INFIORATA 2016

As I've mentioned before, no one really knows why, in the 18th century, some Italian towns started celebrating the Festival of Corpus Christi or Corpus Domini by creating "carpets "of flowers but one theory is that people were simply using what they had to make something beautiful for God and what they had was an abundance of flower petals.  The town of Noto's Infiorata tradition started more recently, 37 years ago, and the event is always held over the third weekend of May so I made my way there on Saturday.

The "carpet of flowers" is spread out along the town's via Nicolaci and this year's theme was "The Infiorata Welcomes the World".  I'm sure you will understand that, as you have to walk up one of the sides of the display, it is rather difficult to take well-angled photos, especially in glorious sunshine so that you can't see what you're doing! Nonetheless, I hope the photos I managed to take convey something of the beauty and the atmosphere of the occasion for you.  

I thought the cat was rather magnificent so here he is again:

 As a souvenir, I bought one of these nifty lemon squeezers that collect the juice in the little jug on top of the "tap" thing:

Half way up via Nicolaci, I spotted a great menu on offer at €12,90. As it was 1 pm I entered the establishment and to my surprise, was served one of the best, and most generous, plates of bruschette I ever had and certainly the best chicken and vegetable couscous I've tasted in Sicily!  

What better day out could there be?

You can see panoramic images of the Infiorata here.