The forgotten Thanksgiving of Florence: the feast of San Simone

Until the mid-20th century, October 28 was a day of celebration in Florence. The Fiera di San Simone filled the small square of the same name, today a quiet corner near Piazza Santa Croce, with the scent of roasted chestnuts and the chatter of vendors. Known as the “festa delle ballotte e del vin novo,” it marked the end of the harvest season, a moment of gratitude for the abundance of the land.

Families would gather around a large fire where chestnuts were boiled or roasted, and where traditional seasonal dishes were prepared: the pattona—a cake made from chestnut flour—and the migliaccio, enriched with raisins and rosemary. For centuries, these foods were staples on Tuscan tables, offering warmth, nourishment, and energy for the long winter ahead. The fair of San Simone was, in many ways, the Florentine version of a “Thanksgiving,” deeply rooted in the city’s agricultural traditions.

The festival’s origins stretch back to medieval times, when Florence still depended on the rhythm of rural life and the generosity of the surrounding hills. Farmers and traders would descend from the Apennines to sell their goods, while townspeople stocked up for the winter. The saying “Per San Simone ballotte e vin novo” summed up the spirit of the day: a celebration of community, simplicity, and gratitude.

Today, Piazza San Simone is one of those tucked-away corners of Florence that visitors often overlook. Its quiet atmosphere hides centuries of history. The square is dominated by the small Church of Santi Simone e Giuda, founded around 1192 and later rebuilt in the 13th century. Behind its simple façade lies a treasure of Baroque art: paintings by Jacopo Vignali, Francesco Curradi, and Fabrizio Boschi, as well as sculptures by Orazio Mochi.

After the restorations of the 17th century, the church became a refined example of Florentine architecture from that era. Today it has found a new life as a place of worship for the city’s Ukrainian Greek-Catholic community, where the Byzantine rite is celebrated. The golden icons that now decorate its interior evoke the same sense of continuity and gratitude that once animated the old fair outside its doors.

The Fiera di San Simone may have disappeared from the city calendar, but its memory survives in the traditions of autumn: roasted chestnuts, new wine, and the warmth of gathering together as the days grow shorter. In a city known for its grand monuments and Renaissance masterpieces, Piazza San Simone remains a small yet eloquent reminder of Florence’s more humble, rural soul—the one that once celebrated, simply, the gifts of the earth.

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