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City Gets New Logo
Image of Armed David Shocks Art World
Delivery Service 055 386 03 11 www.mrpizzafirenze.it
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A Guide to Italian Easter Food
Discover Tuscany’s Leisure Activities
WWW.FLORENCENEWSEVENTS.COM APRIL 2014, NO.6
Via Pietrapiana, 82/r Piazza Duomo, 5/r
Taking Back April 25
Explosive April
NATALIA PIOMBINO
A Month of Tradition & Spectacle Concludes with ‘White Night’ on April 30 AVANI KAPUR April brings exciting events and festive celebrations to Florence. From April 7 to 10, the British Institute of Florence hosts once again its Shakespeare Week, this year focusing on the Bard’s Italian-set plays (see page 20). For runners and walkers alike, the Half Marathon Firenze Vivicittà on April 6 is a great way to get moving and get to know the city. For lovers of international cinema, check out the “Middle East Now” film festival at the Odeon Cinema from April 9 to 14.
On Easter Sunday, one of Florence’s oldest and most intriguing traditions, the Scoppio del Carro, or Explosion of the Cart, takes place in Piazza del Duomo. This folk festival begins in the morning with a historic procession and flag-wavers, leading up to the main event at noon: the arrival of the ornately decorated cart and the release of a mechanical dove to ignite sacred relics within the cart (see page 10). Major exhibits such as Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino at the Palazzo Strozzi continue this month. Smaller, more eclectic events are not lacking, such as Galleria360’s
one-person exhibit of works by Japanese architect and artist Masaaki Hasegawa, which starts on April 4 (see page 19). April excitement culminates on April 30 with La Notte Bianca, or White Night, Florence’s all-night event that transforms city streets and piazzas into havens of modern culture, with art installations, film screenings, readings, concerts, free access to museums, and more (page 7). With its modern and ancient traditions, art exhibits, and various other cultural events, this Florentine April is sure to delight all.
In 2011, on the occasion of the celebration of the Sesquicentennial of the birth of the Italian state, as many recalled the Risorgimento (the nation’s unification) as the founding myth of the nation, it became evident that the values of honor, sanctity, and family that inspired this nation-building movement could not be considered today as the foundation of our sense of belonging. On the other hand, in the wake of Habermas’ thought, a “constitutional patriotism” (that is, the need to identify the Republican Constitution as the source of our allegiance to the nation), seems closer to our sensibilities. This constitutional pact is therefore that which unites us and the ethics of anti-fascism represent a “civic religion” that in turn makes us a community. At least from the early 90s (a period when there was a strong request for pacification of national memory), anti-fascism and the Resistance were the subjects of revisionist interpretations, which tried to give equal treatment as patriots to partisans and RSI fascist fighters. Furthermore, this revisionism has also attempted to undermine the concept of anti-fascism as the source of national identity and sentiment. Instead, anti-fascism should be emphasized as not only an integral part of the Italian Constitution, but as its fundamental feature, its bedrock. Today, our Constitution is understood as the CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
Pontormo and rosso exhibit until July 20
Vivicitta marathon on April 6
Getting Ready For pitti fashion
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