I will be in Montespertoli on Nov. 1 (All Saints Day) and wondered how many things would be closed there and in Florence.
Do museums, cafe's, shops and restaurants close or have reduced hours? And if so, what would you suggest a traveler with a car do that day?
Anonymous
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I believe that museums may be closed.
Thursday 1 November - Ognissanti (a Public Holiday in Italy).
These are holidays for going to Mass and visiting the cemeteries where your family is buried, Many people return to the town where they were born, or where their parents were born.
In the region Le Marche there is a great truffle festival that weekend in the town of Acqualagna, as well as the weekend before and after:
http://www.acqualagna.com/
This is the height of the white truffle season, and there are probably festivals in Tuscany also.
I don't know what is going on in Montespertoli, but in Montalcino there is the:
Feast of the Thrush
http://www.montalcino-tuscany.it/sagra_del_tordo.htm
You should try the "ossa dei morti", little hard biscuits made with round almonds and flavored with cinnamon and rum. Be careful, they could break a tooth!
Some towns are beginning to have Halloween festivals. It's something imported from the US, although in lots of places there are traditions derived from the pre-Roman Celtic populations.