The Infiorata festival in Italy during May and June, especially on, Corpus Domini, many towns gussy up the
streets with flower petals. Of course I'm used to people strewing flower petals where I walk, but to most
tourists it's like nothing they've ever see.
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To create the flower carpets, the design is first sketched in chalk on the pavement, and then filled in
with thousands of petals of various colors. Sometimes soil is used to highlight the outline of the design.
At other times, wood carvings is used along with flowers. The entire process takes two or three days to
complete. Often a religious procession takes place on the flower carpets after there are completed.
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Although the practice of honoring divinities and illustrious personages, such as emperors and warriors, by
throwing flowers or creating flower compositions is ancient and dateless, the art of creating flower mosaics
on the streets is believed to have started in Rome in 1625, when Benedetto Drei and his son Peter, used
flower petals to decorate the Vatican Basilica on the day of Saints Peter and Paul's feast, the patron
saints of Rome. Later, baroque artist and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) spread this flower art
throughout Rome, using it for the baroque festivals he organized. The custom disappeared out of Rome in
the seventeenth century, but the Castelli Romani townspeople continued to keep the traditions alive.
In 1778, this tradition became part of the Christian celebration of Corpus Domini in the town of Genzano
where a brightly colored flower carpet was laid down in the center of a long street. Eventually, various
towns of Italy began celebrating Corpus Domini by creating flower carpets.
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Go ahead and jaywalk, Punk, make my day.
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