The column raised by a bugle and a fire truck

Why do the Roman firemen have such a specific job here? Every year on December 8, they arrive to decorate the Colonna dell'Immacolata. The head of the department presents a bouquet of flowers, and the crew uses a fire truck to hoist another arrangement onto the arm of the bronze Virgin Mary. It is a theatrical start to the Italian Christmas season, following a tradition where Pope Pius XII began sending a basket of flowers annually, which Pope John XXIII began delivering in person in 1958.

The column itself is a bit of a recycled antique. The Corinthian shaft was actually sculpted in ancient Rome and dug up in 1777 during the construction of a monastery. It was unfinished back then - so it likely just sat in a workshop for centuries before being repurposed for this 1857 monument. Ferdinand II commissioned it to put closure to the dispute between Naples and the Papal States that had developed in the last century, when Naples abolished the Chinea, a yearly tribute offered to the Pope.

Take a look at the base and you will see four statues of biblical figures who predicted the Virgin birth. There is a statue of Moses among them, and a local joke suggests that he tried to have a conversation with the nearby Pasquino fountain, only to be met with a whistle because of the way his lips are sculpted. It is a pretty good bit of visual comedy for a holy site.

You can see the whole thing for free from the sidewalk in Piazza Mignanelli. It is a perfect spot to stand and watch the contrast between the heavy, centuries-old marble and the modern ritual of the fire trucks.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons