According to a tradition first recorded by the ancient Italian chronicler Giovanni Villani, “Scoppio del Carro” should be associated to the time of the first Crusades. On July 15, 1099, following a long siege, Crusaders conquered Jerusalem.
Ranieri, the representative ofthe Catholic Church, broke the news to the Florentines, following the orders of Pazzino di Ranieri de Pazzi. Pazzini, the first man to raise the Christian flag on the walls of the Holy City, was rewarded by the Duke of Buillon (Lower Lorena) with three pieces of flint from the Tomb of Jesus, which were brought to Florence in 1101.
The three stones were kept by the Pazzi family and used to spark the sacred fire („fuoco novello”) close to Easter. Starting with 1785, the three sacred stones were brought into the church of Santi Apostoli, where they can still be found today.
The tradition of Scoppio Carro is supposed to have started in 1494, in front ofthe Baptistery. During the reign of Pope Leon X (1513-1521), a dove holding an olive branch in his beak, as the symbol of supreme peace and understanding, was chosen to open the procession climaxing with the moment when the cart was set on fire.
Every year, on Easter Sunday, the leading clergy representatives start from the cathedral of the Baptistery and, accompanied by a cortege bearing the coats of arms ofthe historical families in Florence and representatives ofthe Municipality, fulfill the ritual of setting fire to the cart, in front ofthe Dome.