Florence's Estate Fiorentina festival expands with €1M budget and new urban initiatives

The Estate Fiorentina, Florence's interdisciplinary summer festival, has grown into a six-month cultural program with nearly 1,000 events, largely free. The 2018 edition boasts a budget of €1 million, up €230,000 from 2017, combining public and private funds. Curator Tommaso Sacchi, head of Florence's cultural secretariat since 2015, emphasizes the festival's evolution into an 'urban laboratory' that integrates local associations—about 150 are now 'systematized'—and transforms public spaces into cultural venues. Key initiatives include the reopening of the Complesso di Santa Maria Novella for the Novella Classica festival, the use of the Manifattura Tabacchi complex as a cultural park hosting Teatro Puccini's summer cinema, Fabbrica Europa's Festival au desert, and the Florence Folks Festival. The Parco delle Cascine has become a cultural hub, with Firenze Rocks drawing 200,000 people to the Ippodromo del Visarno, and Fabbrica Europa and choreographer Virgilio Sieni establishing bases there. New projects include 'Walking Thérapie,' a theatrical promenade along the new tram line between Rifredi and Scandicci, and the 'Cinema Tascabile' mobile cinema in peripheral areas like Peretola, Mantignano, and Rovezzano. The contemporary art exhibition Ytalia, previously diffused, now concentrates at Forte Belvedere, featuring an Eliseo Mattiacci retrospective and performances. The festival aims to connect all city districts, leveraging the new tramway for sustainable mobility.