In this guide
💡 The Short Version: The Christmas market, a Weihnachtsmarkt in Piazza Santa Croce, runs from 14 November to 20 December 2026: over fifty wooden stalls, free entry, 10:00 to 22:00 Monday to Thursday and 10:00 to 23:00 Friday to Sunday. It closes five days before Christmas. The Comune lights the Duomo tree around the 8 December holiday, and the cathedral steps hold a nativity scene to Epiphany. The Duomo complex is shut on 25 December and 1 January, and the dome is shut for maintenance from 16 to 20 November. Or book a walk: the Highlights Walking Tour with Expert Guidead is from €28 for 1.5 hours.
⚠️ After 20 December there is no market. From 21 December Piazza Santa Croce is an ordinary square again, and the New Year’s Eve concert is the next event there.
The season in dates
| What | Dates | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Christmas market | 14 November to 20 December 2026 | Piazza Santa Croce |
| Trees lit | Around the 8 December holiday; the city council, the Comune, sets the date | Piazza del Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio courtyard, Piazza della Repubblica, Piazzale Michelangelo |
| Nativity scene | From 8 December to Epiphany (the 2025 pattern) | Steps of the cathedral |
| Santa Croce basilica free | Sunday 20 December, 14:00 to 17:30; 26 December and 1 January the same hours | Piazza Santa Croce |
| Duomo complex closed | 25 December and 1 January | Piazza del Duomo |
| New Year’s Eve concert | 31 December, free (2025 pattern) | Piazza Santa Croce |
| Epiphany procession | 6 January | Piazza Pitti to Piazza del Duomo |
The Santa Croce market
Weihnachtsmarkt, Piazza Santa Croce
Piazza Santa Croce · 14 November to 20 December 2026 · Monday to Thursday 10:00 to 22:00, Friday to Sunday 10:00 to 23:00 · free · FeelFlorence
FeelFlorence describes more than fifty stalls in wooden houses selling handicrafts, Christmas decorations and traditional foods from across Europe, with hot drinks and a programme of events aimed at children. The square is in front of the basilica of Santa Croce, about 0.7 km south-east of the Duomo in a straight line. The last Sunday it is open, 20 December, is a day the basilica is free from 14:00 (no admission after 16:30). Otherwise Santa Croce costs €10: see Florence’s churches.
The same square holds the Calcio Storico matches in June and the free New Year’s Eve concert.
The trees, the nativity and the lights
The Comune lights its Christmas trees around the Immacolata holiday on 8 December. In 2024, a Sunday 8 December, the order was Palazzo Vecchio’s Michelozzo courtyard at 17:30, the Duomo at 18:00, Piazza della Repubblica at 18:30 and Piazzale Michelangelo at 19:30 (Quartieri, Comune di Firenze). In 2025 the Duomo tree was lit on Saturday 6 December, during the long weekend of the holiday (Nove da Firenze). The Comune sets the date each year; 8 December 2026 is a Tuesday.
A Christmas tree beside the cathedral, with Giotto’s Bell Tower behind. Photo: Steve Jurvetson, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
On the cathedral steps the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore sets up a nativity scene of life-size terracotta figures, on view from 8 December to Epiphany. In 2025 the blessing by the Archbishop was set for 10:15 on the morning of 8 December.
Florence Lights Up, the Comune’s programme of video-mapping on the Ponte Vecchio, Palazzo Vecchio and the church of San Paolino, ran from 6 December 2025 to 6 January 2026 (Comune di Firenze). The dates and sites change from year to year.
The Christmas tree at Piazzale Michelangelo. Photo: Anna.Massini, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Between Christmas and Epiphany
- Closed days. The Duomo complex, the Uffizi, the Accademia and the Medici Chapels are shut on 25 December and 1 January. Santa Croce and the Boboli Gardens are shut on 25 December, and the Museo Galileo on both days. San Lorenzo is shut on 1 and 6 January. The Uffizi, Accademia and Medici Chapels are also shut every Monday, including 28 December and 4 January: see what to book before you go to Florence.
- New Year’s Eve. The 2025 programme was a free concert in Piazza Santa Croce with entry free until the safety plan’s capacity, gospel choirs in Piazza Santissima Annunziata, jazz in Piazza del Carmine and a countdown projected on the front of Palazzo Vecchio at midnight. The Comune posted that programme on 31 December itself. The tram ran all night, buses 6, 11, 14, 17 and 23 ran to 02:30, and the limited traffic zone applied without a break from 07:30 on 31 December to 08:00 on 1 January (Comune di Firenze). Glass containers were banned in the UNESCO area of the centre and fireworks across the built-up area.
- Epiphany. On 6 January the Cavalcata dei Magi, about 700 costumed figures including the Florentine Republic’s historic procession, usually leaves Piazza Pitti, crosses the centre and ends in Piazza del Duomo with a salute, a culverin shot and the gifts laid at the living nativity (Comune di Firenze, Cultura).
