Florence Scoppio del Carro

I’ve never spent such a strange Easter Sunday as yesterday in front of the Duomo. At least the Siena palio is a sort of horse race where the first horse, with or without rider, wins.On Easter Sunday in Florence between the Duomo and the Baptistry, it’s difficult to know exactly what it’s all about.

First there are the typical Florentine processions. After them come the drummers, some of whom can actually do a fine snare drum paradidle. Then there are the trumpet players who also do a good job with their narrow bore natural trumpets. But everybody – including me – loves the flag throwers. The most experienced walk at the front whilst the beginners follow on at the rear.

But this is definitely not all! Hordes of clergy and extremely official people carrying all sorts of supposedly very official stuff follow the flags. One very official person carries a quite small money box. Another carries an enormous bible. Then there are rows of archers with their deadly weapons. (And here I’m definitely not joking!!) Somehow they all fit into the tiny space between the Duomo and the Baptistry. By some Easter miracle, I also fit in as well.

Now we wait … and … wait … and ..wait . .

The Carro arrives. It’s supposed to be a chariot which will explode to celebrate the Pazzi family’s exploits during the first crusade of 1096. It must have been a gorgeous pagan ceremony before the people took it over. Since 1478, it has been the responsibility of the city.

People start fiddling with the Carro. They have a cherry picker to plant some flags on top. They even have a United Nations flag! This will bring about world peace, we presume. There’s another man crawling all over the Carro helping the men in the cherry picker. Nothing will be left to chance!

Now we get it. This is the equivalent of Groundhog Day or rather the reverse. If the Carro does not explode with extreme ferocity, Florence will have an awful summer. The American

dollar might drop to dissuade more of from visiting or studying in the city. Other foreign tourists might even decide to give Florence a miss this year? The possibilities are endless. The Carro explosion must work very convincingly! Portents MUST be nothing less than excellent this year.

Now we listen to the mass from inside the Duomo – or is it the Baptistry? We don’t know because most of us are packed like sardines waiting for this explosion. The man on the Carro has a last minute fiddle with everything and we all wait with bated breath.

Suddenly there’s a whistling sound and a wooden dove (bringing world peace we hope!) comes down a wire from the Duomo nave supposedly carrying the fire that will ignite the Carro. There’s an almighty (of course) explosion to convince us that Florence at least will have a good Summer.

But that’s just the beginning! We have a huge daylight firework display including of course St Catherine’s wheels from the Saint down the autostrada in Siena. It’s deafening!

The Duomo bells, which have been ringing for most of the last hour, are totally drowned by the explosions of all sorts of fireworks and rockets. This may not be the best fireworks show but it is certainly the loudest, probably due to the fact that the square is totally surrounded by high buildings. Now I understand why families have waited so long with their children.

The smoke from all these explosions is very thick and even obscures the top of the Duomo. Explosions pop out from all parts of the Carro and they even cause the flags at the top to rotate.

So world peace is assured!! Florence has done her best to ensure it. What more could she do?