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FLORENCE
(FIRENZE) - NIGHTLIFE AND
ENTERTAINMENT |
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Florentine nightlife has a
reputation for catering primarily to
the middle-aged and affluent, but
like every university town it has
its pockets of activity, and by
hanging around the San Marco or
Santo Spirito quarters you should
pick up news of any impromptu
events. For gay and lesbian
nightlife
. The city's sizeable population of
British and American students
ensures a supply of English-language
films , and the highbrow
cultural calendar is filled out with
seasons of classical music, opera
and dance to rival the best in
Europe.
You can find information
in English about concerts and shows
at the kiosks in Piazza Repubblica
and inside the Palazzo Vecchio;
otherwise, consult the tourist
offices, check out advertising
hoardings around town or get hold of
the Firenze Spettacolo
monthly listings magazine
. The ticket agency Box
Office, at Via Alamanni 39 (tel
055.210.804, www.boxoffice.it
) and Chiasso de' Solderini 8r off
Via Porta Rossa (tel 055.219.402),
has information and tickets for all
events, concerts and festivals - but
permanently busy phones.
Clubs and live music venues
Andromeda , Via dei
Cimatori 13. Central club that
heaves at weekends, with music
covering all bases from Euro-dance
to Caribbean. Admission around
L25,000/?12.91. Closed Sun.
Be Bop , Via dei Servi
28r. Classy rock, jazz and blues
cellar, often crammed solid with
students. Generally open nightly.
Central Park , Parco
delle Cascine. Currently one of
the city's best clubs, with
adventurous, wide-ranging music
and a superb sound system.
Admission L15,000/?7.75. Wandering
in the park outside is unsafe,
doubly so for women; take a taxi
there and back. Closed Sun-Wed in
winter.
Chiodo Fisso , Via Dante
Alighieri 16r. Good central venue
for folk and sometimes jazz. Open
nightly.
Jazz Club , Via Nuova
de' Caccini 3. Florence's foremost
jazz venue has been a fixture for
years in this side-street off
Borgo Pinti. The L10,000/?5.16
annual membership fee gets you
down into the medieval
brick-vaulted cellar, where the
atmosphere is informal and there's
live music most nights. Gigs often
decamp to suburban parks in the
summer - check before heading out.
Closed Sun.
Pongo , Via Verdi 59r.
An afternoon bar and cybercafé
that mutates into the city's most
refreshingly unpretentious club,
with no dress code, live music
most nights and some excellent
DJing to boot. Admission
L10,000/?5.16 (includes first
drink). Closed Sun &
June-Sept.
Film
There are a couple of cinemas
showing films undubbed. Cinema
Astro, in Piazza San Simone near
Santa Croce (no phone), screens
English-language films six nights
weekly, while Cinema Goldoni, Via
dei Serragli 109 (tel 055.222.437)
and Odeon Original Sound, Via
Sassetti 1 (tel 055.214.068, www.cinehall.it
) run VO (original-language) films
once or twice a week. Most cinemas
close in the summer months, when open-air
screens take over - usually at
the Forte Belvedere, above the Bóboli
gardens, and at the Palacongressi,
near the train station on Viale
Strozzi. Tickets are around
L12,000/?6.20, often less for
students.
Classical music, opera and dance
The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
is one of Europe's leading
festivals of opera and classical
music , lasting from late
April to early July. Events are
staged at the Teatro Comunale, the
tiny Teatro Goldoni, the Teatro
della Pergola, the Palazzo dei
Congressi, and occasionally in the
Bóboli gardens. Tickets from
L20,000/?10.33 to L160,000/?82.63
go on sale in early April from the
Teatro Comunale box office, Corso
Italia 16 (tel 055.211.158 or
055.213.535, www.maggiofiorentino.com
) as well as from Liaisons Abroad
. Day tickets are sold from the
theatre box office an hour before
each performance for
L20,000/?10.33.
The Teatro Comunale is the
city's major concert venue,
hosting the symphony orchestra
under the direction of Zubin Mehta,
which performs a new programme
every week during the winter
concert season (Jan-March), as
well as a prestigious opera and
ballet season in the autumn
(Sept-Dec). The Teatro della
Pergola, at Via della Pergola 12 (tel
055.247.9651), built in 1656 and
believed to be Italy's oldest
theatre, hosts seasons of chamber
concerts by the Amici della
Musica that draw in world-class
performers (Jan-April &
Oct-Dec), while the Florence
Chamber Orchestra (tel
055.783.374, www.videosoft.it/orchest
) performs every two weeks
(April-June & Sept-Oct) in
Orsanmichele church. The Estate
Fiesolana summer festival
concentrates on chamber and
symphonic music, with most events
held in Fiesole's open-air Roman
amphitheatre
. July's three-week Florence
Dance Festival showcases
first-rate classical, traditional
and contemporary dance; get
tickets and information from the
festival offices at Borgo della
Stella 23r (tel 055.289.276, www.florencedance.org
) or the Box Office agency
.
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