Whenever I want to find out what special events, shows, exhibits, concerts and sagres are happening in Florence, all I have to do is to consult one of the many billboards which are strategically placed throughout Florence, found on building walls in or around the major piazzas. This is a custom that I've only seen in Italy, and each comune has laws that govern the use of space, and the amount of time that an advertisement can be attached to the wall. There are public workers called attachini comunale whose job it is to take down and refresh these billboards on an ongoing basis. In fact, the film "Ladri di Biciclette" (The Bicycle Theif) tells the story of an attachino in Rome whose bike gets stolen, and because having a bike is a requirement of the job, he has to recover his bike in order to keep his job as an attachino. If you haven't seen the film, I recommend the 1948 film directed by Vittorio De Sica, who won an Oscar for this outstanding neorealistic film.
