Happy Easter, everybody everywhere! My good friend, Cynthia, who has just been through a very trying ordeal and is on the road to recovery, asked me what I’d be up to on Easter and I realized that it was time for a new post about Easter in Italy! Thanks, C., for reminding me and take care of your sweet self!

Easter is a VERY big deal in Italy! Second only to Christmas. It is such a big deal that the Monday after Easter is called Pasquetta (little Easter) and is a national holiday!

Each region and city and town in Italy has its own unique way of celebrating the holiday, the very holy day in the liturgical calendar. Florence stands proudly near the front of this tradition.

I’ve posted in the past on this blog about Easter celebrations in Florence, complete with videos and photos I took on one of the first Easter Sundays I spent in this beloved city. I’ll try to find one of those posts from my archives and link it here. I’m not a great record keeper anymore, though, so if you don’t see a link, well….

So as not to let my readers down, however, I’m adding the description of the event in Florence from this source: https://acaciafirenze.com/en/blog/easter-time-for-a-jump-into-the-tradition/

Easter in Italy is not a short celebration but rather, celebrated over five days starting the Thursday before Easter Sunday and finishing the following Monday.

The first of the celebrations, starting on Holy Thursday, will have churches opening their doors and welcoming followers to visit their altars. If you are walking around on Good Friday or the Saturday before Easter, you may catch a glimpse of one of the many religious processions that parade through the city centers of many towns in Tuscany.

On Easter Sunday, Florence celebrates with the Scoppio del Carro, or the Explosion of the Cart, a tradition dating back to the Middle Ages. On the morning the 30-foot-tall antique cart called Brindellone in use for over 500 years moves from the Porta al Prato to the Piazza del Duomo. It is 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.

Around 11am, as part of the Easter Mass being celebrated in the Cathedral, the Archbishop of Florence at the altar lights the Colombina, a rocket shaped like a dove which symbolizes the Holy Spirit, and this runs along a cable that has been attached in the meantime to the Brindellone which with luck it will hit, setting off the fireworks mounted on top it. Therein is the Explosion of the Cart you’ve been hearing about! It is a great event to witness, both for visitors as for Florentines, who wait to see the return of the Colombina back to the altar inside the Duomo. According to tradition, if the Colombina returns all the way back to the altar the year will be positive, meaning good crops, no droughts, and the usual things that made up a good year in the past.

During all of these stages, the bells of Giotto’s campanile ring out. The complex fireworks show that follows lasts about 20 minutes.

To really know a country or a city, you have to get in touch with its culinary tradition, don’t you agree?

The Mass is the time to bring the boiled eggs (better if decorated) to the church to receive the holy touch, before to be eaten for example sliced into a simple brodo with tortellini. Chocolate eggs can be brought too, to join the Christian tradition.

The other notable cake is the Colomba, a leavened cake shaped like a dove with candied fruit inside and covered with almonds and icing on top.

Colomba cake, also known as Colomba pasquale, is a traditional Italian Easter cake. It’s a sweet bread, similar to panettone, but with a dove shape and often topped with almonds and pearl sugar. The cake’s shape symbolizes peace and renewal, making it a festive treat for Easter celebrations.

The day after Easter is called Pasquetta and in Italy it’s holiday too. Locals generally do the gita fuori porta – day trip to the beach of Versilia (Viareggio, Lido di Camaiore) or in the Siena countryside, all together around a table for the first outside lunch of the season.

Italians usually enjoy a picnic with family or friends outdoors with typical food of the season such as pecorino cheese, fresh fava beans, olives and red wine. If you want to visit the main museums in Florence on these days, there is no problem as many stay open for both Easter Sunday and announce special openings for Pasquetta (if they are normally closed on Mondays).

Some of the images in this blog are taken from: https://www.visitflorence.com/florence-events/explosion-of-the-cart-easter.html