FESTA DI SAN ROMOLO:
Location: Fiesole, Firenze
Date: July 6th
On this day, the Patron Saint, San Romolo, is celebrated. The festival features a big outdoor market in the main square during the day, and a fantastic fireworks display in the evening. The town hall is decked with Roman candles and whirlers, and rockets are staged from both ends of the square. It's a good substitute for the Fourth of July if you're here. Don't miss it!

PISTOIA BLUES FESTIVAL:
Location: Pistoia
Date: Saturday, July 12th & Sunday, July 13th
Certainly one of the best musical events in Italy even though popular attendance and demand has expanded the artist revue to include many superstars that are far from blues! Twinned with the Chicago Blues Festival in Illinois, it attracts some of the world's greatest stars (past performers have included B.B. King, David Bowie, Stevie Winwood, Zucchero, David Crosby, Santana and Bob Dylan to name a few. There are special trains from Florence that will transport music lovers into Pistoia - one of the loveliest of ancient Tuscan cities that exists!

54th PUCCINI FESTIVAL:
Location: Torre del Lago Puccini, Lucca
Date: July & August
Lucca is the town where the famous composer, Giacomo Puccini, lived and composed some of his most remarkable works. Born in 1858, he was considered a musical genius by the young age of 17 for his complex orchestral works that could not even be performed by the Lucca Orchestra because it was not large enough. He then went on to study and compose opera for Milan's Teatro all Scala and Torino's Teatro Regio before composing many world-famous operas such as Madame Butterfly and Turandot. Every year since 1955 the town has celebrated this great man by offering performances of both his most famous and his most obscure pieces. As the event has matured it now features some of the greatest performing talent available. Performances are held in the Open Air Theater and events vary from year to year.

WORLD WATERMELON EATING CONTEST:
Location: Sassi, Lucca
Date: Last weekend of July
Started in 1968, this contest features men’s and women’s watermelon eating divisions. The most recent titleholder wolfed down a whopping 920 grams of the succulent fruit in only one minute flat.