COLOMBINA. – This name is given to the festival of the "scoppio del carro" (explosion of the cart) which takes place in Florence every year on Holy Saturday, at the moment when the church bells are released and the *Gloria* is intoned. The cart, surrounded by fireworks, is stationed in the Piazza del Duomo in front of the main door; and the *colombina*, running along a wire, starts from inside the church and, by means of an appropriate mechanism, goes to ignite the fireworks on the cart. A great crowd gathers, especially from the countryside and surrounding towns, because the householders usually draw omens for the harvest from the speed or interruption of the *colombina*'s run, or even from its return.
A long tradition, dating back to the Middle Ages and handed down through the centuries by various Florentine chroniclers, attributes to the Pazzi family the privilege of the cart's explosion. According to this tradition, which is not without legendary elements, a Pazzi or Pazzino de' Pazzi, who took part in the liberation of the Holy Sepulchre in 1099, received from Godfrey of Bouillon, in reward for his valor, permission to take some pieces of living stone that had touched the Sepulchre of Christ. Every year, on Holy Saturday, the Pazzi family displayed these stones in a chapel, and from them the faithful used to take the holy fire to carry to their homes. Over the centuries, the rite grew in importance and magnificence, and a machine or cart was built, which was set alight on Holy Saturday at the moment of the Resurrection. The cart was later replaced by a more luxurious and permanent one, and in the time of Leo X it was enriched with "artificial and elaborate fireworks." The present cart dates from after the 17th century and was painted in 1765. Since 1864, the duty of celebrating the festival has been assumed by the municipality of Florence, which provides for the preservation of the cart in a special building.
The ancient and original event has always attracted the curiosity of foreign tourists: the noted Danish writer Selma Lagerlöf drew inspiration from it for one of her short stories.