Notte Bianca

Toronto has Nuit Blanche, Firenze has Notte Bianca.  It occurred on Monday April 30th, the eve of the May 1 national holiday. Things started happening around 21:30hrs and went into the wee hours of the morning. Staying up all night was not an option, but staying up late to take in the experience certainly was. It was a night filled with magic and the streets were the most crowded I’ve ever seen them!  Everyone was in the Centro, and everyone was having a good time.



Notte Bianca, Firenze, 30 Aprile, 2012

One of the features of Notte Bianca is just like “Doors Open” – places not normally open to the public were open this night, so I ventured around the corner from my apartment to see Firenze’s only Synagogue. I have wanted to visit the synagogue ever since I arrived, but never seemed to have a chance.  Well, portending things to come, there must have been 200 people in line at 22:00hrs, and they were letting people in four at a time. I did the math, and quickly thought – David K can take me there when he and Tania L come in July!

So, off I went.  I met my friend Brandi (from Chicago) around 20:30hrs at Piazza della Santissima Annunziata, where a 120 person youth orchestra was playing Broadway music, with a few classical pieces thrown in for good measure.  The orchestra played under two huge white globes of light, which filled the piazza, and the kids were as good as any professional orchestra.

Making up one side of the piazza is the Lo Spedale degli Innocenti  – an orphanage dating back to the 1500’s. There was a fascinating exhibition about the orphans in the hospital, how they came to be there, and the development of the State child welfare system post-Italian unification. Most interesting was the hole in the wall, with a door on the outside and one on the inside, where babies were placed.  The Sisters would hear the door slide open (or a bell ring) which signaled the arrival of a new resident. Sometimes notes were left with the baby, describing the circumstances (and often the paternity) of the newborn.   The stories were fascinating and heart-wrenching at the same time. 

Brandi and I decided to head over to Palazzo Strozzi, one of my “go-to” places for cool things happening in the city.  Along the way, we stopped at Café Gilli for a café, with a Spritz chaser.  The café was to help me stay away past midnight, and the Sprtiz was to put us in a better mood.  Our drinks arrived in plastic cups which seemed to be our signal to leave Gilli and walk, with drinks in hand, over to the Strozzi. 

Along the way, we saw a very cool, one-person electric commuter car which Renault is making and marketing in Europe.  If you thought a Smart TWOFOUR car was cute, the Twizy is ultra cute!

The very cool Twizy!

Surprisingly, not too much was happening at Palazzo Strozzi, so we wandered down Via Tornabuoni to the Arno, strolled along Lungarno Acciaioli and up to Piazza della Signoria and landed in Piazza San Firenze (just behind the Palazzo Vecchio) where 3 DJ’s were playing.  There must have been 1,500 people dancing on the street and the energy of the crowd was infectious!  At one point, I leaned over to Brandi and said, “I bet the people paying 350 euros a night at that hotel are happy to have a disco outside their window!”  The hotel in question was the 5-star Hotel Bernini – right in the thick of things. Sucks to be rich sometimes.

Dancing the night away in Piazza San Firenze.

Finally, we walked to Piazza Santa Croce, where a platform had been installed for the free Tango lessons that were being offered.  The assembled crowd applauded after each song, and some of the couples were quite accomplished dancers. It was a nice change of pace from our previous stop.

Tango-ing the night away in Piazza Santa Croce.

I walked Brandi home, saying “buona notte” to her and Notte Bianca.  It was another magical moment in the magical city that is Firenze.