The new year is celebrated in Florence on March 25.
This feast originated in the 7th century and recalls the advertisement of the incarnation of the word given to the Virgin Mary by the Archangel Gabriele.
Florence took on this day as the beginning of the civil calendar until, in November 1749, Grand Duke Francis III of Lorraine issued a decree which set January 1 as the starting date for the first day of the new year.
For the occasion, then as now, many Florentines, and more, go to the Basilica of the Annunciation to venerate the image of the Annunciation, whose face, according to an ancient legend, is said to have been painted by the angels.