Anyone considering buying property in Italy, whether relocating or finding a holiday home, may want to familiarise themselves with Italian culture and tradition.

Scoppio del Carro, an age-old festival, takes place on April 4th in Florence and could be the best way to understand and learn about Italian life.

Each year on Easter Sunday, Florentine citizens gather in Piazza del Duomo to watch a dove-shaped rocket, called the "Colombina", take off.

The history of this event merges the use of religious artefacts with pyrotechnic machinery and its ultimate purpose as a ritual is to secure a good harvest.

Its pagan roots are less clear than in many other similar events across Italy, according to whatsonwhen.

If the complex ritual goes according to plan, good luck is ensured for the city, not only with harvests but also in the day-to-day life and business of its citizens.

Florence is the capital of the region of Tuscany and has a population of around half a million inhabitants, according to About Florence.

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