December 7, 2023

The Green Line festival illuminates all the most beautiful monuments in Florence

Until 7 January 2024 games of light and artistic installations throughout the city

Illuminations, decorated trees, artistic installations, music and shows as well as themed workshops, a Father Christmas house where you can deliver your letters with your wishes, a carriage drawn by white horses and a little train driven by elves. There are many initiatives that the city of Florence has organised for the Christmas season.

Giardino d'Inverno is the title of this edition scheduled until 7 January 2024. The festival, organised by MUS.E, animates the city from the centre to the periphery with installations in the neighbourhoods, video projections on the Ponte Vecchio and in Piazza della Signoria, and a special installation, signed by Nico Vascellari, in the Sala D'Arme.

The 2023 edition of Green Line is a song to the earth, an invitation to turn one's gaze, attention and care to the planet, hospitable garden and common home. The central installation of Green Line is once again the video-mapping on the Ponte Vecchio, which enchants citizens and visitors to the city over the Christmas period.

Also for the 2023 edition, the Festival aims to tackle the great artistic and technological challenge of creating a video projection on the façade of Palazzo Vecchio thanks to the work HELLO! curated by Alessandra Ioalè and realised by Francesco Cacchiani. At Palazzo Medici Riccardi, the lights of Green Line colour the Giardino Mediceo: the palace's orange trees, statues and lemon house come to life thanks to an original lighting, evoking the tones of citrus fruits so dear to the Medici tradition, fruits celebrated in Renaissance art and decorations. In the same place it is possible to admire a special Christmas Tree, decorated with evocative blooms thanks to the creative collaboration of the Liceo Artistico Leon Battista Alberti.

The jewel in the crown of this edition of the festival is OLTRE, one of the concluding events of MELMA, the great year-long project conceived by Nico Vascellari for the city of Florence, inaugurated in June with the exhibition at Forte Belvedere and continued with the performance Alessio in the Salone dei Cinquecento. In continuity with the ALESSIO project, it is possible to admire Vascellari's work in the Sala d'Arme for the entire period of Green Line.

In line with past editions, Green Line also brings to the city the special and permanent illuminations of the towers (including the recently restored Torre della Zecca), the ancient gates and other significant places in the city. These special illuminations are organised by Firenze Smart, thanks to which the illuminations on the façade of the Church of San Marco and on the monument in the centre of the square and in the loggia of San Paolo dei Convalescenti are inaugurated.

But Green Line is not limited to the historical centre of Florence, as it will also light up the other four Florentine districts for the entire festive period: in District 2, illuminations are planned in Piazza delle Cure and Piazza Savonarola, while in District 3, Piazza Elia dalla Costa in Gavinana and Piazza Acciaiuoli in Galluzzo will be the stars. And again in District 4, the tree with the light tunnel in Piazza dell'Isolotto and the lights in Piazza Pompeo Batoni are back. Finally, in District 5, a composition of spheres appears in Piazza Dalmazia, as well as lighting in San Donato Park. Via Tornabuoni, the facades of the La Rinascente maxi store, the Mercato Centrale in San Lorenzo and Florence's natural shopping centres are also illuminated.