It was over ten years since I last witnessed the launch of Santa Celestina’s balloon. I wasn’t going to miss her this year!

The Balloon of Santa Celestina is made of paper and powered only by hot air. It’s launched every year around September 8 at San Marcello Pistoiese on the occasion of Santa Celestina, patron saint of the Pistoia Mountains.

Celestina was a third century martyr decapitated by the emperor Valerian, notorious for having dispatched more women than any other Roman emperor. Celestina’s remains found their last resting place in Gavinana and in the church of San Marcello Pistoiese, the busy little market town and holiday resort on the ‘high route’ between our Val di Lima and Pistoia.

In 1832 Tommaso and Bartolomeo Cini, during a trip to France and Switzerland, met Elias, son of Joseph Montgolfier, the inventor of the hot air balloon. Returning the visit in 1835, Elias Montgolfier gave Cini, owner of a paper mill of La Lima, a formula for the production of hot air balloon paper and a plan for their construction.

The launch date of the first balloon goes back to 1838 on the occasion of the solemn religious procession in honour of Santa Celestina. The colours chosen for the balloon were those of the Civic Guard flag of which Bartolomeo Cini was commander: green, white and red arranged horizontally (incidentally, the same colours of the Italian flag). These colours are used to this day.

Tradition says that if the balloon goes higher than the church’s bell tower it will be a lucky year for the whole mountain area, otherwise it certainly won’t….

And if the balloon catches fire through the brazier flames then it will be really doom and gloom!

We held our breath in the packed central square. The day was absolutely glorious. The balloon gradually inflated to its full, grand size.

I was allowed to take a peek inside the monster. It was terrifyingly hot in there!

Then the team held onto the balloon’s rim, crouched down, slowly lifted themselves up, held their hands high and…let go.

The moment the balloon left the earth to wend its way up into the bluest of skies felt quite emotional.

Luckily for us, the launch was very successful. The old-timers said it was the best they’d seen for years.

We are, therefore, ensured a prosperous year ahead…at least in our mountaineous part of the world!

Some facts about the balloon for the technically minded:

It’s made of 24 strips of paper glued together. It is 15 metres high with a circumference of 30 metres, a total volume of 450 cubic metres and a weight of about 100 kg.