Spello's Flower Festival - L'infiorata
The annual Flower Festival of Spello occurs exactly 2 months after Easter in celebration of Corpus Domini. It is one of the most spectacular festivals in Umbria. Some would say it’s one of the most beautiful in Italy. Virginia and I participated in our first infiorata in 2014 shortly after we moved to Foligno. More about this later. Below is a picture of the flower carpet that received top honors last year in Spello. It’s named “Fonte di borgo” or the village source. What makes us so happy (and proud) is that we were invited to help create this carpet by our friend and colleague, Gabriele Guidi, who every year designs and manages this project. It literally takes a whole year of planning and coordination to bring these beautiful works of art to life!
Sadly, because of the covid disruption, the flower festival was cancelled this year. Not to worry, I hope this brief story and pictures will brighten your day and inspire you to come here someday and see the festival for yourself.
I will show you more pictures of last year’s Spello carpet, but first, I’d like to tell you the story of our first experience with the infiorata. We arrived in Italy on April 23, 2014. I was hired by a company called UMBRAGROUP as an English coach (and other things!). As it turns out, the owners of the company, the Baldacinnis, have a long history doing their own little flower festival in their home town of Cannara (about 15 minutes from Foligno). We were invited to help with the festival. We actually had no idea what were were going to do. We were simply told to show up for duty at 6 or 7 pm on Saturday night.
So basically, a design is created and a team plans how to bring the carpet to life. They can purchase the flowers, but many teams plant their own or harvest wildflowers that grown in this period. Remember only plant materials are allowed! So a big part of the job is preparing the flowers and getting volunteers to help make the carpet. When we arrived, we were given boxes of flowers to dismember so that the component colors could be used in the design.
Now, here’s the fun part: we start at 5-7 on Saturday evening and then work through the night until the carpet is completed. In Cannara, we finish up around 3am. In Spello, large crews work from Saturday afternoon until 8am on Sunday morning.
Below is gallery showing pictures from our first festival in Cannara. You will note that a paper design is placed on the street and is sprayed with water to attach it. The design is color coded so that the volunteers can create the carpet.
Working on our first carpet in Cannara was an amazing experience. Since that year, we have participated in the Cannara festival every year except 2018 when we were in Michigan on a work assignment.
Last year, we finished in Cannara about 1am. We then took a short nap and then at 3am we headed over to Spello and helped with Gabriele’s carpet. This is a totally different level of work. There’s a large team of volunteers who have been doing this for many years. Some have little tools to help them place the flowers precisely where they need to go.
As you can see, these are masterful works of art! And, here’s the ironic thing. At noon on Sunday, the local Bishop has a procession through the streets of Spello and walks on them.
These beautiful carpets are short-lived but they are truly inspiring!
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