Festival of Lanterns: Sept 7th 2008
On Sept 7th, Florence hosts one of the most impressive and magical events: The Festival of the Lantern or the Festa della Rificolona.This ancient celebration fills the streets of Florence with softly lit paper-maché lanterns tied to sticks as the children of the town, dressed in their best clothes and with their best singing voices parade the town.
It is said that the Florentine’s celebrate the Festa della Rificolona to commemorate the triuumph of Florence over Siena back in 1555. They say that the winning army tied lanterns to the ends of their pikes.
The festivals name originally comes from the word ‘fierucolone’ which then evolved into ‘rificolona’ in dialect which describes a woman who is over dressed (or a bad dresser). With farmers and their wives coming into Florence to earn money, the children of the town would shoot rocks at their lanterns that they made to light their way coming in from the fields.
Like our traditional boat parades back in America, the Festa della Riificolona also has a boat parade, decorated with colored lanterns of all shapes and sizes, and a prize goes to the winning boat with the most original designs. No inflatable Santa’s on this boat!
The festivities start in Piazza Santa Croce to Piazza Santissima Annunziata and continues until the sun comes up! Enjoy good food, wine and a great party tomorrow, Sunday, Sept 7th for the Festa della Rificolona.