Archive for 'Concerts & Festivals'

For those who like to travel when tourist crowds are at their smallest, winter is a great time to visit Tuscany: it is when you can readily visit the most famous and popular tourist attractions without having to queue for long periods of time, when prices for things and various travel costs are often at their lowest, when things are most authentic and locals have the most energy for visitors as they aren’t coming in their swathes, and it is when the whole region seems like a different place entirely without the tourist crowds that arrive in summer.

However, you might also wish to experience many of the traditions and festivals that only take place during the high season in Tuscany. If this is the case, then fear not as the town of Buti, near Pisa, has the answer for you and makes for an ideal winter destination in Tuscany. If you are looking for the best time of year to visit Pisa, then come in time for the Palio di Buti. Find a vacation rental in Pisa and head to this town and this festival to get a slice of the palio tradition while enjoying the most peaceful time of the year in the region.

Porto Ercole is a beautiful Tuscan town located on the coast, on the eastern promontory of Monte Argentario, which was once an island but was connected to the mainland by two strips of land called tombolos that were formed by waves and tides forcing sand upwards and together several thousand years ago. Known for its chic shops, excellent restaurants, and vibrant nightlife, this pretty seaside town is already an excellent choice for a vacation on the Tuscan Coast. However, if you were thinking about finding a vacation rental on the Tuscan Coast and visiting the area around May, then there is one more great reason to seek out the town: the Night of the Pirates in Porto Ercole.

Taking place each May for around three days, usually during the first week of the month, the Night of the Pirates is a fun and unusual event that is unique to the town. During the three days of the festival, the town is overrun by pirates (or visitors and locals dressed as pirates, we should say) and there are several different events that take place over the course of the few days. It is a colourful and fun festival that takes local history and brings it to life in a vibrant, raucous, and campy way. The streets and establishments of the Old Town are decorated to evoke an earlier time, when real pirates would often the target the towns of Argentario.

Autumn brings with it the harvest season and lots of delicious seasonal foods. As the winter approaches, however, Italy and Tuscany celebrate one last tasty harvest for the year, or, rather, one last forage: for precious truffles.

Truffles can actually be found in Italy throughout much of the year with dark winter truffles available from January to March, tan truffles (or bianchetto truffles) being foraged from March to April, and common black summer truffles can be unearthed from June to November. However, the most sought-out and highly-prized of all truffles are the tartufo bianco, or white truffles, which can be found from September through to November. As a result of this being the time in which the most beloved truffles are to be found, October and November are also when many events surrounding the finding, eating, and celebrating of truffles take place.

Florence is one of the great cultural capitals of the world and has been for centuries. If you have found a vacation rental in Florence and you are planning on indulging in that rich cultural heritage, then you will always find things to see and do. However, if you go during the summer, you will find an especially rich schedule of various sorts of events to choose from. From music to literature, art to dance, and more, there are all sorts of different cultural experiences to enjoy while in the city during this time in which the local museums, the local government and various cultural institutions compete with shining calendars of fascinating activities for Estate Fiorentina.

Estate Fiorentina, meaning “Florentine Summer”, is quite the thrill but can feel rather overwhelming as there is just so much going on. However, we have picked just a few events from the calendar that caught our eye. For more information, just head to the official website (sadly, offered only in Italian) and try and find events specifically around your schedule or that catch your eye.

The Medici family have left an indelible mark on Tuscany that is still felt today, centuries after they were at the peak of their powers. Works of art, buildings, and even towns remain as a mark of their incredible legacy but so, too, do stories. One of the most compelling is the story of the mysterious death of Isabella de' Medici, the beloved daughter of Cosimo I de’ Medici, the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Famously beautiful and free-spirited, she was a well-known Florentine figure who died suddenly and unexpectedly at the Medici villa in Cerreto Guidi in 1576 during a hunting holiday.

According to her brother, "while she was washing her hair in the morning ... She was found by Signor Paolo Giordano on her knees, having immediately fallen dead.” This unlikely and dubious version of events was doubted and, according to information obtained by the Ferrarese ambassador, Ercole Cortile, she was actually "strangled at midday" by her husband in the presence of several named servants. It is thought that her husband, Paolo Giordano, killed Isabella because of an affair that she had had with Troilo Orsini or that her brother, the Grand Duke Francesco de’ Medici actually had ordered her death.