Fined like hell

Residents of Italian Pisa are punished for not lighting candles on holiday

Since yesterday evening, refusal to merge with fellow countrymen in a single festival enthusiasm is considered in Italian Pisa as an administrative offense. According to the decision of the magistrate of this city, best known for its famous leaning tower, every resident who does not display a lighted candle or oil lamp in the window of his apartment on the evening of June 16 will be fined 500 euros. It is this amount that is punishable for disrespect for the appearance of your city, the Luminara festival of lights and personally for Saint Ranieri - the patron saint of Pisa, in whose honor the celebration is actually held.

The Luminara Festival of Lights is described in all tourist guides, although it is less known for its main attraction - the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. The history of the festival in honor of Saint Ranieri goes back centuries. A fire extravaganza was held in the city during all important events that were in one way or another connected with the name of the patron saint of Pisa. Initially, only the windows of houses and bridges were illuminated, but gradually, during celebrations, the outlines of buildings began to be decorated with lights - this is how a new image of Pisa at night was formed, somewhat different from the views familiar in daylight. Festivals were sometimes interrupted for years, but were certainly resumed again. Even over the past decades, on June 16, the city has always switched to exclusively illumination with oil lamps. “Natural” lights numbering more than 80 thousand framed all historical buildings, and lamps were always displayed in the windows of houses.

However, irresponsible townspeople have recently begun to increasingly ignore the historical tradition, thereby violating the usual “ornament” of the embankment above the Arno River. And therefore the city council decided to deal with “black holes” in the toughest possible way, Lenta.ru reports. “Unfortunately, these “black holes” on the houses along the river are a real attack on the beauty of our city,” Federico Eligi, who is responsible for the celebrations in the municipality of Pisa, told the Corriere della Sera newspaper. He recalled that, among other things, citizens who light candles on June 16 create problems with the safety of neighbors and tourists, because there is no other lighting in the city on this day.

Naturally, the carabinieri of Pisa have not yet had time to report on the number of fined citizens. However, it is possible that attempts to impose penalties on irresponsible residents of Pisa will meet with collective resistance in the courts. Representatives of the city's non-Christian communities have already stated that they view the decision of the municipal authorities as coercion to celebrate. Reputable scientists were among the opponents of the new decree. The British The Guardian quotes the head of the department of literature and philosophy at the University of Pisa, Alfonso Maurizio Iacono, who said that the authorities cannot “require people to celebrate the day of a Christian saint and cannot deny the right of citizens not to participate in the festival.”

However, in any case, debates about the appropriateness and legality of a fine for an unlit lamp on a window will continue after the festival in honor of Saint Ranieri. And it is just beginning - today the program of celebrations includes a historical regatta, in which representatives of four city districts will compete for possession of the blue banner - a symbol of the maritime republic of the Middle Ages. It is clear that only volunteers will be able to get into the boat breaking through the flag against the current to the barge moored at the finish line.

Fedor SEREBRYANSKY