Spello, Italy

Spello, Italy. Ever heard of it? I hadn't either... but our friends who used to live here several years ago insisted this was one town we HAD to visit during their flower fest, Le Infiorate.

A flower fest isn't exactly on Jamie's top things to do, not compared to wine tasting, boys Oktoberfest trips, etc. Two friends and I decided to go check it out; for my friend Kristin, it also happened to be her last weekend living in Italy. What a way to say "ciao!" to Italy than seeing Le Infiorate. 

Le Infiorate is an exhibition of local artistic talent which only lasts two days. 

The petals from flowers are trimmed, cut, shredded and arranged along the streets of Spello and represent religious scenes.  Weeks of preparation, and teamwork lead to a long night of hard work, and then finally, a religious procession through the floral carpets laid out throughout town for "La noche de Corpus Christi".

Think: color by number. Only with herbs, cut and shredded flower petals. A lot of love and labor go into this. 

The entire experience was spectacular! We were lucky enough to have arrived in Spello on 'day one" of the fest.  All the town residents were cutting and trimming and shredding flowers in doorways, garages... there were "maps" getting glued to the cobblestone walkways. To watch this town go from quiet little hillside town to the end product was such a cool experience.  We were out until 1am walking the town, watching how this all comes together.

The next morning, I felt like a 5 year old on Christmas morning - dying to get out of bed to see what was waiting for me. Kristin, Stacy and I got up, got ready and headed out.

Words cannot describe the detail. Picutres do not do it justice.

Planning a trip to Italy? You should definitely try to schedule it around this!