Buona Pasqua!

Buona Pasqua!

Easter has somehow arrived abruptly as 2012 speeds along at a pace rivaling that of Lewis Hamilton in the Formula One. The onset of the Christian holiday should hardly be a surprise: since AD 325, when the Nicean Council decided that Easter would be celebrated on the first Sunday after

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Thu 29 Mar 2012 12:00 AM

Easter has
somehow arrived abruptly as 2012 speeds along at a pace rivaling that of Lewis
Hamilton in the Formula One. The onset of the Christian holiday should hardly
be a surprise: since AD 325, when the Nicean Council decided that Easter would
be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the
vernal (spring) equinox, the Roman Catholic church (and then Protestant denominations)
has marked the celebration of Easter based on these calculations. Accordingly,
in 2012, Good Friday falls on April 6, Pasqua on April 8, and Pasquetta, Easter Monday, also a holiday in Italy, is April 9.

 

 

Pasqua is still considered the second most
important holiday in Italy after Christmas. After the street parties of
Carnival, 40 days of fasting for Lent and the onset of spring, Easter provides
the perfect opportunity to celebrate with the locals and feast on culinary
specialties. Unlike the family-focused Christmas traditions, this holiday can
be celebrated con chi vuoi (‘ with whomever you like’). In
Italy, religious traditions, food and celebration of spring are all part of the
the long holiday.

 

Religious
celebrations and local folklore

 

In Rome, a world-famous solemn
procession from the Colosseum to the Palatine Hill commemorates the 14 stages
of the cross. A meditation is read at each of the stations, which are laid out
around the exterior of the Colosseum. The custom of doing the ‘stations of the
cross’ at the Colosseum emerged in the eigtheenth century as a way to honor the
ancient martyrs who were killed there. The event will be broadcast on TV and on
the Vatican’s official website (www.vatican.va). Here in Tuscany, on Good
Friday in Grassina (Bagno a Ripoli), some 600 locals in costume annually
present a live reenactment of the Passion of Christ.

 

Note that you won’t hear church bells
ringing:  the church bells of Florence
fall silent from Good Friday night to Sunday morning.

 

On Easter
Sunday, while the pope blesses the people assembled in the vast St. Peter’s
Square in Rome, Florence also has a large public event: the famous Scoppio del Carro (‘explosion of the cart’). This
tradition originated after the first crusade, when Pazzino de’ Pazzi, a native
Florentine soldier, entered the holy city of Jerusalem and became the first man
to climb the city walls. Rewarded for his bravery, he received pieces of stone
said to be from the Holy Sepulcher, the site where Jesus is believed to have
been buried after the crucifixion. Once home, he claimed to have used these
stones to start a holy fire, which in the 1300s was transported to the Duomo by
cart. In the sixteenth century, Florentines packed the cart full of fireworks
and set it off using a fuse in the semblance of a dove flying from the Duomo:
the colombina. The ‘explosion,’ which long took
place at midnight, ushering in Easter morning, is supposed to guarantee a good
harvest. Today, every Easter Sunday the cart is still paraded from Porta al
Prato to the Duomo by a team of white oxen, along with musicians and locals in
historical dress. (For more information, see page 7 and 17 this issue and www.comune.fi.it.)

 

Easter
celebrations continue well into Pasquetta. For example, on the evening of Easter Monday, after
an all-day market and a parade featuring historic costumes, the historical
Palio dei Botti takes place in Bibbona. In this high-energy event, the
participants, representing different neighborhoods of the town, compete to push
barrels up the narrow streets (for information, call 058/6600699).

 

Eat

 

The
traditional local Easter feast usually includes filled pasta in broth,
artichokes, roasted lamb and the cake, the colomba. This famous, dove-shaped Easter cake is made with
yeasted bread and candied orange peels, and is topped with coarse sugar and
almonds. It will surely show up on the table after Easter lunch or dinner,
along with other such traditional desserts as crostata and focaccia pasquale. It is also a long-standing tradition in Italy to
prepare boiled eggs and bring them to mass on Easter Sunday for a blessing from
the priest (see page 20 for details on this custom and other Easter
foods). 

 

Chocolate
Easter eggs are given to regardless of age, from babies to grandmothers, and
come in sizes, ranging from miniature to elephantine. Sold in supermarkets and
specialty stores, they are usually hollow, with a trinket hidden in the cavity.

 

Spring also
marks the grand return of Tuscany’s sagre, celebrations of the wealth of local specialties
across the region. Not surprisingly, there is a sagra for eggs: the Panicagliora, festival of boiled eggs
(April 9, Marliana, Pistoia; call 057/269851). Also in the province of Pistoia
is a sagre of eel, fried frogs and others such
items (see www.prolocolarciano.it).

 

Outdoors

 

There are plenty
of ways to enjoy Easter, the first long weekend in spring. Warmer temperatures
push many Italians to the coast. In Livorno, one of the private beaches, Bagni
Lido di Ardenza, offers free entry to the public from 10am to 4pm until April
10. For those who prefer to take in spring in the great outdoors, there is the
Fourth Annual Tuscany Walking Festival, from April 6 to May 8. The festival
takes place in national parks of the Tuscan Archipelago and Val di Cornia.
These trekking trips through nature in the Tuscan islands are meant to
encourage people to discover the beautiful scenery of the area off-season, with
the help of free expert guides. (For more information, see www.tuscanywalkingfestival.it or call 056/5919411.)

 

The nature
train through the Siena Crete is a perfect opportunity to travel slowly through
the beautiful countryside. Passengers can get off at various quaint stations to
visit smaller, historic villages or enjoy impromptu wine tastings at local
farms. (See www.terresiena.it or call 057/7207413.)

 

Tuscany
abounds in thermal springs. To find out which of the region’s 40-some thermal
spas are offering special ‘Easter’ packages to those seeking hot baths and
wellness treatments; see www.turismo.intoscana.it (in English) and make the most of
the healing properties of Tuscany’s thermal waters!

 

 

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