I blinked and suddenly August has arrived, the strange month of July or #nosummer as the twitter trend seems to be liking these days, is finally over. Everyone loves to complain about the weather but I think we all have done enough whining to last a lifetime.  Truth be told it’s been a fabulous month for me, lots of interesting work opportunities, a birthday surprise trip to Puglia (post coming soon) and cool weather. Yes the rain is too much and a typical summer it is not, however when you are a freelancer working from home without air conditioning, you’ll gladly take a storm over scorching hot miserable days anytime. It should be noted that August is traditionally known as the month that the Italians flee town, leaving a few of us non-traditionalists behind and a bunch of bewildered tourists confused to as why everything’s closed. It’s actually a pretty cool month in a lot of ways, parking is plentiful and Florence is starting to ‘get’ that having decent events during this period is a good idea, hence why this month’s list is more important than ever.

Cool Tour & summer visits | Fortress of Belvedere, Via di San Leonardo, 1. All summer, this iconic place with some of the best views in town is open to the public with a cool new exhibit on display. Closed on Mondays, visitors can check out one of my favorite spots in town from 10am-8pm (the exhibit runs until October 4th).  € 5,00 entrance. They also do aperitivo (closes early at 8pm).  Website with more info here. 

*August 3rd will be yet another open day hosted by Il Gioco del Lotto. Florentine natives and residents can enjoy a guided tour of the exhibition by Giuseppe Penone for free, with a reservation. Info: 055 217704, reservation: 055 2768224/ 055 2768558.

Sagra : Food Festival | Feste del Mugello running until August 17th. Garden of OBIHALL – Ex Area Kontiki, Lungarno Aldo Moro a Firenze (take bus 14 A Girone to get there). Open everyday at 7pm, here you can try a number of local dishes like, tortelli, ravioli, grilled meats and much more in a fun, food festival ambiance that you don’t need a car to get too. Website

Photo credit: Festa del Mugello website

Party in the Piazza | August 10th. Festa di San Lorenzo {the second patron of the city}. At 10 a historical parade will take place in the piazze di parte guelfa, signoria, and end in San Lorenzo. At 9:30pm will be a  philharmonic concert “Gioacchino Rossini” in Piazza San Lorenzo. I’ve actually been to this a few times and it’s always a good time, I do remember them handing out free watermelon to the public though I can’t confirm that this will happen again, one can only hope!

Wine Under The Stars | Calici di Stella 2014. An annual event on the festa si san lorenzo, August 10th all over Tuscany. Participating wineries offer up free tastings and live music, I have the 2014 list here. Also some piazzas will feature tastings as well, such as in the historical center of Montepulciano, see the official event facebook page for more info.

Guided Visits | San Niccolo Tour, a perfect August activity is a visit to the iconic ‘torre di san niccolo’ where you can observe Florence from a very unique angle, plus it’s a great workout! You can visit until September 30th from 5pm – 8pm, guided visits in both Italian & English, email for info: museicivicifiorentini.comune.fi.it

Aperitivo at the Synogogue | Every Thursday at the Balagan Cafe’ is an apericene (big buffet), meetups, dance, music and readings in the beautiful garden of the synagogue in Florence.  via Farini 6, Firenze, Phone: 0552346654.

Pool Time | Why not visit one of the cities public pools? The seaside is overcrowded so thanks to The Florentine, you can swim in the city with this awesome list. My personal favorite is Le Pavoniere :).

Food Festivals in Tuscany |  I mentioned the one in Florence (Festa del Mugello) above but there are other August food festivals located around the Toscana region that you might want to check out. List by The Florentine!  Here is an additional list from an Italian site.

While August can seem like a ‘dead’ month and you might hear more foreign languages in the city than Italian, I recommend enjoying the peace and quite and visiting some museums that remain open, like Forte del Belvedere and the new contemporary art museum just opened in the city, Museo Novecento (featured on top of this post). Museo Novecento, Piazza Santa Maria Novella, 10,Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday – 10.00 – 9pm, Thursday 10.00 – 2pm, Friday 10.00 – 11.00pm, Saturday and Sunday 10.00 – 9pm. I plan on touching on August more in a later post but until then, let me know if there is a cool event around town that you think I should add to this list! All comments welcome :).