(Photo by Frankekko)

(Photo by Frankekko)

The party starts in the late afternoon when all the students and the people from Pisa start to fill the streets and the squares to see the market stalls and to gather for dinner with their friends. The restaurants, bars and squares of the center are crowded; street musicians play on the bridges; churches and monuments are open even after dark and cards are distributed in the street so that people can vote for the best decoration. Palazzo Blu usually wins, and again this year they have prepared stunning biancheria in the shape of many fans.

(Photo by amanda_was_here)

(Photo by Giuseppe Luigi di Pace)

(Photo by David J. Marshall)

The lampposts of the Lungarno have been decorated with flag shaped biancheria, to be lit by red, green and white candles to celebrate 150th anniversary of Italy.

When the sun goes down, the center of Pisa takes on a really magical atmosphere. You can hear people laughing, the noisy generators of the kiosks selling porchetta and brigidini, traditional sweets with anisette, and people playing in the streets.

(Photos by Francesco Collina)

At 11pm, the fireworks start.

(Photo by Pablo Tenorio)

(Photo by Zuorio)

Up until a few years ago, they were launched from the cittadella medicea and from its tower. Over the last couple of years though, given that you could only see them from one section of the Lungarno and it was always incredibly crowded, they have started shooting the fireworks from the two ends of the Lungarno so that the show is really impressive and it can be enjoyed from everywhere along the Lungarno. This year they will be shot from four boats placed on four good spots on the river Arno. It will be really spectacular.

(Photo by androiGo)

After the fireworks, many people leave the city. Most people, though, remain in the city until dawn, moving from the Lungarno towards the surrounding squares to join in the street parties and in the parties organized by bars and pubs. In many squares there are bands playing live music.

(Photo by zufus)

(Photo by John Soqquadro)

My favourite spot to see the fireworks and spend the night is Argini e Margini, a bar on the river bank. Up until last year not many people knew how cool it was to see the fireworks from the river, but I expect this year to be very crowded.

Unlike many other festivals in famous cities in Tuscany, La Luminara is not very famous, even though it would certainly deserve to be. Tonight a UNESCO ambassador will be a guest of the city council, who have applied so that the festival can be recognized as UNESCO Wold Heritage Event.

The celebrations of La Luminara are just one of the many events organized in June in Pisa. Giugno Pisano is a full month of celebrations, concerts, exhibits and more. Tomorrow, June 17 and the actual Patron Saint’s Day, the  city will celebrate again with a historical regatta on the river Arno. This year it will be at night for the first time, with more candle light displays along the lungarno.

If you are planning to visit Pisa next year, remember to plan your trip around this events, because they really deserve it.

The street vendors are putting up their stalls for the market in the streets of the center; sandwich trucks are preparing their display of focacce, sweets, sugar candies shaped as fruit, and of course the most prominent sign of a festive day about to break out: the unfailing presence of full-size porchette!

Almost every bar opened later than usual this morning and by 3pm had already installed a draught beer system outside their door to serve drinks to the hundreds of people who, in a few hours, will fill the Lungarni and the streets of the center.

The city is alive and ready to celebrate the two most important days of the year: La Luminara and San Ranieri, the city’s Patron Saint’s Day.

It’s funny how you can feel the city getting ready. You can even smell it. I was walking to work this morning and I wandered through some minor streets in between the old buildings of the city. I was suddenly hit by a strong smell of soffritto and suddenly remembered the atmosphere of the many mornings before the various Luminare that I saw when I was a student. We would go to class or study until lunchtime and then we would all be on holiday. I used to live with 3 other students and our apartment, a large, old apartment near Pisa’s high street, was the gathering place for all our friends. We would have a dinner party before going out to the Lungarni and mix with the crowds before the fireworks.

The night itself was fun, but it is what Pisa becomes late at night that I will never forget. After the fireworks we would go from pub to pub; we would dance in the streets and squares where concerts had been organized (I saw one of my first Bandabardò concerts at La Sapienza, the faculty of Law, on June 16th 1995!); we would wait for the crowds to leave the city to have the Lungarni all to ourselves. The city is wonderful around 2am, when the breeze is cool, the streets are emptying out and the flames in the glass lumini are still quivering  before the candles go out. It is the memory of those first Luminare which makes the wait for any new one an exciting time.

This year, the rain threatened the “festa”, but after two dreadful days of bad weather, the sun is finally out and the people who light the candles have already been at work for a few hours. They place the “lumini” in the candle holders on the white frames on the facades of the building and called “biancheria“.  105,000 candles will be lit tonight and people will be invited to vote to choose the most beautiful building of the Lungarno. I think Palazzo Blu will win this year: they have stunning Egyptian-style decorations to celebrate the current exhibition on Rosellini’s expedition to Egypt.

Tonight the museums will be opened at night: guided tours will be given of Palazzo Reale. The fireworks will be launched from two spots tonight: from the Tower of the Cittadella as always, and from Le Piagge. Among the interesting events organized, I find the exhibition organized by the retirement home on the Lungarno and dedicated to Keith Haring very interesting. I saw the nurses prepare everything while walking back home: it’s great to think that the elderly people who live there have taken an interest in the event and have come up with such a lovely idea.

The boat with the pole that marks the finishing line of the Regatta of San Ranieri is already in place, ready for tomorrow.

I know that lovely Kathy McCabe Editor of the Dream of Italy Travel Newsletter will be in Pisa for the Luminara tonight: I hope she will enjoy her stay and that she will write a great report of her night out in the city when she gets back!

June is a very special month in Pisa. It’s certainly the best time of the year to be in the city, because all the major events are concentrated in this month.

