What is left of these festivals is but a poor remnant of what once
existed. Both religious and secular displays of this kind have
abandoned the dramatic element--the costumes--partly from dread of
ridicule, and partly because the cultivated classes, which formerly
gave their whole energies to these things, have for several reasons
lost their interest in them. Even at the Carnival, the great
processions of masks are out of fashion. What still remains, such as
the costumes adopted in imitation of certain religious confraternities,
or even the brilliant festival of Santa Rosalia at Palermo, shows
clearly how far the higher culture of the country has withdrawn from
such interests.
The festivals did not reach their full development till after the
decision victory of the modern spirit in the fifteenth century, unless
perhaps Florence was here, as in other things, in advance of the rest
of Italy. In Florence, the several quarters of the city were, in early
times, organized with a view to such exhibitions, which demanded no
small expenditure of artistic effort. Of this kind was the
representation of Hell, with a scaffold and boats in the Arno, on the
1st of May, 1304, when the Ponte alla Carraia broke down under the
weight of the spectators. That at a later time the Florentines used to
travel through Italy as directors of festivals (festaiuoli), shows that
the art was early perfected at home.
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