SPELLO
Infiorata
Nancy and I timed our visit to Spello, Italy to see the famous Spello’s Infiorata. Infiorata means decorated with flowers. Each year on the 9th Sunday after Easter, hundreds of people in the community collect flowers which are used to carpet the streets with colorful pictures. They spend weeks striping the plants of their petals, leaves or berries to be used to "paint" the streets. This is a very old festival – probably beginning in Spello in the mid 1800s. We were lucky to rent an apartment right in the middle of the action.
Spello
Spello is a picturesque Umbrian town that retains its past as a medieval, walled city. It was established in ancient Roman times as Hispellum. Although not a tourist magnet like nearby Assisi, it has quite a few tourists and is home to many Americans and others who enjoy its restaurants, shops, and galleries.
Spello
Spello is a picturesque Umbrian town that retains its past as a medieval, walled city. It was established in ancient Roman times as Hispellum. Although not a tourist magnet like nearby Assisi, it has quite a few tourists and is home to many Americans and others who enjoy its restaurants, shops, and galleries.
Roman gate and towers: Porta Venere, Towers of Propertius
Via Giulia
Preparations:
For weeks before the infiorata festival, hundreds of Spello citizens collect flowers from the countryside and strip off their petals or leaves. The petals are essentially the colored yarn for their tappeti (carpets) which decorate the streets.
For weeks before the infiorata festival, hundreds of Spello citizens collect flowers from the countryside and strip off their petals or leaves. The petals are essentially the colored yarn for their tappeti (carpets) which decorate the streets.
Local families and neighbors preparing blossoms for "painting" the carpets.
Spello townspeople pluck yellow flowers to be used to create the colorful illustration.
First the drawing is made on paper and pasted or taped to the street.
Some of the carpets are protected by large tents that the citizens erect.
It is very windy in Spello and this protects the carpets from being blown away. Numbers are sometimes placed to indicate the placement of specific colors.
A small Leonardo da Vinci pitches in!
Plan of finished carpet.
Teenagers are part of the workforce.
Tents are open for the public to observe the whole process.
Notice pots of "paints".
The finished products line the streets:
The religious procession:
Religious Procession (accompanied by a marching band!)
The Bishop is under a golden canopy.
Thousands of people follow the bishop through the streets of Spello.
The next day -- Spello is back to normal.
