GENZANO FLOWER FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS INCLUSION
The celebrated annual Infiorata (Flower Festival) of Ariccia (Lazio) centred on the theme of inclusion and ethnic tolerance in this year's version. “Io Sono L'Altro” (I am like the Other) was the title for the long series of 16 colourful petal carpets that covered the entire street running down from the Church of Santa Maria della Cima (St. Mary of the Peak) to the main piazza during the 9-11 May 2023. The subjects of the floral pictures paid homage to the theme by featuring, alongside the usual religious Christian icons, the civil rights activist Gino Strada, founder of the Emergency organization, the Caritas and Mother Teresa of Calcutta, as well as addressing political issues with the symbolic representation of the long braid of an Iranian girl's hair. Special guest of honour at this year's event was Afghan artist Elaha Rahgozar, along with a group of young Afghan artists from the Art Academy of Herat, who had taken refuge in Italy through the help of the Humanitarian Corridor organized by the Sapienza University of Rome.
The Infiorata has been running for almost two and a half centuries and was visited and praised by many foreign visitors on the Grand Tour, including Hans Christian Andersen in 1883, who described it in lyrical terms in his travel diary. It also inspired August Bournonville's ballet, “the Flower Festival of Genzano”, performed for the first time in Copenhagen in 1858.
The Genzano Infiorata is not the only one of its kind in Italy. Similar festivals are held in Noto (Sicily) and Spello (Umbria), as well in a number of smaller towns.
Info: Tel. +39.0693711 upp@comune.genzanodiroma.it
