Todi and L'infiorata

Ciao! This weekend my Aunt Ann and Uncle John united with us in Perugia and treated us to a weekend with them in their rented condo in Todi (about an hour south of Perugia). We then travelled to Spello to observe L'infiorata! Click each photo to enlarge. 

There was some procession in Perugia's town center going on just before Ann and John arrived - I had no idea what was happening or what anybody was saying, but it looked cool so I snapped some shots. 

 

John and Ann driving us from perugia to Todi

Ann and John's Condo/Villa. This was GREAT - way out in the country side surrounded by orchards and a lot of very beautiful sky. I couldn't get enough of walking around at night soaking in the atmosphere. The villa also had a great courtyard which Kane promptly creeped in (above).

 

Todi was a quiet town. They had some tango festival going on there but we knew we needed to get up early so we went back to the villa around eleven. Beautiful orchards and a lot of open space surround the city. Too bad it was kind of hazy when these shots were taken...

The next day, Sunday, was L'infiorata (literally translated: the adornments); a religious festival held all throughout Italy but that is celebrated in a peculiar way in the otherwise quaint town of Spello; artists (from ages 10 and up) gather flower petals from the countryside and their gardens of every different color and arrange them in spectacular mosaics on the sidewalk. Composing these street-sized arrangements takes hours and a team of five or more will work through the night. The town is divided into teams, or  "houses", that represent the ancient families that founded Spello, and in this way the designs are a friendly competition between the members of each house. When they are complete, the designs are judged - but then right afterwards are walked all over by a precession from the town's main church (pictures below). People come from all over the world to observe these amazing designs.

  

This was my favorite design - I love how detailed the boy's face is.

 

These women really wanted their picture taken by someone else but started laughing when multiple other people started to photograph them - naturally I had to join in.  The streets were lined with flowers that I'm sure were mortified by the day's festivities.

 

They were selling baby ducks in the street! Sooo cuteeeee. 

 This was the most beautiful church! This is where the precession started.

 The view from Spello - most views from these hill towns kind of look like this.

Ann and John enjoying the view.

Another very, very impressive design. Probably one of the biggest we saw today.

 

This is the most interesting flower I have ever seen! What is it??

Detail on the petal work - I love how defined every line is even though they are just petals. 

        Overall hanging out with Ann and John was great - they were so kind and we all had a slew of very interesting conversations. I'm also glad that Kane really liked them - now only if he'd let me tag along with him to Milan to go see his aunt. We'll see about that. Ann made us a great dinner on Saturday night with chicken sauteed in red wine with truffle sauce - DELICIOUS. Mom please learn how to make this if you are reading. Also they have more pictures which I'm sure they'll send after they get back to the states. 

That's all for now! Arrivederci.

Becca

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