April 30 (yes, I know it was more than a month ago!) is Queen’s Day in the Netherlands. Since we were traveling this year, I was sorry to have to miss out on oranje fever. As it turned out, Florence gave me an unforgettable replacement: Notte Bianca.
Named for the Italian expression for a sleepless night, Notte Bianca (“White Night”) is an annual event in which Italy’s biggest cities stay up till dawn to celebrate art, culture, music and food. That means partying in the streets, free concerts, free admission to museums, even free breakfast (free is good!) and general all-night awesomeness. (It apparently doesn’t mean all-white attire, although I did spot a few brave souls in white.)
Our Airbnb hosts told us about Notte Bianca when we arrived, but it took some doing to find any information on it English (grazie mille to Girl in Florence 2.0 for that). Browsing through the program, I knew instantly that I wanted our first stop to be the Casa della Creativita, where the makeup artists of the Maggio Musicale theater company were offering free makeup sessions especially for Notte Bianca.
For me, part of the fun of a special night out is getting ready for it: dressing up and putting on a face. Getting the “face” part taken care of by professional theater artists sounded absolutely fabulous!
Casa della Creativita was packed when we got there at 9 p.m. after a long evening nap (a must for this 30 year-old granny to stay out all night). About 7 or 8 makeup artists were hard at work putting whimsical touches on eager faces.
I was impressed by how many men (real men, with motorcycles, girlfriends and all) were there to get made up. Gotta love Italian men! I think the element of masculinity made the artists’ creations look even more kick-ass.
My 20-minute wait flew by because it was so fascinating to watch the artists at work. Soon enough, it was my turn in the makeup seat.
I gave myself over to the expert hands of this dainty, elegant Italian lady. As soon as she dipped her brush into a pot of gold dust, I knew I would love the outcome (I have a weakness for metallics). She looked pretty happy with it, too!
Encouraged by all the men around him having their faces made up, Marlon had his face painted as well.
And this is how we hit the town.
So many people stopped to stare, take our picture or pay us compliments on the street that night. We even got stopped by a museum guard who just wanted to talk about our faces (in rapid-fire Italian, of course).
I loved my Notte Bianca look and thought it was the perfect start to an artsy all-nighter. Do you agree?
