Festa del grillo
The Florence Cricket Festival celebration dates back to the nineteenth century, when the city’s entire population used to take part in a carnival-esque Ascension Day festival in the area now known as the Cascine Park. An occasion for play, courtship, good food and loose social etiquette, it provided an escape from the norms of an epoch known for its severe customs. Children would chase crickets, while shrewd merchants scouted the market for the ‘lucky’ singing crickets in cages—which were sold along with a lettuce leaf—giving the festival the theme and the name it still has today. Crickets were sold in cages until a few years ago, when animal rights activists put pressure on local authorities to create ‘fake’ cages.
Uscio
Door.
Example: Vo’ sù l’uscio a vedere se cambia i’ tempo! (I’m going to look out the door and see if the weather has changed.)
Names for melons in Florence
Two popular summer fruits, cantaloupe and watermelon, go by different names in Florence.
Popone
Cantaloupe. Example: C’erano certi poponi profumati a’ i’ mercato stamani! (The market had the sweetest-smelling cantaloupes this morning!)
Cocomero
Watermelon. There is nothing better than getting a fresh slice of watermelon from a local vendor and taking a leisurely stroll through the city on a hot summer night. It is especially popular during the month of August and for the festival of San Lorenzo (August 10), when fresh watermelon and homemade lasagne are given out during the celebrations. The oldest theatre in Florence, Teatro il Niccolini, on via Ricasoli, was once called the Teatro del Cocomero because the street was originally home to the city’s watermelon fields.
