The Festival Of St. Luke

The festival of St. Luke the evangelist, the patron saint of artists and doctors, is celebrated on October 18th (the actual festival date changes from year to year - check the Comune website for the actual date). Impruneta, a municipality in the province of Florence on the hills between the torrent Ema and the river Greve, has been celebrating him for over 1,000 years with an old cattle fair.

Impruneta is situated halfway along the long route that the shepherds followed in the autumn to move from the Apennine valleys towards the Maremma, where they would spend the winter. It was customary to take a stop here to sell the products of their work: milk, cheese and wool.

The local Imprunetini welcomed them, exhibiting the objects that would be useful to them in the square: shoes, clothing and tools. The custom then turned into one of the most important cattle fairs around. Jacques Callot, the great 17th-century French engraver hung around the town for a while during the time of the festival and created what is unanimously considered to be one of the most beautiful watercolours of the 17th century, the Fiera dell'Impruneta.

The Festival of St. Luke still maintains that old veneer and remains one of the most significant events in Impruneta. It is a thousand-year-old tradition that is revamped every year, having called thousands of people to Piazza Buondelmonti for centuries. Exhibitions and shows are planned every day for an entire week, as well as the market in the square with more than 100 stalls of all kinds, selling typical local produce, including the fantastic olive oil and the renowned terracotta of Impruneta.

(Portions of this article first appeared in Toscana & Chianti News)
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