Coming to Florence, if you pass by Piazza Duomo it is impossible not to notice the wind that always blows in the square (which in winter turns into a fierce north wind).

That wind is well known to the Florentines, who call it the “rifrullo of the devil”, a curious atmospheric phenomenon that, like many of the “quirks” of Florence, hides its origins in an eerie legend!

The legend says that one day, we do not know the era, the devil was chasing a priest on the streets of Florence trying in every way to steal his soul. Once they got in front of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, the poor priest said to the devil, before suffering eternal damnation, he asked the devil to give him one last wish: he wanted to pray for one last time. The devil agreed to the request of the priest, who entered the Church. The devil meanwhile leaned against the Cathedral, waiting for the priest to come out of it.

The priest obviously took advantage of the distraction of the devil to escape, fleeing through another of the many doors of the Cathedral, that Lucifer without noticing.

Meanwhile Satan, bored by the long wait, he began to puff, raising such a breeze in the square. Once discovered the deception with which the priest had made fun of him, the evil breath turned into a real whirlwind.

Since then, the rifrullo devil has never ceased: even the devil’s breath now waits in vain in the square that his chosen bait from the Cathedral…