Florence & Tuscany Guide / Festivals / Scoppio Del Carro

Scoppio del Carro, or the explosion of the carriage is held every year in Florence on Easter Sunday. This festival signifies the Holy Fire that was kindled using the stone chippings from the Holy Sepulchre, which was then used to kindle the flames on all the hearths in town. Every Easter Sunday in Florence, a great chariot dating back to the eighteenth century pulled by white oxen and paraded around the town from Porta a Prato to the Cathedral Square. A wire connects it to the main altar in the cathedral and when the time is right, during midday mass, the Cardinal Archbishop will light a rocket that is shaped like a dove with the Holy Fire obtained from chippings from the Sepulchre. Ther coket would shoot down to the chariot that is filled with fireworks and would ignite with a bang to the cheers of the gathering.