In historical memory the explosion of the ‘Carro’ (The Pazzi’s fire cart) was celebrated in the occasion of the Patron of Florence’s (San Giovanni Battista) celebration, the 24th of June. Later, starting from the seven hundreds, it became the celebration of the Christian tradition on Easter day.
The tradition dates the religious commemoration, which overlaps with the historical one, back to Pazzino de Pazzi, a Florentine nobleman who left for the Holy Land to fight the first Crusade in 1099. And it was Pazzino, in the effort of fighting the invaders, who succeeded in climbing Jerusalem’s walls and raise the Christian banner.
As a reward he received from the Chief of the Crusade, Goffredo di Buglione, some silica splinters of the Holy Sepulchre (now preserved in the church of the Santissimi Apostoli in Florence). To celebrate Pazzino’s glorious return the de Pazzi family decided to have a cart built: the "Fire cart", or "Brindellone" (because of its wobbling motion ahead), which carried the holy fire, lighted with the silica fragments used as flints, along the city roads.
And now, during the Christian celebration, that ancient tradition is re-evoked with a procession which moves from the church of the SS. Apostoli and runs along Florentine city ways following the cart until the Duomo square. During the celebration of the Easter Mass, at midday, the Archbishop lights the rockets of the Colombina (a mechanical means shaped as a dove) which, running along a steel cable connecting the altar to the cart, ignites the fuse of the crackers on the cart itself, causing an explosion of fires and Catherine wheels, then returning onto the altar. According to the old popular belief if the cart succeeds in exploding without any mishaps it will be a good omen for the harvest of the year underway.
APT Florence (Currently in Italian only)
