Author’s Notes to the ReaderFlorentine calendar and first day of the year
The date of the 1st of January as the first day of the year was established in the Roman Age from the Julian calendar promulgated by Julius Caesar. This convention remained valid until the disintegration of the Roman Empire. During the Middle Ages local styles of dating came into use. In Florence, the year started on the 25th of March, the day when the Catholic Church celebrated the Annunciation (ninth month before the birth of Jesus). In 1582, the Gregorian calendar entered into force and almost everywhere the dating went progressively back to the date of the 1st of January but Florence kept considering the 25th of March as New Year’s Day until 1749, when Grand Duke Francesco III di Lorena issued a decree that made
