The official tourism website of the Municipality and Metropolitan City of Florence
The official tourism website of the Municipality and Metropolitan City of Florence
The official tourism website of the Municipality and Metropolitan City of Florence
The celebration of Saint Anne has ancient origins dating back to 14th-century Florence, during the expulsion of the Duke of Athens, Gualtieri di Brienne, a foreign tyrant of a city that had always resented its rulers. The popular uprising (1343), which forced the duke to flee through a small, hidden door in Palazzo Vecchio, took place on the day dedicated to Saint Anne and, according to popular belief at the time, was due to her direct intercession. This episode gave the saint not only religious importance but also high civic value, establishing her as the protector of the city.
Today, the event will be celebrated, as usual, with a historical parade that stops in Piazza Signoria and in front of the Duomo, before reaching Orsanmichele, where it concludes with the ceremony of delivering the candle to the altar of Sant'Anna.
Starting on July 26, 2025, on the occasion of the traditional annual feast of Saint Anne, protector of Florence, the Mezzanine Hall of Palazzo Vecchio will once again be open to the public. Here, along with other works, is preserved a very rare iconographic testimony to the historical event that gave rise to the special tributes that the Florentines dedicate to this saint. It is a detached fresco of great importance, attributed to Orcagna, dated between 1343 and 1349, from the ancient Stinche prison. The fresco allegorically depicts the tyrannical Angevin lord Gualtieri di Brienne, Duke of Athens, who was forced to leave the city due to a revolt that broke out on the day dedicated to the Mother of the Virgin in the liturgical calendar.
Comune di Firenze
The procession of the Feast of St. Anne will follow this path: the Guelph palace, Via Porta Rossa and Via Porta Santa Maria, Via Vacchereccia, Piazza Signoria, Via Calzaiuoli Cathedral. From the cathedral the procession will move along in Orsanmichele, via Calzaiuoli, Via degli Speziali, Piazza della Repubblica, Via Calimala.
On this important day for Florence, and to mark the reopening of the Mezzanine to the public, special guided tours in Italian are scheduled at 10:30 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m., and 4:30 p.m., organized by the MUS.E Foundation. (duration 1 hour and 15 minutes, reservations required +39 055 0541450 info@musefirenze.it).
Participants will have the exceptional opportunity to walk up the secret staircase commissioned by Gualtieri di Brienne, visit the Mezzanine spaces that now house the Loeser donation, and be introduced to the room reopened for the occasion, where Orcagna's detached fresco is located. The work, the true focus of the visit, depicts the expulsion of Gualtieri from a palace still in its medieval guise, under the benevolent and protective gaze of Saint Anne, to whom the symbols of the city of Florence are offered.