Scoppio del Carro, the Explosion of the Cart, is one of the most spectacular annual events of Tuscany held each Easter Sunday in front of the Duomo in Florence. The ceremony dates back to the First Crusade to free Jerusalem when, in 1099, a Florentine soldier named Pazzino climbed the walls of the holy city to place a Christian flag of liberation. Pazzino was gifted three fragments of the Holy Sepulcher for his valor and upon returning to Florence was welcomed with solemn honors. A first weekly commemoration saw citizens carrying a torch flame of purity through the city by horse cart. In later years the celebration evolved from that simple torch flame to a dramatic explosion of fireworks from a now enormous and artfully adorned horse cart. The lighting ceremony is preceded by a parade of the cart being pulled by oxen through the streets of Florence which is accompanied by costumed soldiers, period musicians and citizens donned in medieval dress.
