We will have just one night in Florence on Saturday, June 24 after a week at an agriturismo in Tuscany and prior to a few nights in Rome. I've had the Florence reservation for awhile. It's a B&B right near the Duomo, which sounds wonderful to me. I just found out that June 24 is San Giovanni festival day when Florence celebrates its patron saint, St. John the Baptist. It sounds like shops are closed (which is fine), and I read many restaurants will also be closed, while the city celebrates with a costumed parade, games, and festivities all day long, ending with fireworks. Will Florence be an utter madhouse that day? We generally do not like huge crowds and had looked forward to a day visiting the Duomo, one museum, and then wandering the streets to soak in the culture of this beautiful city, ending with a nice dinner. We've been to Florence once before and I was looking forward to this short return visit. Now I'm wondering if we should visit Florence as a day trip from our base in Tuscany earlier in the week, and head right to Rome after we check out of the agriturismo on June 24. Florence is a 1-1/2 hour drive from the agriturismo, so we could do that, although I'd been thinking that putting it at the end, and staying overnight, would make for a nicer Florence experience. I'm torn. Maybe we should we keep our plans, considering ourselves lucky to be in Florence on such a special day, seeing the costumes and experiencing all the festivity? Has anyone been in Florence on San Giovanni festival day who could comment on the experience? For example, was it hard to get seated in a restaurant, because many were closed and the ones that were open had large crowds?
Posted by
Vignola, MO, IT
656 posts
Was there last year for two months and it was great. LOTS of people but earlier for the parades etc. Seemed like the restaurants were open to me. All the bridges were packed to watch the fireworks and it was a sea of humanity trying to walk back along the river down a few bridges to my apartment. Lots of employees for the language schools and businesses were off work for the day. Costumes and parade beautiful. We ate in Santo Spirito before the fireworks and after the parade no problem.
Posted by
Firenze, Italy
1530 posts
Forget visiting the Duomo on St. John's day. The morning high Mass - that begins in the Baptistery and is attended by any authority in town - may be several hours long.