IT is Easter Sunday in Florence, and like thousands of others I’m walking towards the Duomo – that great whited sepulchre topped by Brunelleschi’s magnificent dome.

If anything symbolises Florence and its High Renaissance glories, this is it.

But as I’d discovered the day before – after a sweltering hour-long wait in the queue – inside the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore has been stripped of its finery. It’s in a museum nearby.

Lesson one: don’t waste time queuing. The Duomo’s beauty is all on the outside.

Brunelleschi is buried there, and I said a prayer at his tomb. But what indignity – his unassuming grave is beside the shop selling rosary beads, postcards, and trinkets shipped in from China.

Anyway, back to Easter Sunday and a 17th century ritual all so resonant with the 21st.

At 11am, Florentines celebrate Easter with the Scoppio del Carro – explosion of the cart.

They’ve been doing it since the Medicis subverted Florence’s republic and seized power in much the way as Trump is doing now to the USA: undermining democracy; deploying thuggery to control the masses; corrupting the judiciary; the usual strong-arm stuff. They even started wars to distract attention........

© The Irish News