Il Giugno Pisano, literally the Pisan June, is the name given to the program of the events organized in the city.

The most important dates

• June 2nd, 2009: Regatta of the Ancient Maritime Republics
  In the Middle Ages, Pisa was one of the 4 powerful Maritime Republics together with Amalfi, Genoa and Venice. They essentially controlled trade in the Mediterranean and were rich cities. The Regatta commemorated those prosperous times. Pisa hosts the regatta every four years. This year it’s on June 2nd. The Pisan boat is now exhibited outside the Town Hall by the Ponte di Mezzo bridge, and it’s red with an eagle on the front. Amalfi’s boat is blue with a winged horse, the Venetian boat is green with a lion and Genoa’s boat is white with a winged dragon. The Regatta is preceded by a parade in period costumes with 320 actors, 80 for each city, who reenact the major characters and events of the past of the Maritime Republic. The main character for the city of Pisa is Kinzica de’ Sismondi, a girl who’s believed to have saved the city from the Saracen invasion.
• June 16th: La Luminara di San Ranieri
  This is the most spectacular festival in Pisa. The night before the Patron Saint’s Day, the buildings of the Lungarni, the streets that run along the river Arno, are decorated with thousands of candles placed in the so-called “biancheria” (literally “linen”), wooden candle holders painted white and shaped like the windows and doors of the buildings onto which they are hung. More candles float on the river. All street lights are turned off. At 11 pm there are fireworks, and after that the crowds spread out to join in the street parties scattered throughout the center. The center late at night, when the Lungarni are finally empty, is really magic and romantic. Don’t forget to pick a card to vote the most beautiful building on the Lungarno. They are distributed at the Logge de’ Banchi
• June 17th: San Ranieri
  Saint Ranieri is the Patron Saint of the city. To honour the saint the 4 historical quarters of Pisa compete in the Historical Regatta of Saint Ranieri. Each quarter has a special colour: San Martino is red, Sant’Antonio is green, Santa Maria is blue and San Francesco is yellow. The four boats cover 1500m from the railway bridge to the Palazzo Medici. When they get there, a chosen member of the crew has to climb a 10 m high mast and grab the victory banner. The crew that gets the banner first wins. This is meant to commemorate the battle of Lepanto when the crew of the Knights of Santo Stefano managed to board a Turkish ship and take the flag waving on its mast, which is still on display in the Church of Santo Stefano in Piazza dei Cavalieri and has been recently restored. At 9:30 pm there is a concert in Piazza degli Ospedalinghi at the Santa Chiara hospital.
• Last Sunday in June, (June 27th, 2009): Gioco del Ponte.
  Literally “the game of the bridge”, il Gioco del Ponte is a real “battle” on the bridge which divides the center in two halves: Ponte di Mezzo. First an “army” of over 700 people in historical costumes parades through the center. 12 teams joined in two larger teams corresponding to the two halves of the cities are opposed in the “battle”: the quarters of the northern side of the city, Tramontana (Santa Maria, San Francesco, San Michele, Mattaccini, Claci and Satiri) and the southern side of the city, Mezzogiorno (Sant’Antonio, San Martino, San Marco, Leoni, Dragoni, Delfini). Before the actual “battle”, the different teams parade on their own side of the river. A third parade is that of the 81 judges. After this show, the “battle” begins and the teams made up of really large men challenge each other by trying to push a very heavy cart into each other’s side of the bridge using only the backs of their necks. In the morning at 10 am, Piazza San Paolo a Ripa d’Arno, boat tour along the river Arno with a guide presenting the various historical buildings of the Lungarni. At 9:30 pm, Jazz Concert in Piazza Donati.

Some other events of the Giugno Pisano

• June 1st, 2009 – Vintage car parade on the Lungarni (5 pm) followed by a concert and the presentation of the Pisan Crew (Scalo dei Renaioli, 6 pm). At 10 pm, “La Notte Nera” (the dark night), astronomical observations on Ponte di Mezzo.
• June 5th to the 7th, Antique market at the Abbey of San Zeno.
• June 6th, 2009 – Football match: Italy vs. Northern Ireland.
• June 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th, “Giardini sogni e magie“, the gardens of the center of Pisa. Itineraries (5:30 – 8 pm).
• June 7th, Concert Pages of Sacred and Contemporary Polyphony, Chiesa di S. Torpè (Largo del Parlascio, 20, 9 pm)
• June 12th – 14th, Festa del Gioco Intelligente (Festival of Intelligent Games, Palazzo Gambacorti)
• June 12th, Concert featuring Bach’s and Handel’s Arias (Church of San Nicola, 9:15 pm).
• June 13th, 2009 – World Wide Knitting in Public Day. From 5 pm to 8:30 pm, Piazza Donati 7 organized by Knittable. Check their website for the other appointments in June. Jazz Concert in Piazza Donati at 9:30 pm.
• June 19th, Bazeel Summer Salsa Night, Piazza Garibaldi, 8 pm – 12 am.
• June 20th, Lirica sotto le stelle, Giacomo Puccini’s “Boheme”, Giardino Scotto, 9 pm. Jazz Concert at 9:30 pm in Piazza Donati.
• June 25th, inauguration of the exhibit “Vele e Barche, Volti e Storie di Mare, Pisa: Città di mare, del sapere e del saper fare”, dedicated to the seamanship tradition of the city, Via Darsena 3, 6 pm.

Some useful sites on Pisa and the Giugno Pisano

• Behind the Tower
• Anno Galileiano
• Giugno Pisano
• Pisa Informa
• Pisa Visitor Information Center