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User:Chiave 10bis/Luminara in Pisa

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The Luminara in 2009

St Raineirus' Luminara ("luminaria" in local dialcect) is a event that takes place in Pisa on the evening of June 16 each year, the eve of Saint Ranieri, patron saint of the city. It is part of the celebrations of "Giugno Pisano" festival.

History

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On March 25, 1688, in the chapel of the Cathedral of Pisa, dedicated to Saint Mary crowned, the urn containing the body of Rainerius Scacceri, patron saint of the city, who died in holiness in 1161, was solemnly placed. Cosimo III de' Medici (Grand Duke of Tuscany) had in fact wanted the ancient urn containing the relic to be replaced with a more modern and sumptuous one. The translation of the urn was the occasion for a memorable city festival, from which, according to tradition, began the triennial lighting of Pisa which was first called lighting and then, in the nineteenth century, Luminara.

However, the celebration of the festival with lighting the city using oil lamps, was not an invention of the moment, but a custom born some time ago and gradually affirmed over the years. The first historical document attesting to the tradition of the luminara dates back to 1337.

Born as lighting of the windows of houses, for the passage of civil and religious processions, the Luminara, following the new scenographic fantasies of the time, was configured, in the eighteenth century, as a free luminous architecture applied to buildings, of which it less and less respected the real structures, inventing bizarre forms that transformed the city, and especially the Lungarno (Arno's riversides). In some buildings, however, the lighting continued to have the function of emphasizing the existing structures.

St Ranieri's boat, along the Arno river

Set-up and celebration

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Historic buildings illuminated with candles

Every year about 100,000 candles are placed on wooden frames (called "biancheria") that draw the architectural forms of churches, palaces and towers overlooking on riversides. The leaning Tower of Pisa, in past was illuminated with oil pans, also placed on the battlements of the city walls, in the stretch that encloses the cathedral square. Today the Cathedral and the Tower are illuminated with electric lamps. The activity requires a hundred employees to be prepared.

Lamps are used which, thanks to the particular manufacture, have a very bright and wind-resistant flame. For many years they were used in glass cups. Since 1999, for safety reasons, glass cups have been replaced with special conical transparent plastic cups suitable for metal rings in the "biancheria".

Sometimes floating lights are deposited in the Arno and entrusted to the current, which with the switching off of public lighting, offer a suggestive atmosphere. For many years the evening has ended with a series of fireworks fired around eleven in the evening from the Citadel and the nearby bridge, as well as, in recent years, also by some barges arranged on the Arno river.


Bibliography references

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  • La "luminaria" di S. Ranieri in Pisa: con note illustrative sul modo di costruire ed esporre la "biancheria", Pisa, Lischi & figli, 1952.
  • Pier Luigi Pini, Folklore pisano. Gioco del ponte, Luminaria di San Ranieri, Regata storica col patrocinio del Comitato del Giugno pisano, Pisa, Giardini, 1958.

Other projects

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  • "Luminara di San Ranieri".
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