La Notte di San Lorenzo (The Night of St. Lawrence), also known as La Notte dei Desideri (The Night of Wishes), is celebrated by Italians annually on the 10th of August. When it gets dark they look to the skies in search of stelle cadenti (falling stars); as it is on this night that the earth moves through the Perseid Meteor Shower. Near the Perseus constellation, the shooting stars are the remains of the comet Swift-Tuttle, which was first discovered in 1862. The best moment to see the stars has been the night of the 10th, but over time and with astral adjustments, it has become the 12th of August; though La Notte di San Lorenzo is still celebrated on the 10th when Italians leave the lights of the city and wish upon the stars by the sea or in the mountains.
Tradition has it that the falling stars are le lacrime di San Lorenzo, (the tears of San Lorenzo), on the night of his burial on the 10th of August, after he was martyred in 258 A.D. San Lorenzo was of seven deacons of Pope Sixtus II, and had been ordered by one of the emperor Valerian's judges to make an offering of the church's treasures to him; however, San Lorenzo presented to him a crowd of the poor, the blind, the lame, the maimed, orphaned, and widowed among his church, saying; 'Ecco questi sono i nostri tesori eterni, non vengono mai meno, anzi crescono'. (These here are our eternal treasures, they never become less, but in fact are growing'.) The judge was furious, and ordered San Lorenzo to be roasted alive on a gridiron.
So on this night, legend has it that those who reflect on the suffering of San Lorenzo will have their wishes come true as they wish upon the falling stars; 'Stella, mia bella Stella, desidero che...' (Star, my beautiful star, I desire...')
