Festa di San Lorenzo

I know that I've bounced all over the place chronologically during this blog - sorry for the confusion.

Let's go back to August 10th - the Festa di San Lorenzo (Feast Day of St. Lawrence).......

When Sixtus became Bishop of Rome in 257, Lawrence was ordained a deacon and was placed in charge of the administration of Church goods and care for the poor. For this duty, he is regarded as one of the first archivists and treasurers of the Church and was made the patron of librarians..........

Lawrence is said to have been martyred on a gridiron as a part of Roman Emperor Valerian's persecution in 258. Tradition holds that Lawrence was burned or "grilled" to death, hence his association with the gridiron. Tradition also holds that Lawrence joked about their cooking him enough to eat while he was burning on the gridiron, hence his patronage of cooks and chefs, stating something along the lines of, "turn me over ... I'm done on this side". One of the early sources for the martyrdom of Saint Lawrence was the description by Aurelius Prudentius Clemens in his Peristephanon, Hymn II. (from Wikipedia)

Since Florence has a basilica dedicated to San Lorenzo, there is a special tradition held every year on the 10th of August ...... according to the "Visit Florence" website:

For the feast day of San Lorenzo, Piazza San Lorenzo hosts an outdoor celebration with live music and free lasagna and watermelon for all visitors. The event begins around 7 p.m. (after a celebratory Mass inside the San Lorenzo at 6 p.m.) when the market stalls that line the streets of the square during the daytime are finally rolled away, making room for the festivities. The food is served at 9 p.m.

David with his new buds

Well - we love FREE things, so David and I went into the city to celebrate the festa. The mass began at 6 pm - the bells rang wildly and we waited patiently on the steps outside the church.

The concert began about 8:30 pm (maybe a little later)

The concert was wonderful, but we were tired of waiting for the free food. Apparently Italians love music as much as they love food. Meno male (thank goodness) we'd decided to have a slice of pizza around 8:00 pm.

When we finally left to catch our bus home at around 10:30 pm the orchestra was still playing, and the lines for free lasagna and watermelon rivaled those at Disneyworld. Guess we're not the only ones who LOVE free things!!!