When in Florence... New Year on March 25th

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The Florentine New Year is celebrated on March 25th at the Church and Piazza SS Annunziata.

The feast begins in the morning, in the Palazzo Vecchio, with a street parade with medieval dress and music. Hereafter, form 9am until 5pm a market takes place at the Piazza SS Annunziata, followed by concert.

From 1250 to 1750 the people of Florence gathered in the SS Annunziata to welcome the arrival of spring and to celebrate the Annunciation, when the Angel Gabriel told Mary that she was to be the mother of Christ.

The fresco of the Annunciation on the inner wall to the left of the entrance was the centerpiece of the New Year festivities. According to legend its painter fell asleep with the painting almost finished. When he woke up the Virgin mary's face had been added, by angels.

As a result, the Florentines refused to accept the Gregorian calendar year that begins on January 1, and even now the New Year is still unofficially observed on March 25, nine months before Christmas and the birth of Christ.

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