Tours and evenings
Highlights walking tour
From €28 · 1.5 hours
Florence: Highlights Walking Tour with Expert Guidead walks from the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore to the Ponte Vecchio with a local guide. The listing offers eight languages including English.
Renaissance and Medici tales
From €12 · 2 hours
Florence: Renaissance and Medici Tales Guided Walking Tourad covers how the city became the cradle of the Renaissance and the Medici family’s mark on it. The listing offers English and Spanish.
Opera in a church
From €35 · 1 hour
Florence: Santa Monaca Church Italian Opera Concert Ticketad puts Italian opera arias in the church of Santa Monaca, built in 1400, for an evening once the light has gone, at about 16:40 in mid-December. For a theatre instead, the Immersive Italian Opera Concert at the Teatro Nazionalead is from €43.40 for 75 minutes.
Where to stay for the market and the tree
The links go to the hotel on Hotels.com. Distances are straight lines. Where to stay in Florence compares the areas, and hotels near the Duomo lists the hotels round the tree.
Plaza Hotel Lucchesi
Lungarno della Zecca Vecchia 38 · 82 rooms and 10 suites · about 230 m from the market · Hotels.comad
A hotel that opened in 1860 on the Arno, where the rooms look either at the river or at Santa Croce. The terrace has a bar and a pool, which the hotel runs in the summer season.
The James Suite Hotel Firenze 1564
Via di Mezzo 20 · 14 rooms · one Michelin Key · about 410 m from the market · Hotels.comad
A 16th-century convent in Sant’Ambrogio, which Michelin calls one of the city’s quieter quarters. Some suites have private patios or a sauna, and there is a candlelit bar and a rooftop terrace.
Hotel Duomo Firenze
Piazza del Duomo 1 · about 60 m from the cathedral · Hotels.comad
A hotel in a 14th-century building that says it is the only three-star hotel in Florence with rooms directly facing the cathedral. Not every room has the view: the website lists the Duomo-view rooms as a category of their own, so book that category.
Planning
- Weather and light. December averages a high of 11.4°C and a low of 2.8°C, with 9.6 rain days, at the Firenze Peretola weather station; November is the wettest month, at 118 mm (LaMMA, 1991 to 2020). The sun sets at about 16:40 in mid-December.
- Busy dates. The Firenze Marathon is on Sunday 29 November 2026, and the 8 December holiday falls on a Tuesday. The first Sunday of December, 6 December, is a free day at the state museums, with no booking and a queue (Uffizi).
- Closures to plan round. The Bell Tower is closed for maintenance from 9 to 13 November 2026 and the dome from 16 to 20 November 2026: see Duomo tickets and the dome climb.
- Getting there. Piazza Santa Croce is a walk from the cathedral; the tram and airport buses are in Florence public transport and Florence airport to the city.
Next
For the weather and events across the year, see the best time to visit Florence, and for Easter, Easter in Florence. To fit the sights into the days around the market, Florence in one or two days and 3 days in Florence set the order. Where to eat in Florence and Florence food tours cover the meals.
Common questions
When is the Florence Christmas market in 2026?
From 14 November to 20 December 2026 in Piazza Santa Croce. It is open Monday to Thursday 10:00 to 22:00 and Friday to Sunday 10:00 to 23:00, and entry is free, according to FeelFlorence, the city's official tourism site. It has over fifty stalls in wooden houses.
Is the Florence Christmas market open at Christmas?
No. It closes on 20 December, five days before Christmas Day. Any page that gives the dates as 5 December to 6 January is wrong for this market.
When is the Christmas tree lit in Piazza del Duomo?
The Comune sets the date each year. The ceremony was on Sunday 8 December in 2024, with the Duomo tree lit at 18:00, and the 2025 tree was lit on Saturday 6 December. 8 December 2026 is a Tuesday and a public holiday.
What is closed on 25 December and 1 January in Florence?
The whole Duomo complex (cathedral, dome, Bell Tower, museum, Baptistery and Santa Reparata) closes on both days. The Uffizi, the Accademia and the Medici Chapels close on both, Santa Croce and the Boboli Gardens on 25 December, and San Lorenzo on 1 and 6 January.
What is the weather in Florence in December?
At the Firenze Peretola weather station, December averages a high of 11.4°C and a low of 2.8°C, with 88 mm of rain over 9.6 rain days (1991 to 2020). The sun sets at about 16:40 in mid-December.
What happens in Florence on New Year's Eve?
For 2025 into 2026 the Comune put on a free concert in Piazza Santa Croce, gospel choirs in Santissima Annunziata, jazz in Piazza del Carmine and a countdown projected on Palazzo Vecchio at midnight. The tram ran all night. The Comune posted the 2025 programme on 31 December itself.
When is the Epiphany procession in Florence?
On 6 January. The Cavalcata dei Magi, about 700 costumed figures, usually leaves Piazza Pitti and ends in Piazza del Duomo with the gifts laid at the living nativity, according to the Comune's culture pages.
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