August: Chiuso per Ferie

Visiting Florence in August has its downsides. Around the second week of the month, you will find yourselves walking the almost deserted city streets looking for a bar, restaurant or grocery shop that does not display the sign "CHIUSO PER FERIE" (closed for the holidays).
That’s because most Florentines - most Italians, really - will be on vacation in this period.
The city empties, with the exception of the historical center, where shops remain mostly open.
The day that sees the more people fleeing from the cities to got to the seaside, August 15th: Ferragosto. It is a national holiday in Italy, originally founded by Roman Emperor Augustus.

Ferragosto comes from the Latin feriae Augusti (rest of Augustus), in honor of Augustus, the first Roman emperor, from which also the August month takes its name.
At the time, this was a period of well deserved rest and celebration, after the great efforts of the agricultural working season.
Nowaways, the celebrations of Ferragosto generally involve a trip to the seaside and, of course, a feast! People tend to organize lunche dates with family and friends or celebrate with an elegant dinner. However, the closure of the shops, as we have mentioned, is not just on August 15th, it lasts almost the whole month.

What helped to strenghten this tradition of the August holiday trips, were certainly the “Ferragosto popular trains”, established by the Fascist regime, that encouraged people to travel for a couple of days in this period on the new regional trains, at highly discounted prices. Then, following the economic boom of the 60s, families were able to take the time to go on longer vacations, and even though the vacation length has shortened to an average of 2 weeks, this traditional summer exodus still affects the Italian cities as today.
Those who cannot afford to travel the world, will at least head to the nearest seaside town and find some relax at the beach. Even after the economic crisis brought about by the COVID pandemic, vacations remain sacred here.
The Bel Paese still has one of the longest school breaks in Europe, from June to the beginning of September. In the past it lasted even until October.
To the tourists that remain surprised by the amount of shops closed in August, we can only say to enjoy the crowdless city as long as they can. That’s what the Florentines do, particularly aooreciate the less traficated avenues at this time of the year.