Infiorate di Spello
Spello is known for her INFIORATE DEL CORPUS DOMINI, beautiful floral decoration creations executed by real artists who design and prepare them for months, using only plant and floral elements. Those colourful ornamental "carpets" branch out along all the streets and squares, giving off their scent and offering a joyful spectacle of colours to the many visitors who come to visit Spello for the occasion.
Every year in Spello about 1,500 metres of carpets and floral paintings are made that, inspired by religious motifs - according to free fantasy or reproducing famous works -, celebrate Jesus and the Eucharistic miracle.
The custom of decorating the path of religious processions with flowers has distant roots in time and only a few centuries ago it turned into a real tribute to the religious feast of Corpus Christi, the Eucharistic miracle. The Spellani, however, did not fully pay for this modest although significant tribute, in the early years of the twentieth century they began to give their INFIORATE a peculiar characteristic that, over the years, has arissurged into a sublime artistic form.
While in older times the flowers were distributed in bulk on the cobblestones, later the techniques were refined: only the evergreen leaves began to be used and the first beautiful carpets of ginester and wild fennel were born, embellished with cornflower friezes, daisies, velvety petals, roses.
From the carpets of sophisticated workmanship to the reproduction of scenes from the Old and New Testaments, the step was short. And then the wet dew petal becomes brushed to give a nuance to the face of the Christ of the Caravan.
The artistic Infiorate of Spello in honour of Corpus Christi dates back to the very first decades of the 20th century, thanks to the initiative of a woman who, around 1930, draw a simple floral figuration on the street with brooms and fennels, obtaining the applause of the inhabitants of the village who immediately wanted to imitate her, starting a "positive" challenge for the realisation of ever more beautiful and greater works.
And so in a short time the artistic composition of the flower carpet took hold in Spello that transformed the Corpus Christi festival into a joyful occasion in which all the families and then groups of increasingly experienced florists could compare their works and reward those judged best for technical skill, precision and creativity.
Team, 27/05/2025 17:31:52
