The main attraction is known as the scoppio del carro ("explosion of the cart"). Like most good Florentine traditions, it dates back to the middle ages and involves the ancestors of our landlords, the Pazzi family. Legend has it that Pazzino dei Pazzi-- and let me just pause to point out that his name translates roughly to "Li'l Crazy of the Crazies," which may be relevant here-- participated in the First Crusade (1096-99) and was the first to scale the walls of Jerusalem. He returned home with some rocks from the Holy Sepulchre, and it became traditional to distribute fire sparked from these rocks to the hearths of the city at Easter. Gradually and inevitably, this turned into a display of holy pyrotechnics, initially curated by Pazzino's descendants.
The (modern-day) Pazzi, who know these things, told us where they set up the cart before the festivities begin, so we went to visit it in its dedicated garage.
It may well be the largest parking space in all of Italy...
...because this is no ordinary cart.
It's decorated with images of dolphins (or at least what passed for dolphins in the Renaissance) because this is the crest of the Pazzi family. Note also the explosives!
The cart is dragged out of its garage by tractor, then attached to a team of oxen-- not just any old oxen, but the ancient chianina breed which is supposedly unique to Tuscany. (The behavior of these oxen gave me concern that the cart might end up in the Arno, but their handlers were very skillful.)
Nothing goes with a nose ring like a floral headpiece.
Meanwhile, the rest of the parade got organized and took off, leaving the oxen and their cart lurching far behind.
Late to the party...
The parade arrived in front of the Duomo, where mass was going on, and a crew festooned the cart with more pyrotechnics, including a wire coming out of the Duomo.
Then, to the sounds of chant and bells, the bishop emerged from the church, blessed the pyrotechnics, and returned to the church, where he lit a fuse that sent a flaming mechanical dove shooting down the zip-line to ignite the cart. (That part took about .002 seconds, so it was not documented by this blogger.)
Bang! Happy Easter!
Apparently the degree of success of the pyrotechnics has signification for the coming months. I would say things are looking up.
At this point, the terrified camera ceased to function, but the show ended with Florentine flags unfurling from the cart and a lot of smoke in the air.
All in all, quite the spectacle.
In other springtime news, the ducks in our backyard have produced ten (10!) ducklings .
Peeps!
Happy spring!
2 commenti:
Do not eat the brown fluffy Peeps!
"flaming mechanical dove" will be the name of my new metal band
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