Happy 150th Birthday Italy!

March 17th marked 150 years of Italian unity, a date that was celebrated throughout the peninsula with a national holiday and various commemorative events and initiatives.  On the evening of the 16th Florence and several other cities celebrated with a "Notte Tricolore", a variation on the traditional Italian celebration the notte in bianca (a full night of events going on until dawn).

The city was heaving with people as more than 70 thousand people packed the piazzas Santa Croce, del Duomo and della Signoria to enjoy the numerous events organised by the Comune di Firenze.  Each Piazza had as its theme one of the 3 virtues that unification is said to have brought to Italy: language, art, and artisan crafts.  Each of the piazzas (and the Ponte Vecchio) had a key building lit up with the red, white and green of the Italian flag to striking effect.

There was live music, historical parades, traditional flag-throwing displays and much more.  Roberto Saviano, the author of the ground-breaking mafia exposé "Gomorra" also made a pit-stop at the Feltrinelli book shop in Florence where thousands turned up to listen to the author speak about the neapolitan mafia and his new book "Vieni via con me".

Below are a couple of photos from the evening: