She rests all year round inside the Basilica of San Frediano, in a side chapel where large frescoes tell her story. She is Santa Zita, the saint of flowers, to whom so many devotees around the world are grateful, and in Lucca there is a festive atmosphere.
For the days of Saint Zita, a saint dear to the people of Lucca, patron saint of Lucca, housewives, cloakroom attendants and bakers, sweets, the market and gardens!
The Story of Saint Zita
The people of Lucca love to tell the story of the kindly maid unjustly accused out of envy. One day, Mr. Fatinelli, for whom she worked, encountered Zita with her apron full on while on her way to a needy family. He asked her what she was carrying. It was full of bread, but Zita replied that she was only bringing flowers and branches to the Madonna, which fell, untying her apron. She died in 1278, and the people of Lucca ordered her remains to be buried in the Basilica of San Frediano. Her mummified body is displayed in the Fatinelli Chapel of the Basilica of San Frediano in Lucca and, during these holidays, in the center of the church.
Saint Zita of Lucca She was already so venerated in Tuscany that she was cited by Dante Alighieri in the Divine Comedy shortly after her death, referring to a magistrate of Lucca called “anzian di santa Zita”, thus identifying the little Saint of the flowers with honest and vistuous Lucca.
Saint Zita She is the patron saint of housewives and maids, and was herself a maid for the wealthy Fatinelli family.
Her memory has always remained linked to that miracle of flowers, and in her honor, every year a large garden is set up in the Piazza Anfiteatro for the market exhibition. Blessed daffodils are offered, a symbol of empathy that brings good luck and happiness, like the first flowers that bloom and herald spring.
The Gardens of Santa Zita
Flowerbeds will be in full bloom for the feast of Santa Zita, linked to the traditional flower market that will take place in Piazza dell'Anfiteatro for five days dedicated to the patron saint of Lucca.
A special, spring-like look for Piazza San Frediano, Piazza Antelminelli, and Piazza Scarpellini
The market exhibition
In Piazza Anfiteatro, instead, It is celebrated with the traditional flower and sweets market exhibition and shops decorated with plants and flowerpots during the fair days.
In the streets, the scent of flowers blends with that of the herb cakes prepared in the homes.
Those with a sweet tooth will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to taste the herb cake, the traditional cake of Saint Zita, much loved by the people of Lucca. A mixture of chard, stale bread, spices, and cheese, gathered in a shortcrust pastry and decorated with the traditional diamond shapes and characteristic "becchi".
The bell of Santa Zita
The centerpiece of all religious events is, of course, the Basilica of San Frediano. One of the bells, designed by Giovanni Pisano, is also dedicated to her. Cast in 1223, it is the only surviving bell from the ancient set of bells that rang, along with the others, at the death of Saint Zita. A historical relic and also a relic linked to the saint's life, as it spontaneously announced her Dies Natalis, as has been handed down through the centuries, in a festive double ring with the other bells, without the intervention of the bell ringers.
The unused bell inside the basilica welcomes the public at the base of the bell tower of San Frediano. This bell, cast by Pisano in 1223, was scanned in recent years to cast a new, identical one, thus restoring the ancient "double of San Frediano." It was blessed in 2020 and then placed in the bell tower, beginning to ring on April 25, 2021, at the beginning of the annual feast of Saint Zita with the triduum in preparation for the liturgical feast of Saint Zita, dissolving the ancient and famous ringing of the bells of San Frediano into festive doubles.