Last night I asked Vic if he wanted gelato. He has been having at least one, if not two, a day and he hadn't had any that day. We ate a late breakfast and a large lunch so didn't have any that afternoon. By around 9:15pm when I asked he said, “Sure”. You can’t go around a corner without seeing a gelato place so we have plenty to choose from.
As we started out we saw a few people with lit paper lanterns crossing at the end of the block. When we got to the corner we could hear music and see a parade of people on the next street. We went to investigate. There were hundreds of people, many of them families walking together, many with store bought or handmade paper lanterns. We joined the procession that ended up a few blocks away in a large piazza in front of Santissima Annunziata Church.
There was a presenter on the steps of one building who said a few words. Then a cardinal gave a blessing and everyone said a “Hail Mary” prayer in Italian, followed by more speakers. All the while, in the crowd there were boys shooting little bits of clay through pea shooters trying to hit the paper lanterns. Vic and I were thought we needed safety glasses.
There were a couple concession carts where the man gave us samples of many things; a sugared walnut, a candied almond and an anise-flavored wafer cookie that looked like a very thin fortune cookie that was never folded. We ended up buying some hard hazelnut torrone (hazelnuts in hard white nougat).
I was able to find the celebration on the internet when we returned home (after our gelato, of course). It was Festa della Rificolona. There are a few different takes on when and why the celebration started but like many celebration in Italy, it has a religious aspect; it is the day before the nativity of the Virgin or the eve of the Feast of the Madonna. It has been celebrated a few hundred years or so.
One legend of the origins of the festival goes back to ancient times when farmers traveled to the city to celebrate the Feast of the Madonna. Dressed in what the farm people thought was suitable for the city, they brought their wares and produce as part of the festivities to be sold in an open market. To get a vantage position to sell their goods, the farmers and their families started their journey to the city before dawn carrying lanterns made with canvas or paper to light their way. The lanterns twinkling across the dark night swinging from side to side on a pole resembled a swaying long skirted woman. The origin of the name of the festival stems from the word rificolona which in dialect describes a woman who is over dressed or who dresses in poor taste. When the farmers came into the city both their outfits and their lanterns would be ridiculed by the children of Florence who would shoot at the lanterns with their blowguns.
For more see http://www.ultimateitaly.com/festival-events/festa-della-rificolona.htm
One legend of the origins of the festival goes back to ancient times when farmers traveled to the city to celebrate the Feast of the Madonna. Dressed in what the farm people thought was suitable for the city, they brought their wares and produce as part of the festivities to be sold in an open market. To get a vantage position to sell their goods, the farmers and their families started their journey to the city before dawn carrying lanterns made with canvas or paper to light their way. The lanterns twinkling across the dark night swinging from side to side on a pole resembled a swaying long skirted woman. The origin of the name of the festival stems from the word rificolona which in dialect describes a woman who is over dressed or who dresses in poor taste. When the farmers came into the city both their outfits and their lanterns would be ridiculed by the children of Florence who would shoot at the lanterns with their blowguns.
For more see http://www.ultimateitaly.com/festival-events/festa-della-rificolona.htm