In a wonderful custom whose origin is a 13th-century miracle, many small towns in Italy make tapestries from thousands of flowers to cover their streets for the Feast of Corpus Domini, nine Sundays after Easter. The sheer artistry is astounding: reproductions of famous Renaissance paintings, religious and modern scenes, local architecture, geometric, abstract, flora and fauna patterns.
Locals lovingly create flower carpets from petals, or whole flowers for a striking 3-D effect, and other natural materials, marking borders with soil or coffee grounds. Ornate chalk designs, often planned months in advance, are drawn on the street in the infiorata, which means “decorated with flowers.” A procession led by the local priest or bishop then walks the carpets on the feast day, which is generally in June, sometimes in May.
