What was the first New Year’s Eve?
On December 31, 1922, a Vecchione was burned for the first time in Piazza Maggiore, on the night of San Silvestro, which represents the year just ended.
It is a large papier-mâché puppet stuffed with firecrackers.
It is promoted by the company “I fiù dal Dutour Balanzon”.
In the evening program there will be a procession with musical bands, a reading of the old year’s will and the drawing of New Year’s lottery prizes.
In 1972, on December 31, instead of the traditional Vecchione, the “monster of war”, designed by Roberto Sebastian Matta (1911-2002), was burned in Piazza Maggiore.
The burning of “Babbo Napalm” aims to testify to Bologna’s commitment to world peace and aversion to the American policy of aggression in Vietnam.
The project of the Chilean painter was carried out together with the organizers of the exhibition Between revolt and revolution, opened in Bologna in various exhibition venues between November 1972 and January 1973.
The decision to give a political connotation to the end-of-year party does not fail to ignite harsh polemics on the columns of moderate newspapers.
This year, the Vecchione, will have real drawers, within which each participant will be able to keep the thoughts and dreams that he most desires for the coming year.
