The Florentine heat wave will soon be at our heels and, rest assured, it will be too hot to stay inside. Luckily for summer city-dwellers, the largest piazza in Florence’s city centre is gearing up to host 110 nights of live entertainment. For the second year running, Piazza Ghiberti near Sant’Ambrogio will become home to a series of hot summer events. From May 26 to September 9, the evening events’ calendar stretches across the entire summer sky. A cocktail of different artistic genres and cultural events, the 2006 Florentine Summerfest guarantees a dynamic combination of music, dance, cinema and culture.
The six-string guitar is protagonist of the festival’s ‘Summer Guitar’ series which showcases a wide range of guitar music from various genres. Fans can enjoy tunes from blues to rockabilty, jazz to pop music and flamenco to bossa nova. June 1 will celebrate the gypsy music tradition of the Jacopo Martini Quartet while on June 2, E.M.U and Simone Ricci will take the audience to a place where jazz from the 80s meets the New York hip-hop spirit of the 90s. ‘Drum shaman’ Alfio Antico will perform on June 7; and on June 9, Vanessa Peters will promote her latest album Thin Thread, a combination of west coast rock and southern country folk. Urban funk will take centre stage on June 10, with Franco Baggiani and the rhythm of bop and contemporary ‘groove’. Latin sounds laced with Mediterranean accents will echo in the piazza on June 21 with Medilatina.
Where would music be without dance? During Summerfest, a series of original dance shows will grace the space on June 6 and 23 with noteworthy performances of ‘Interlude’ and ‘Youth, Women and Dance’ by the Florence Dance Centre, lead by Marga Nativo and Keith Ferrone. On June 20, Time Out Ballet Company will have its turn with ‘Dancing Rhapsody’.
‘Summer Video’ is the name of Summerfest’s series where television and cinema become complementary protagonists for eager retro-inspired audiences. The Cult Video series, inaugurated on May 28, combines clips from pop TV on the big screen. Cult television shows like Ufo and Visitors and films like the Rocky Horror Picture Show and Woodstock will be playing for re-run lovers on June 5, 11 and 18. In an unexpected, but welcome academic initiative, the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Florence, located in nearby Santa Verdini, will also be organising a unique mix of events. From June 26 to June 30, architecture buffs will welcome Facoltà in Piazza, a combination of exhibits, videos and conferences on art and design in Florence, with internationally renowned speakers like Adolfo Natalizi, Aldo Colonnetti and Francois Burkhardt.
Those who hold football close to their hearts can gather in Piazza Ghiberti for ‘World Cup Nights’ where the mondiali’s most awaited matches will be projected on the big- screen for all fans to fight over. A 360 degree festival, Summerfest offers space for entertainment, debate, all-night refreshments and true Florentine fun. For more information and the complete programme schedule visit www.firenzesummerfest.it.
