Luminara di Santa Croce 2023

Luminara di Santa Croce 2023 will take place on Wednesday, September 13, 2023, in the beautiful city of Lucca.

Luminara di Santa Croce is a religious feast held on the eve of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, celebrated every year on September 14. In Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross celebrates the Cross itself, as an instrument of salvation.

On this occasion, the buildings of Lucca are decorated with thousands of candles, a tradition now common only in Lucca and Pisa, for Luminara di San Ranieri.

SHORT HISTORY

The origins of the feast in Lucca are lost in time. The first mention of the date of September 14 appears in a document of 1118.

On this day, Lucca celebrates the Holy Face (Volto Santo), a wooden crucifix measuring 2.24 x 2.65 meters, kept in a chapel built in 1482 by Matteo Civitali, in the Cathedral of San Martino.

According to legend, the crucifix was sculpted by Nicodemus, who assisted Joseph of Arimathea in depositing Christ in his tomb, and was found and brought to Lucca in 742.

At the beginning, the crucifix was deposited in the Basilica of San Frediano. Later, probably starting with the 11th century, the Holy Face was transferred to the Cathedral of San Martino. The present Volto Santo is a 13th-century copy.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

On September 13, at noon, the bells will be tolled throughout the city. In the evening, at 6.00 pm, in the Cathedral of Lucca, will take place the Celebration of the First Vespers. Around 7.15 pm, the people will gather in Piazza San Frediano.

Around 8.00 pm, the procession will start from Piazza San Frediano, and will wind along the streets of Lucca, through Via Fillungo, Via Roma, Piazza San Michele, Via Vittorio Veneto, Piazza Napoleone, Piazza del Giglio, Via del Duomo, Piazza San Giovanni, to reach, in the end, Piazza San Martino and the Cathedral of Lucca.

Around midnight, a spectacular fireworks display will take place.