Buona Pasqua

My original plan for Easter was to spend it home alone. Rob left Florence yesterday (for good this time), Posh would be returning late at night, and I had two Skype dates planned for my evening.

However, last night, my friend Lana came over for dinner and then asked me to join her and a couple friends for a nice home-cooked Easter meal today. After a bit of hesitating (which lasted until this morning), I decided to accept her invitation.

First, though, we had some Easter morning festivities to attend to. At 11:00am there was the annual scoppio del carro or "explosion of the cart", a tradition dating back to the Crusades in which fireworks are lit on a 500-year old cart--a way of distributing the holy fire to the city. 


I could barely see anything because of the massive crowds, outstretched limbs, and children on their parent's shoulders. But I could certainly hear every second of the 20-minute long spectacle. I didn't even get to see Lana until after it was over since it was virtually impossible to make my way through the crowds!


Then it was time for Easter mass. Upon inquiring, my art history teacher had recommended for me to go to SS Annunziata. I was more than willing since it is such a unique church. Mass was at 11:30am so Lana and I made our way from the Duomo with a few minutes left to spare. I was surprised to see that there were quite a few empty pews--back home, we have to go to church at least 30 minutes early on Easter to get a seat. We sat down and were a bit in shock to see that a female tourist (who was there for mass) recorded the first 10 minutes or so on her Blackberry. Is nothing sacred?


The choir sang beautifully from a hidden section behind the altar. There were three priests (or maybe five)--instead of altar servers, there were two older men. At one point a monk or priest came from the sacristy and took a picture of the congregation. I don't know why but it seemed odd to see a man of the church holding a digital camera!

Like all of Florence's churches, SS Annunziata contains several works of art. Of particular note are:

The exquisite Pietà by Baccio Bandinelli -- ironic that what he sculpted for his tomb ended up being his greatest masterpiece

Easter celebrants gather around the altar framing the painting The Annunciation

Against the wall of the altar is a framed painting of The Annunciation, painted by one of the founding monks of the order that serves the church. The legend is that he went to bed one evening without painting Mary's face, and when he woke up the next day it was miraculously painted.

Lana and I went our separate ways after mass and I made myself a big pasta salad. Big mistake. Because around 4:00pm Lana, her friend, and I walked an hour to her other friend's place (lugging red wine and pasta all along the way) and he immediately began serving us food! He cooked Lana's pasta all'amatriciana and served his homemade quiche, followed by a rum cake that he made from scratch. I declined second helpings of pasta and quiche but I more than happily had a third slice of the rum cake. We drank lots of red wine and listened to satellite TV music. Then Lana was given a shot of "medicinal" whisky to soothe her cough while I had one in a gesture of support.

At one point, the guy's French roommate came home and was talking about how she didn't feel like hanging out with her Florentine boyfriend. Upon hearing that her boyfriend was a local, I asked her if she could one day ask him what "banana" means. She phoned him on her cell phone right away and, to my dismay (and yet not since it still remains the Great Florentine Mystery), he said it didn't think it meant anything. Oh well.

Shortly after washing the dishes (the service I offered for not having brought any food), we headed to an Irish pub called The Joshua Tree. Even though I don't like beer, I decided to order a pint just because, but with my eyes on my watch counting down to Posh's 11:00pm arrival, I managed to only drink a fifth before heading out. I ended up arriving home five minutes after Posh, so after we brought her luggage up and settled in I was happy to declare that this Easter was a success despite not being around my family.

Today's word of the day is Pasqua or "Easter". Buona Pasqua a tutti!