“The old lady comes at night with her shoes all broken” says a famous popular saying. And as tradition dictates, Castelfiorentino too is preparing to welcome the friendly little old lady who, in addition to brightening up family holidays, will make her appearance on the afternoon of Saturday 6 January, in the streets of the natural shopping centre.
In the morning, the main squares in the centre (Piazza Gramsci and Piazza Kennedy, as well as Via Costituente) will be occupied as usual by the weekly market, while in the streets dedicated to shopping – coinciding with the start of the “sales” – there will be an opportunity to “follow the tracks”‘” of the Befana in the shops that have joined the initiative.
Starting at 4:00 p.m., the Befana will appear, walking the streets of the centre with her mysterious helpers, to bring joy and fun to all children. At 5:00 p.m., the Teatro del Popolo will host the show “Spell of the Gnomes”, a medieval re-enactment fairy tale that tells stories of kings, dwarfs, shepherds, fairies and gnomes, alternating situations and moments of particular fascination for the child’s imagination.
On Sunday, 7 January, all the shops in Castelfiorentino will be open again on the occasion of the “sales” and, in the afternoon, in the streets of the centre, the “Passi di Luce” Company will perform the show “An Explosive Christmas”)”. The protagonist will be the character of Marcovaldo, intent this time on delivering packages on behalf of his company disguised as Father Christmas. In reality, the company’s gifts don’t seem to interest anyone, until his children, in search of a poor child to make happy, turn the situation upside down and create an explosive mix!
On Saturday and Sunday, in the streets of the upper city centre, the grand finale of “The street of cribs”, which, in addition to the numerous handcrafted cribs scattered everywhere and the “Luminous Crib” in the Parco della Pieve, this year presents a completely revamped “Meteorological Crib” in the Church of San Filippo (Via Attavanti), with new buildings but above all decidedly “improved” weather effects.
