Festa.

In the afternoon we went into Lucca for the festa. On this date each year, traditionally, a huge wooden crucifix, called the Volto Santo, is taken from its place of honor in the Duomo Cathedral and carried through the streets at dusk, preceded by a long procession. These days, unfortunately, the actual artifact is deemed too precious to be risked outdoors, and in its place is carried a huge cross-shaped box festooned with flowers, rather like a large box of valentine's day chocolates. We had experienced this event before, and knowing that watching the parade in it's entirety is an exercise in patience (consisting as it does not only of religious officials and representatives of local parishes, but also dozens of local marching bands, costumed renaissance re-enactors, flag throwers, police and emergency workers, Lucchesi expatriate clubs and - inexplicably - hundreds upon hundreds of volunteer blood-donors) we elected to watch and take photos only at the assembly area and at the departure point at the church of San Frediano, where the initial invocations are performed. We went for dinner at an outlying restaurant, and then walked around town and up on the city walls, and were surprised to discover many thousands of people celebrating apart form the parade itself, strolling the streets, embracing in the darkness of the city parks, and waiting for the fireworks that would be exploded over the river at midnight.