Firenze

The origins of this traditional festival probably date back to the mid-seventeenth century. The young people of Florence still carry "Rificolone", coloured paper lanterns in a great variety of bizarre shapes, carried hanging from sticks.
The ancient festival still held in its traditional location on the 7th of September is linked with the tradition of the arrival in the city of farmers and their wives from the surrounding countryside and hills to celebrate the eve of Mary's birthday and go to the market in the beautiful, historical Piazza della Santissima Annunziata.

Historic Florentine football, also known as football in livery or football in costume, is an ancient sport which was probably played in Florence for the first time in 59 B.C. by the Roman legionaries who founded the original core of the city of Fiorenza. Its ancient Latin name was Florentinum Harpastum, from a verb meaning "to tear away", which says a lot about this team sport, played with a ball that would originally have been stuffed with rags; a game many people consider the father of modern football, though it is more like rugby in its rough play. The game is recalled today with brightly coloured historical 16th century costumes in a challenge among the 4 quarters of the city, involving a number of games played every year in May and June in the historic Piazza Santa Coce, with the final game on June 24 on the occasion of the festival of the city’s patron saint, St. John the Baptist.

The Scoppio del Carro is another traditional event held in Florence in its original form as long ago as the time of the first crusade, celebrating the liberation of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem from the infidels, celebrated for centuries on Easter. It consists of a procession from the Church of Santi Apostoli in Piazzetta del Limbo, preceded by the banner of the city of Florence and the flag of the noble Pazzi family, with the participation of priests and authorities, directed to the Baptistery in Piazza Duomo. The procession then enters the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore and, at precisely eleven o’clock, as the people sing Gloria in Excelsis Deo, they set fire to the fuse of the “colombina” - a dove, symbol of Easter, made up of fireworks – which whistles and ignites fireworks skilfully arranged on the seventeenth-century carriage which the people of Florence refer to as the Brindellone; when the fireworks have gone off, the “colombina” is brought back to the high altar where it started, travelling backwards; it is said that the crops will fail if this is not done properly. The imposing ancient carriage is surrounded with smoke and fireworks, an amazing sight for the astounded onlookers.