Grassina: a different kind of Easter
For hundreds of years now, Grassina, a little town just outside
Florence, has celebrated Easter like nobody else: on Good Friday, the
townspeople don beautiful, painstakingly researched period costumes and reenact
Christ's life and Passion.
At 9:30 PM a procession begins to wind through Grassina. At the same time, other townspeople reenact of Christ's life just outside of town, on a hill dubbed Calvario. The Annunciation is followed by, among other things, the Resurrection of Lazarus, the Last Supper, the Betrayal, and Pilot's washing of hands. Jesus's ascent of Calvary coincides with the arrival of the procession from Grassina, and all assist His crucifixion.
Because of the festival's
increasing popularity, the episodes from the life of Christ are also reenacted
on Saturday, again starting at 9:30 PM. Tickets for the life of Christ will
cost 20,000 or 12,000 Lire, for reserved seats or standing room, respectively.
Tickets for the procession instead cost 5,000 Lire, but do not include the
Passion. All tickets can be purchased from the Box Office (Tel Italy
55/210.804), or from Universal Turismo (Tel. Italy 55/217241).
Text © 1996 Kyle M. Phillips, III
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