“If you look at the sky and you fix a star, you feel the shiver under you skin, do not cover yourself, do not look for warmth, it is not cold but simply love.”
Khalil Gibran
Lawrence lived at the time of Emperor Philip, known as the Arab as he was son of a notable of the Syrian region. He had the honor to attend the celebrations for the thousand years of Rome between the 237 and the 238 a.C. . But we do not know a lot about his life, as his dead as well. It seemed he was archdeacon of the pope Sixtus II when it came the persecution followed, in 258, by the order of death of bishops and priests by Valerian. After the torture of pope Sixtus II, the imperial prefect asked to Lawrence the delivering of the “treasures of the church”. So, he distributed to poor people offers he was administrating and he went in front of the prefect with sick people, crippled and outcasts: “Here, these are the treasures of the Church!”. He signed in this way his death “burned on a gridiron” on the 10th of August 258, as Saint Ambrose tells and as many artworks describe. Lawrence used to be 33 years old. Even if Valerian didn’t order tortures and this story could be a simply legend, we like to think it true as it is to this “myth” that we owe the night dedicated to falling stars. The latter have two possible representations: the tears shed by the Saint during his torture, tears which wander continuously and timeless in the sky descending on the hearth only on the 10th of August, or the burning coals on which the Saint was martyrized. In both cases, this night is traditionally herald of hope: a wish every falling star remembering Saint Lawrence pain.
Giovanni Pascoli commemorated the Saint with these verses “Saint Lawrence, I know why so much / of stars in the quiet air / burn and fall, cause a so big cry / in the concave sky sparks…”.
Arquà Petrarca, marvelous middle-aged village on the Euganeans Hills, commemorates Saint Lawrence with the annual festival Calici di Stelle from the 9th to the 11th of August 2019 starting from 7 p.m. . Tasting nights between DOC and DOCG wines from Euganeans Hills and local products, observation nights, concert nights. This particular edition is dedicated to the memory of Franco Zanovello, president of the Strada del Vino and creator of this magic night.
We commemorate him all year long with our “bath under the stars”; from 7.30 p.m. to 11 p.m., entry to our swimming pools, inside and outside, with sauna, steam bath, emotional shower and hydro massage and… a magnificent and natural starry sky through clouds of thermal steams. Just come to the Hotel to enjoy it or it is possible as well to give this experience as a gift box: here the different gift ideas at the AbanoRitz.
