Buona Pasqua!

I hope everyone had a great Easter! Italians sure know how to celebrate the big day (perhaps the biggest day of the year in Florence, behind San Giovanni's day in July), and in fact the Monday after Easter, Pasquetta, is also a holiday. It is without a doubt the time to unwind after all the excitement!

Florence is known for Lo Scoppio del Carro, The Explosion of the Cart. In this tradition a 500 year old, 30ft-tall cart is paraded through the city by a pair of giant white oxen decorated with garlands of flowers and accompanied by flag wavers. The cart is parked between the Duomo and the Baptistry, and during Easter Mass in the cathedral, a dove-rocket is launched from behind the altar and shoots along a zipline attached the cart. When the dove collides with the cart it sets of an elaborate series of pyrotechnics, including colored smoke, whistles, fireworks, flames, and twirly sparklers. Luckily, the oxen are detached from the cart before this happens.

During the second half of his run early yesterday morning, Seth was fortunate enough to see the white oxen being walked through the Parco delle Cascine before event, and he even got to see the cart (nicknamed Il Brindellone) preparing to leave its tall, skinny house near Porta al Prato (I was a bit jealous).

We made it to the Duomo a half an hour early, which clearly was not early enough, but we did manage to see some of the action between the arms of people holding up their digital cameras and iPods. Of course, all the loud fireworks, smoke, and fire in the middle of the crowded piazza seemed really dangerous to me, but I suppose after 500 years of experience they have everything under control.

Seth took a peek inside the Duomo to see what was going on

The cart, just before its explosion

The first thing that happened after the impact of the dove was clouds of purple and red smoke

And a waterfall of sparks

And finally, a check-up by a fireman

After we navigated our way out of the crowds, we hopped on a bus and headed for an Easter lunch hosted by two people at I Tatti. In addition to great food (we had traditional lamb... the Lamb of God...), there was also an egg hunt!
Since ham is hard to come by around here, and I didn't feel like eating more lamb of god, for dinner I made a Torta Pasqualina--a pie filled with spinach, ricotta, beaten egg, cheese, and whole eggs baked under the crust.

The Easter Bunny found us!

Instead of elaborate Easter baskets, kids usually get one gigantic chocolate egg, usually filled with a toy. This was filled with a tiny round Nemo magnet... oooh, fun.