Wedding dancers crash through ceiling of 15th century Italian monastery

Rescue personnel survey the scene after the collapse at the Convento di Giaccherino – TG24

Guests at a lavish Italian-American wedding in a 15th century Tuscan monastery crashed through the arched ceilings as they danced the night away.

Some 40 revellers plummeted about 13ft as an almost perfectly circular hole opened up beneath them, landing amid rubble, dust and plaster beneath a grand Last Supper fresco.

The two newlyweds, Paolo Mugnaini and Valeria Ybarra, both 26, ended the night sat side by side in hospital beds recovering from the fall.

They were surrounded by other guests, all of whom were hospitalised. Everyone survived, although six reported serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

“We found ourselves sucked down while we were dancing. It was panic. Then there was only dust and rubble, we couldn’t see anything. Next to me there was a friend of mine who fainted and was bleeding a lot,” Mr Mugnaini told doctors, according to Italian daily La Repubblica.

Mr Mugnaini, a teacher from Florence and Ms Ybarra, a student from Houston, Texas, were discharged overnight.

Many of the wedding guests were hospitalised – www.rainews.it

The incident happened at around 7pm local time. Towards the end of the party, when the remaining guests were dancing, a round hole of about 16ft in diameter opened below their feet, causing them to fall from a height.

Carabinieri police Lt Col Ruben Ruggeri said: “Luckily there was nobody underneath because a lot of very heavy material fell together with the people.”

He added that the cause of the incident is still unknown and that police, coordinated by the local prosecutor, have opened an investigation, which will include the testimony of guests at the party.

“It was an apocalyptic scene, a shock. A dense cloud of smoke came from the floor and wrapped us amid screams of pain and help,” an unnamed guest told local media Reportpistoia.

The witness also said that moments before the collapse the floor was trembling under the dancing people.

The guests then felt a sort of earthquake tremor and many of them fell through the hole, they said.

Italian police and firefighters rushed to the scene to coordinate the rescues and nearby hospitals were alerted immediately after the incident, Eugenio Giani, Tuscany’s president, said.

“It could have been a terrible tragedy. I wholeheartedly thank all the rescuers and medical personnel involved,” Mr Giani said.

Guests make their way from the monastery after the ceiling collapse – www.rainews.it

The wedding party was taking place at the Convento di Giaccherino, an ancient monastery in the Tuscan countryside near Pistoia.

Many of around 200 guests had already left and those who remained were mostly young friends of the married couple, Mr Ruggeri said.

The management of the Convento, which was placed under administrative seizure by the police, couldn’t be reached for comment.

The construction of the Convento di Giaccherino, which is nestled in the countryside north west of Florence, began in the early 15th century and was financed by Gabriello Panciatichi, a rich banker from Pistoia who was practising usury.

“In his old age, he tried to earn his place in heaven through donations and charitable works,” according to the website of the Convento.

It initially included a small church, a refectory, two cloisters, a kitchen and an infirmary. Franciscan friars lived there in isolation.

Over the following centuries, it was enlarged with new halls and rooms and a library.

Fifteen years ago, refurbishment works began to convert it into a location for private events, such as weddings and other gatherings, and company meetings. It opened only a few years ago.

When the news about the incident started to spread, relatives and friends of the guests rushed to the monastery to find out if their loved ones were among those injured.

They had a tortuous walk through a lane leading to the monastery because Italian authorities shut the road to let ambulances pass and carry the injured to nearby hospitals.

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