In this famous excerpt, Marquis Filippo Bruti Liberati for the first time describes what really happened that 10 of May 1682, a key date in Ripan history when the Fire Horse; surely this, along with 1205, the year of its incorporation into a Free Commune, is one of the most important dates in Ripatransone's memory because it sanctioned the debut of an event that over the centuries has undoubtedly become the quintessential festival symbol in this town. The Fire Horse is thus an ineradicable reality of its past and the concrete symbol of the immutability of traditions.
So it was on Sunday in albis, May 10, 1682, when this skilled stoker, called on the occasion of the coronation of the simulacrum of Our Lady of St. John, after finishing his work, with all that was left, improvised a show riding his horse; the people gathered in the square liked it so much that a long and intense applause followed that accompanied the exit from the town of this anonymous stoker. What happened greatly excited the Ripanians so that the following year some citizens, mindful of what had happened, re-enacted the event. And thus was born a long tradition destined never to disappear again. Most likely until about 1700 people continued to reenact the Fire Horse with a real animal. Later the Ripan people provided for the construction of a wooden model carried on someone's shoulders; he most likely had to be a sturdy man, because the model weighed approximately 65 pounds. The horse was carried "a capezza" (as they say in dialect) until 1932, when the first wooden model on two wheels was built. The technical characters of the Horse we see today were already all outlined; it possessed whiskers and the girandola (or swivel), from which the most fascinating fireworks sprang.
From 1878 to 1950, the person in charge of lighting the Horse was Luigi Lucadei (a member of the Brotherhood of Mercy at the time), who precisely because of his role was called "stuppì" (fuse). By now, after more than two hundred years of re-enacting the Fire Horse, this festivity had taken on the characteristics of the "day of the year." The importance that the actual silhouette had reached was even comparable to that given to the simulacrum of the Madonna of St. John; Luigi Piergallini, a well-known character from Ripatransone (to whom, after "stuppì" and Francesco Piergallini known as "'Ngeccù" , fell to the honor of lighting the Horse) author of books such as "Babbo, the Fire Horse, and so many Ripan people" , he wrote:
During World War II, the Fire Horse was not celebrated for five editions. This had repercussions on the population who, in addition to suffering the atrocities of the War, could not reenact the much-loved festival; again Luigi Piergallini wrote: "They reported to me that, during the war years, old people and young people had several times visited the horse to... greet it [...]. Was it possible that the Fire Horse could refresh the spirit between tears?"
Before the Horse's official shed became what it is today, it was located in a stable or warehouse whose location is unknown; the elders recount that few people were allowed to enter the Horse's shed, and which one it was very few really knew. This, of course, increased the town's hype, which was looking forward to seeing the Fire Horse again on Sunday in albis.
Thus, the wooden model was used until 1994, when craftsman Umberto Nucci built the new sheet metal model. It weighs 2.5 quintals, is 3 meters long and 2.50 meters high. This latest model of the Horse generates much more spectacular fires than its predecessors, and especially thanks to it, the influx of people to this event has grown dramatically.
More info on cavallodifuoco.com