COLOMBINA. — By this name is known the feast of the “explosion of the cart,” which takes place in Florence every year on Holy Saturday, at the moment when the bells are set ringing and the Gloria is intoned. The cart, surrounded by fireworks, stands in the Piazza del Duomo before the main door; and the c., running along a wire, sets out from inside the church and, by means of a suitable mechanism, goes to ignite the cart’s fireworks. A great many people, especially from the countryside and the surrounding towns, flock to the event, because peasants customarily draw omens for the harvest from the more or less rapid movement of the c., from its stopping in mid-course, or even from its turning back.
A long tradition, dating back to the Middle Ages and transmitted through the centuries by the various Florentine chroniclers, attributes the privilege of the explosion of the cart to the Pazzi family. According to this tradition, in which legendary elements are not lacking, a Pazzo, or Pazzino de' Pazzi, who took part in the liberation of the Holy Sepulchre in 1099, received from Goffredo di Buglione, as a reward for his valour, authorization to remove several pieces of living stone that touched Christ’s Sepulchre. Every year, on Holy Saturday, the Pazzi family displayed these stones in a chapel, and from them the devout customarily drew the holy fire to carry to their homes. Over the centuries the rite acquired ever greater importance and magnificence, so that a machine or cart was constructed, which was set alight on Holy Saturday at the moment of the Resurrection. The cart was subsequently replaced by another, more luxurious and stable one, and in the time of Leone X it was enriched with “artificial and elaborate fireworks.” The present cart dates from after the 17th century and was repainted in 1765. Since 1864 the burden of celebrating the feast has been assumed by the municipality of Florence, which ensures that the cart is kept in a special building.
This ancient and original observance has always attracted the curiosity of foreign tourists: a well-known Danish writer, Selma Lagerlöf, drew inspiration from it for one of her short stories.