Calcio Storico Fiorentino: dates and origins

The Calcio Storico Fiorentino is played in June in Piazza Santa Croce: in 2026 the semifinals were on June 13 and 14 and the final on June 24, the feast of Florence's patron saint, with the Comune di Firenze as organizer.

2026 is done, 2027 is not announced

The 2026 tournament had two semifinals, on June 13 and 14, and a final on June 24, all in Piazza Santa Croce. The final traditionally lands on June 24, the feast of San Giovanni, while the semifinal dates change from year to year.

The Comune di Firenze has not published the 2027 calendar yet. June 24 is the one day you can hold open for the final, and even that is a tradition rather than an announced date.

A match played under siege, February 17, 1530

The game looks back to February 17, 1530², when Florentines played in Piazza Santa Croce while the troops of Charles V were besieging the city, as a gesture of defiance. The Comune presents that match as its symbolic reference, not as the start of the tournament held today, which was revived in the twentieth century.

Older ancestors are claimed too: the Greek sphairomachia and the Roman harpastum, both team ball games. Treat them as the lineage the city tells, not as a continuous history.

The Corteo comes first

The 2026 tournament was preceded by the Corteo Storico della Repubblica Fiorentina, the costumed procession of the old Florentine Republic. If you come for the spectacle rather than the score, the procession is half of what you came for.

Ticket prices and sale dates for 2027 are not published in our sources. The Comune di Firenze is the organizer, so its announcements are the ones to watch in spring.

Getting to Santa Croce

Florence is 1 hour 35 minutes from Rome on the fastest direct high-speed train, on the September 2026 timetable, which makes a June match possible as a day trip. Driving in is the mistake: the entire historic center is a limited traffic zone in five sectors, with cameras at the gates, and the rules are at ZTL in Florence.

The rest of the city's practical questions, from the tourist tax to the Cupola slots, are answered at Florence questions, and the city itself at Firenze.

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