… the traditional Florentine Easter celebration. Wikipedia says, “On the morning of Easter Sunday, the 30-foot-tall antique cart (in use for over 500 years), moves from the Porta al Prato to the Piazza del Duomo. Hauled by a team of white oxen festooned with garlands of the first flowers and herbs of spring, the cart is escorted by 150 soldiers, musicians, and people in 15th century dress. Meanwhile, a fire is struck using the historic flints from Jerusalem at Chiesa degli Santi Apostoli. It is then carried in procession to the cathedral square by members of the Pazzi family, clerics, and city officials. The cart is loaded with fireworks while a wire, stretching to the high altar inside the cathedral, is fitted with a mechanical dove (the "colombina"). Shortly thereafter, at the singing of the Gloria in excelsis Deo during Easter Mass, the cardinal of Florence lights a fuse in the colombina with the Easter fire. It then speeds through the church to ignite the cart outside. During all of these stages, the bells of Giotto's campanile ring out. The complex fireworks show that follows lasts about 20 minutes. A successful display from the "Explosion of the Cart" is supposed to guarantee a good harvest, stable civic life, and good business.
The procession began in front of Mia’s apartment about 9:00, with the fireworks slated for the Duomo piazza at 11:00 am. As we walked down Mia’s street at about 8:30 we could see the brindellone sitting in the middle of the street, fully strung with various types of firecrackers, and marchers in medieval costumes milling around. There were drummers, pipers, flag wavers, ladies and lords.
At 9:00 with the church bells pealing, the parade commenced. First came two mounted policemen on black horses, followed by each of the groups of marchers. A donkey cart full of sand followed the townspeople. Just after the donkey cart came the brindellone, pulled by four huge white oxen with sprays of spring flowers attached to their headpieces. Than came two small hand pulled carts filled with flowers, olive branches, and Easter eggs. A street sweeper was the tail end.
Groups of costumed marchers joined the parade along the route. We hurried to the piazza between the duomo and the baptistery which was already crowded; we found a place to stand about five rows from the barricades. The procession arrived about 10am. From 10 to 11am we heard parts of the church service being held in the baptistery, watched the pyrotechnics guys go up in a cherry-picker to place a pole on top of the cart, and then a fireworks display on top of the pole, and another person rig extra fireworks on each side of the cart. About 10:45 the people pulling carts after the brindellone handed flowers and olive branches to the waiting crowd and the priest walked along the barricades with holy water, blessing the crowd.
Promptly at 11, the church bells began tolling, and the clay dove rocket flew out of the church and ignited the fireworks display, then returned to the church. Many of the first fireworks were firecrackers, each louder than the last, before beautiful displays of fountains, waterfalls, pinwheels, etc. It was an amazing! The smoke from the fireworks became so thick that it was hard to see the cart. The display lasted about 12 minutes. In the grand finale, three flags unfurled at the very top of the cart.
When it was over, the crowd dispersed very slowly, because of all the barricades. We made our way back to Mia’s apartment to begin cooking Easter dinner. We hadn’t been in the apartment for long before Frank spotted the brindellone returning, being pulled by a tractor, with the oxen following patiently behind. The brindellone garage is across the street from Mia’s apartment, and it took quite awhile for them to get it safely parked inside.
Mia and I took a taxi to the antique market, and spent a happy hour or two browsing the stalls before cabbing it back to the apartment where Frank was resting. Dinner was our traditional scorpelli in brodo, with a salad, veal and roasted potatoes. A good time was had by all. Frank crowned the day by passing five kidney stones when we got back to the hotel!
I only have one thing to say, Judy you should write for a travel magazine.
ReplyDeleteMiss you guys