Infiorata di Genzano facts for kids
The Flower Festival in Genzano is a super colorful event that happens in Genzano, a town near Rome, Italy. It's famous for its amazing carpet of flowers that covers a whole street! This beautiful flower carpet is created for a special religious parade called the Feast of Corpus Christi.
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A Look Back: The Festival's History
The Flower Festival in Genzano started a long time ago, in the 18th century. Back then, people would create a carpet of flowers along Via Sforza (which is now called Via Bruno Buozzi).
But wait, the idea of making flower carpets for the Corpus Christi feast was even older! It began in Rome in the early 17th century. People think this tradition came to the Alban Hills area, where Genzano is, because of Gian Lorenzo Bernini. He was a famous architect who loved big, fancy celebrations.
It's believed that the very first flower "paintings" were made at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. A person named Benedetto Drei, who was in charge of flowers there, used "minced flowers to look like mosaics" on June 29, 1625. This was for the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, who are the patrons of Rome. A few years later, in 1633, another flower painting was made by Stefano Speranza, who worked closely with Bernini. Some even say Bernini himself helped make this art popular in Rome!
How the Festival Grew in Genzano
In Rome, the custom of making flower displays stopped by the end of the 17th century. But in Genzano, it kept going into the 18th century. An old paper from 1824 says that some families in Genzano would put flowers in front of their homes for the Corpus Domini parades.
One day, a man named Don Arcangelo Leofreddi, who lived on Via Sforza, asked the Bishop of Albano if the parade could pass by his street. When he got permission, Don Leofreddi asked everyone on his street to make flower decorations in front of their houses. Everyone agreed!
There's a bit of a debate about when the first big Flower Festival in Genzano happened. Some say it was in 1778, while others say it was June 6, 1782. That was the first time the flower carpet covered the whole street, not just small parts.
Ups and Downs Through the Years
In the 19th century, the Genzano Flower Festival usually happened every year. But there were some breaks. It stopped from 1845 to 1863, and again from 1875 to 1894. It was brought back in 1894 by a Catholic group called the "Company of Saint Luigi."
In the early 20th century, the festival wasn't always held. But it started up again for a big church event in 1922 and has been held every year since then. The only times it stopped were in 1932, 1934, 1935, and during the five years of World War II.
Making the Amazing Flower Carpet
Since 1875, the Flower Festival has taken place on Via Italo Belardi. This street connects the town's main square to the Church of Saint Maria of Cima. The entire street gets covered by a huge flower carpet! It's about 1890 square meters in size.
The carpet is usually made of thirteen different "sections" or "paintings." There's also a special decoration on the stairs leading up to the church. Each of these flower "paintings" is generally about 7 meters wide and 114 meters long.
The Art of Flowers
The designs for the flower carpet are often copies of famous artworks or cool geometric patterns. They can be about religious themes or everyday life. A special group chooses these designs. To create the thirteen paintings, they need about 500 quintals (that's a lot!) of flower petals and other plant parts. The sides of the carpet are decorated with columns and garlands made from a plant called mortella.
Today, the flowers come from special greenhouses. But just like in the past, hundreds of people help get them ready. They carefully separate the petals and put them into baskets based on their color. This job is called piluccamento. The baskets are then stored in cool cellars and caves to keep the flowers fresh until they are needed.
From Drawing to Parade
Because flowers don't last long, they are laid out either on the day of the festival or the night before. On Saturday evening, the artists who designed the flower "paintings" draw their outlines on the street. They use chalk first, then lime. They also use a special technique called "dusting" with perforated paper.
Then, the petals are carefully placed inside these outlines. On Sunday evening, a Mass (church service) is held in front of the Church of Saint Maria of Cima. After a special celebration, a religious parade walks over the beautiful flower carpet. The people in the parade carry the Blessed Sacrament to another nearby church.
The flower carpet is kept looking nice, with withered petals replaced, until Monday evening. That's when the fun part for kids happens! Children get to run and play on the carpet, destroying the beautiful display. This is called the shoulder (or spallamento).
See Also
- Flower Festival
- Corpus Christi
- Genzano di Roma
- Flower festival in Genzano (ballet)
