Xmas 2020 in Florence
Throughout Florence, from 8 December to 6 January, an extraordinary homage to Dante: Sight, from the forest to the light
Florence confirms the Christmas initiatives despite the uncertainties dictated by the evolution of the pandemic.
The F-Light festival of lights, the three "artist's" trees in three city squares, the large fir tree at the Duomo, a magical Via de' Tornabuoni festively lit, the illuminations on the avenues and the installations in the suburbs will be present again this year.
All under the slogan 'The light that unites us', with the city ready to illuminate places, monuments, trees but above all people's hearts.
In this context, with courage and generosity, the city of Florence proposes again the traditional appointment with F-Light, the Firenze Light Festival, entitled for this 2020, in homage to Dante, Sight, from the dark forest to light.
Never before, in fact, has the exit from the dark forest of Dante's memory been so desired and sought by everyone as this year.
Promoted by the City of Florence and organized by MUS.E, under the artistic direction of Sergio Risaliti, F-Light Sight, from 8th December 2020 to 6th January 2021, will relight urban spaces thanks to video-mapping, projections, lightshows and artistic installations.
One of the most important events of its kind in Italy, which has also become a point of reference in Europe.
The protagonist of the event will be, as usual, light, universal energy source and visual metaphor of rebirth in which we all trust.
This year's edition will feature two videomappings, which will animate both Ponte Vecchio and Palazzo Medici Riccardi, transforming their surfaces into a canvas through evocative visual effects inspired by the theme of the new edition of the festival.
Ponte Vecchio, thanks to the luminous installation "The other side of the life", will be "frescoed" by a series of geometric or figurative images and excerpts of verses from Dante's poem. We are all invited to reconstruct in full the original triplets and songs from which these fragments are taken.
The Chamber of Commerce building will then acquire a new face thanks to the play of coloured lights and projections, also in this case inspired by Dante's verses, while the Museo Novecento will host a light installation by the collective artist Claire Fontaine (from 6 December to 11 March) on the façade of the former Leopoldine building.
The words "We are with you in the night" will project towards the citizens and the world a message of sharing and solidarity, that compassion that makes us all feel part of a collective and global challenge, in which the categorical imperative is to take care of others in the darkest and most uncertain moments of life.
Among the places of F-Light also Piazza SS. Annunziata (with the artistic screening of Bright Festival) and Piazza San Marco, enhanced by light installations that will create a magical and delicate atmosphere.
The illuminations that will give new light to Piazza Indipendenza and its statues, thanks to a permanent installation that, as is now tradition, will be inaugurated on the occasion of the festival, confirming the commitment made by F-Light to leave a "lasting mark" on the city with the new definitive illuminations of some of its monuments and symbolic places, as well as the temporary activities of the Christmas period.
New permanent lighting will also be on Via Calzaiuoli and other streets and squares in the heart of the city. Many symbolic places will be illuminated with dynamic coloured lights for the entire duration of the festival: among them, for the first time, Forte Belvedere, which will be able to count on a specially designed scenography.
Scenic lighting of coloured light, again by Silfi Spa, also for the pool of the Ramps del Poggi, the Loggiato of the Istituto degli Innocenti and the historical Florentine doors: Porta alla Croce, Porta San Niccolò, Porta al Prato, Porta Romana, Porta San Gallo and Porta San Frediano.
The appointment with THREE ARTIST TREES is renewed again this year, an initiative experimented for the first time during the 2019 edition, a project of the Museo Novecento born from an idea of Sergio Risaliti, which involved three artists of international fame, making them experiment with the elaboration of a universal symbol of Christmas by creating real site specific works.
This will be done once again by Michelangelo Pistoletto, Mimmo Paladino and Domenico Bianchi, whose artist's Christmas trees will be installed respectively in Piazza Gino Bartali, Piazza Santo Spirito (these two from 8 December) and Piazza Santa Maria Novella (the latter from 14 December). An opportunity for dialogue between contemporary art and that of the past, which connote the identity of the places in which these works are inserted, to become a vehicle for knowledge and wonder.
F-Light will also leave the old town centre during the 2020 edition, touching all four suburbs, with an artist's illumination that will be installed in different places: Piazza delle Cure and Piazza Niccolò Tommaseo (Settignano), for Q2, Piazza dell'Isolotto and Piazza Paolo Uccello, in Q3, Piagge - Viper Theatre, for Q4, and San Donato Park in Novoli, for Q5.