Nan had told me about the Scoppio del carro (the explosion of the cart), a celebration at the Duomo on Easter Sunday, so I walked there around 10am. The piazza around the cathedral was jam packed and the excitement was tangible, not to mention the extraordinary costumes. There are white oxen that pull a cart, maybe 20 feet tall and 6 feet by six feet to the door between the Duomo and Baptistry. They then attach a wire to the cart that runs up into the Duomo, and at the right time (12noon) a fake dove powered by small fireworks is attached to the wire and comes from high up in the cathedral and crashes into the cart. The cart is covered in controlled fireworks which explode for quite a while and there are fireworks also built into the cart – it sounded like a war zone for 20 minutes. If the cart explodes (which it always does) it presages a good year, and the bishop has earlier walked around the crowd sprinkling us with holy water and blessings.
I walked back to my apartment and then headed over to Nan and Mauro’s for Easter lunch, just the three of us. Luisa and Marco were off to Elba Island along with Lynda and Francesco on Frankie’s boat, and Daniella has COVID so she, Andrea and Giulia could not come over, but went to Tonfano for the weekend. Andrea and Giulia had come over earlier in the backyard so that we could all see each other.
Here are more photos through Google Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Sy7csVthcpdXWC4K9
I walked back to my apartment and then headed over to Nan and Mauro’s for Easter lunch, just the three of us. Luisa and Marco were off to Elba Island along with Lynda and Francesco on Frankie’s boat, and Daniella has COVID so she, Andrea and Giulia could not come over, but went to Tonfano for the weekend. Andrea and Giulia had come over earlier in the backyard so that we could all see each other.
Here are more photos through Google Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Sy7csVthcpdXWC4K9