of all ages, there’s a spectacular parade through the streets of the city with the famous Rificolone (hand-made paper lanterns with colorful and imaginative decorations). It’s how little future artisans get their start!

Firenze Jazz Festival – September 4 to 15

With over 100 artists of various nationalities, the festival offers events in the name of spreading music throughout the city’s squares, clubs, historic villas and symbolic places of the Oltrarno with a quality program of concerts at accessible prices and/or for free. Find out more.

Fabbrica Europa Festival - September 13 to October 15

The 31st edition of Fabbrica Europa continues to deliver a high-impact multidisciplinary festival conceived as a moment of individual and community growth. A true Mediterranean mix, with movement, voices, freedom and new technologies. Find out more.

Bacco Artigiano and the Carro Matto parade – September 28

Have you ever seen a cart with a thousand flasks of wine on top? The Bacco Artigiano is the re-enactment of the ancient festival that celebrates new wine, held every fourth Saturday of September. The Corteo Storico della Repubblica Fiorentina (historical costumed parade) starts from the Palagio di Parte Guelfa and joins the Carro Matto in Piazza Duomo to reach the Sagrato del Duomo together, where the blessing of the cart takes place.

Helen Frankenthaler: Painting without rules – from September 27 to January 26

Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi presents a major exhibition dedicated to one of the most important American artists of the twentieth century. Over the course of her sixty-year career, Frankenthaler established herself on the American art scene through a “without rules” approach, challenging the limits of painting techniques as well as the genre expectations of the time. Find out more.

33rd Biennale Antiquariato – from September 28 to October 6

BIAF returns to Palazzo Corsini! The most important exhibition-market in the world for Italian antiques, the 33rd edition marks over 60 years of activity, an important milestone that confirms Florence once again as the center of the international art market. Find out more.

See all the events this September.