FLORENS 2010

Conceived by Giovanni Gentile, president of Confindustria Firenze and by a promoting committee made up of Intesa Sanpaolo, Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze and Cna Firenze, Florens 2010, International Week of Cultural and Environmental Heritage, transforms Florence into a global laboratory of art, culture and economics and brings together, from all over the world, the best minds to reflect on the state of the art in the world.

30 conferences, 10 exhibitions and 150 events in the streets and squares, in buildings and bookshops. A series of initiatives to bring Florence back to the «dimension of international capital of culture» and regain the role of cultural protagonist that it has had since the Renaissance.

Among the numerous initiatives, the one destined to strike the Florentines and the many visitors was the surprise of Piazza del Duomo colored green: a large lawn that surrounded the Baptistery and Piazza del Duomo, enclosing the meaning of the Week. The “beautiful San Giovanni”, as Dante called the Baptistery, was the backdrop to the re-enactment of the miracle of San Zanobi, when the bronze elm tree at the top of the column turned green upon contact with the saint’s coffin. Unique and spectacular event, key figure and symbolic message of Florens 2010. The urban installation has historical, iconographic and symbolic motivations: the bond of the city of Florence with flora, plants, flowers and seasonal rebirth. At 6.30 in the morning, the Miracle of San Zanobi: Florence woke up with Piazza del Duomo, Santa Maria del Fiore and the Baptistery surrounded by a green lawn, just as happened on the occasion of the miracle.

In collaboration with the National Geographic Society, Once Extraordinary Events, a Florence event organization agency, has also created a photographic exhibition specifically designed for families, young people and children: Polar Obsession, set up at Palazzo Medici Riccardi. Photographer and marine biologist Paul Nicklen has applied a new vision to the most extreme places on the planet, discovering unknown characteristics and habits of animal life in relation to global climate change. A journey to discover extreme environments which culminated with the impressive world premiere images of an area of the Gulf of Mexico hit by the environmental disaster of the Deepwater Horizon platform.