Rediscovering the Duca dei Broccoli: Two Days of Celebration, Memory and Community
Florence once had a sovereign of the land and its produce who, according to one interpretation, was born as a popular counterpart to the Duke of Athens, Walter VI of Brienne, who was driven out of the city in 1343. He is the Duca dei Broccoli – the “Duke of Broccoli” – a burlesque figure rooted in peasant culture and in the memory of Legnaia, who on Saturday, October 10, and Sunday, October 11, returns to tell the story of the neighborhood’s identity and becomes the starting point for imagining its future.
He is the inspiration for the Festa di Quartiere di Legnaia e Soffiano, a neighborhood festival with two days of music, workshops, talks, games and socializing, conceived by the Associazione Pippolo Music. On Saturday the festival takes place at the Circolo 25 Aprile, on Via Bronzino, and on Sunday at the Casa del Popolo di Legnaia “A. Della Bella”, a local community club on Via Cosimo Rosselli. Pippolo Music’s initiative is the first step toward a new folk festival dedicated to the area.
For a long time Legnaia and Soffiano were a landscape of vegetable gardens, crops and farming, closely tied to the city of Florence. This is the setting for the tradition of the Duca dei Broccoli, a character around whom festivals, parades and collective performances took shape, weaving together peasant culture, irony and a symbolic portrayal of power.
Not a historical reenactment in the strict sense, then, but the first public moment of a journey that uses a figure from local memory to bring attention back to the social and working-class history of Legnaia and Soffiano and, above all, to create new opportunities for the people who live there today to meet.
The program is designed to bring together longtime residents and newcomers, children, families, associations, musicians, and the area’s cultural and sports groups.
Things get underway on Saturday, October 10, at 4 p.m., at the Circolo 25 Aprile, with a music workshop for children and families for ages 5 to 10, led by Lorenzo Ugolini in collaboration with Pippolo Music and the Scuola di Musica di Settignano. Through play, listening and making music together, the youngest participants will get to know music and experiment firsthand with sounds and possibilities.
At 6 p.m. the Circolo 25 Aprile introduces itself to the neighborhood with a talk devoted to the stories and memories of Legnaia: a chance to tell the tale of the Duca dei Broccoli and get to know the club’s activities. Then the storytelling gives way to the convivial side of the festival: from 7 p.m., an aperitivo hosted by the Circolo and a concert by Sinedades.
The festival continues on Sunday, October 11, at the Casa del Popolo di Legnaia “A. Della Bella”, with a day that spans music, theater, food and games. At 11:15 a.m. the Scuola di Musica Talea presents Pinocchio gioca, suona, si trasforma (“Pinocchio plays, makes music, transforms”), a workshop for children ages 5 to 10, together with a performance by the students and an introduction to the musical instruments.
At 12:30 p.m. comes the neighborhood lunch, a convivial moment conceived as an integral part of the festival and a chance to get together and get to know one another. At 2:30 p.m. it’s time for the concert by La Nuova Pippolese, a group born from a journey of research into Florentine folk song and its reinterpretation, brought into the present through new arrangements and the meeting of different generations of musicians and listeners.
At 3:30 p.m. comes the arrival of the Duca dei Broccoli, with Claudio Benvenuti, Francesca Campigli and Don Giangaleazzo Maria, Duca di Legnaia e Signore di Soffiano – Duke of Legnaia and Lord of Soffiano. From 4 p.m. it’s over to the Bal.cane DJ set, while the afternoon carries on with board games and role-playing games run by the Gilda dei Bibliogiocatori and a ping-pong tournament organized in collaboration with ASD CIATT Firenze.
Finally, at 4:30 p.m., the groups that work in the neighborhood day in, day out will be introduced, in a meeting hosted by the Comitato Genitori di Legnaia, the local parents’ committee, and Piedibus, the walking school bus, designed to help people get to know one another and strengthen ties between associations and residents.
Music runs through both days, taking on different forms and roles: workshop, concert, folk repertoire, training and DJ set. Not mere background, but a shared language that connects different audiences, experiences and generations. In the same way, the workshops, the lunch, the games and the talks all help build a festival in which the neighborhood is not just the setting, but the protagonist.
The project brings together the Circolo 25 Aprile, the Casa del Popolo di Legnaia “A. Della Bella”, the Scuola di Musica di Settignano, the Scuola di Musica Talea, the Comitato Genitori di Legnaia, Piedibus, the Gilda dei Bibliogiocatori and ASD CIATT Firenze. A network of very different organizations, united by the goal of making the festival not just an event but also a way to start lasting collaborations in the area.
The October 10 and 11 dates are, in fact, a first step. The aim is to build, over the years, a broader, more widespread Festa del Duca dei Broccoli, one that gradually draws in the whole neighborhood through musical parades, theatrical happenings, collected testimonies, a living archive and moments devoted to the farming memory of Legnaia and Soffiano. A recognizable, participatory event, in which local history can once again become a shared heritage and a tool for reading the present.
Pippolo Music
The Festa di Quartiere is conceived by the Associazione Pippolo Music and made possible with support from Publiacqua and Unicoop Firenze – Sezione Soci Firenze Sud Ovest, in collaboration with the Comune di Firenze – Quartiere 4, the City of Florence’s District 4, and Arci Firenze.
Founded in 2020 by musicians, producers and cultural workers, Pippolo Music works in music education, artistic production, research and the promotion of local cultures. Its projects include music teaching programs, participatory initiatives and activities devoted to rediscovering Florentine folk tradition.
Saturday, October 10, and Sunday, October 11, in Florence, between the Circolo 25 Aprile and the Casa del Popolo di Legnaia “A. Della Bella”: live music with Sinedades and La Nuova Pippolese, children’s workshops, a neighborhood lunch, storytelling, games and a DJ set.
Information
Saturday, October 10, 2026, from 4 p.m.
Circolo 25 Aprile
Via Bronzino 117, Florence
Sunday, October 11, 2026, from 11:15 a.m.
Casa del Popolo di Legnaia “A. Della Bella”
Via Cosimo Rosselli 1/A, Florence
Neighborhood lunch: €20 for adults, €10 for children.
Reservations are required for the lunch and the ping-pong tournament.
Reservations by WhatsApp message only: +39 339 608 5832
Information: pippolomusic@gmail.com
