by August Otto
For many Italians, particularly older generations, October 31 is simply not as significant as it is for Americans. The Halloween traditions that are now common in Italy have grown considerably in recent years, influenced in part by international movies, television, and popular culture.
Younger generations have embraced the holiday more enthusiastically. Costumes, Halloween parties, pumpkins, skeletons, and spooky decorations have all become increasingly familiar sights in Italian cities.
In Florence, this means you will know that it is Halloween, but you should not expect the entire city to revolve around the holiday.
One of the biggest differences is the scale of the celebration.
In the United States, Halloween can take over entire neighborhoods. Houses are decorated weeks in advance, stores fill with Halloween products, and on October 31, residential streets can be packed with trick-or-treaters.
Florence is much quieter.
You may see Halloween decorations in shops, restaurants, bakeries, bars, and other businesses around the city. On Halloween night, costume parties and themed evenings are also popular, particularly among university students and young adults.
Children participate too. You may hear “dolcetto o scherzetto,” the Italian version of “trick or treat,” and see children collecting sweets. However, trick-or-treating is not nearly as widespread or central to Halloween as it is in the United States.
By the end of October, Florence has settled into a different rhythm from the busy summer months. The days are cooler, the sun sets earlier, and evenings in the historic center have a distinctly autumnal feel.
It is a great time to experience another side of Florence, when the atmosphere of fall pairs naturally with the city’s historic streets, centuries-old buildings, and evenings spent in the city center.
To understand Halloween in Italy, it helps to look at what happens immediately afterward.
November 1 is All Saints’ Day, or Ognissanti, an important religious observance and national public holiday in Italy. November 2 is All Souls’ Day, or Giorno dei Morti, traditionally dedicated to remembering loved ones who have passed away.
These observances have much deeper roots in Italian culture than the modern celebration of Halloween. Visiting cemeteries, leaving flowers, lighting candles, and remembering deceased family members are traditions associated with this period in many parts of Italy.
For visitors, there is also a practical reason to know about Ognissanti: because November 1 is a national holiday, opening hours and schedules may differ from an ordinary day.
This creates an interesting contrast at the end of October. The costumes and parties of modern Halloween are followed almost immediately by much older and more reflective Italian traditions.
Florence may not celebrate Halloween on the same scale as an American city, but it does have one thing working in its favor: atmosphere.
Centuries-old buildings, narrow streets, historic palaces, powerful Renaissance families, legends, mysteries, and stories of intrigue are already part of Florence’s history. Once the sun goes down, the historic center can feel very different from the Florence you experience during the day.
You do not necessarily need a Halloween attraction to embrace that side of the city.
Accord’s Florence Mystery Whodunnit Tour is a fun option if you want to lean into the mysterious side of Florence. As you make your way through the city, you’ll follow clues and work to solve a mystery while seeing Florence from a different perspective.
If you happen to be visiting around October 31, it is an easy way to add something a little mysterious to your Florence itinerary without needing a traditional Halloween event.
If you want to celebrate Halloween while you are here, keep an eye out for what is happening around the city as October 31 approaches. Bars, clubs, cultural spaces, and other venues often organize costume parties and themed evenings, while activities for children can also be found around Florence.
But you do not need to plan your entire trip around Halloween.
Spend the day seeing Florence’s museums and landmarks, walk through the historic center as evening falls, have dinner at a local restaurant, and then see where the night takes you. Halloween can simply become one part of your Florence experience rather than the focus of your entire day.
Halloween in Florence may look a little different from what American visitors are used to, but that is part of the experience.
You can still find costumes, parties, and Halloween decorations around the city, while also getting a glimpse into the Italian traditions that surround this time of year. And with Florence’s centuries of history, narrow streets, and mysterious stories, it is a pretty fitting place to spend October 31.
However you spend Halloween in Florence, there is always more of the city to uncover with Accord.
