Taurianova’s Infiorata was the protagonist of the UNESCO Festival of Ephemeral Arts, held in Florence from 25 to 27 April. More than 150 inflorators, carpet-layers and installers, coming from 7 different regions of Italy, but also from Malta and Catalonia, met in Piazza del Duomo in Florence to create a large monumental carpet (twelve by twelve metres, in all 144 square metres), to pay homage to the Italian monuments recognized by UNESCO but above all to celebrate the fact that “The art of creating carpets of flowers and other natural materials” is officially a candidate to be declared an intangible heritage of humanity by UNESCO .
“The wonders of Italian UNESCO in a completely ephemeral dream”, the title of the unpublished work created by the young Sicilian artist Gabriel Carpino, who to create the sketch carefully studied every corner of the 7 regions present to best represent them and then make them coexist with the history and beauty of Florence. Fabio Finocchiaro and Francesco Rubbino also worked on the project, who together with the artistic director Valentina Mammana (president of the CulturArte association of Noto, as well as artistic director of the Infiorata of Taurianova) created the graphics and visual communication of the entire event . Another important contribution was offered by Lorenzo Roccaro, the association’s film-maker.
Massimiliano Turba and his association Tappeti di segatura di Camaiore and Graziano Amadio of the Asso8ciazione Infiorata di Montefiore dell’Aso also contributed to the success of the event, who with their members masterfully directed the logistics of the event and together with Serafino Perpetuini of the Torricella Sicura association, also the preparation of materials and equipment.
For the creation of the carpet, which boasted 84 colours, 18 different materials were used: flowers (Genzano, Gerano, Noto, Bolsena, Montefiore dell’Aso and Taurianova), sawdust (Camaiore), shavings (Torricella Sicura), fruit and vegetables (Pachino), salt (used by various associations, such as CulturArte and the artistic high school of Noto, Montefiore dell’Aso and Guspini), Sicilian sand (Portopalo Insabbia), Etna sand and confetti (Acireale), coffee, chickpeas (Guspini), dried flowers, sand from the Po river, ground grit, ground walnut shells, colored marble grit from Montefiore dell’Aso.
Fourteen associations from Sicily, Calabria, Abruzzo, Lazio, Marche, Tuscany and Sardinia, Malta and Catalonia, who collaborated to create the work, which remained on display for two days, 26 and 27 April. The work was intended to immerse the observer in the wonders of Italy, from whatever perspective one looked at it. In particular, it took up the major works of art from the territories annexed to the places where the carpet art of the associations belonging to the Cidae (Coordinadora Internacional de Entidades de Alfombristas de Arte Efimero) is practiced. The shape that enclosed it was a reference to the birth of the Renaissance in Florence, more precisely to the panels distributed over one of the doors of the baptistery of San Giovanni.
At the center of the great work the UNESCO symbol emerged, while the Florentine lily was repeated at the corners of the square. The four circles that made up the geometry, however, contained artistic elements of one or more regions. The first circumference was dedicated to Tuscany and the Marche, taking up the bold face of Michelangelo’s David, the Gothic rose window of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore and one of the towers of the ducal palace of Urbino, enclosed by the typical geometric decorations of Tuscan Gothic. The second circumference was dedicated to Lazio, with the Roman Colosseum, the details of the Villa d’Este in Tivoli and the fountain of San Sebastiano in Genzano, framed by a geometric ornament, inspired by the decorations in the mosaics of the Roman domus.
The third circle was instead dedicated to Calabria, with one of the magnificent Riace bronzes, and to Sardinia with one of the many nuraghi and the decoration all around inspired by the mosaics of Teramo in Abruzzo. Finally, the fourth circle was dedicated to Sicily, with elements that represent it in its entirety: the trinacria with its magnetic gaze, positioned at the center of the wheel of a typical Sicilian cart, with a hint of the baroque architectural decorations of Noto.
«We have written the history of the ephemeral art of creating carpets – stated the artistic director of the event, Valentina Mammana – demonstrating to the world that sharing, friendship and inclusion are still important values. It was not easy to make all those materials coexist in such a complex work, it was a challenge that began in the first edition of the Sicilian edition Ephemeral Arts Festival in summer 2020. It was from there that I understood that “I” can become “us” and that this us can become contagious. Despite everything, I believe that love and friendship are still the only feelings that can improve the world. It is these feelings that pushed me to create this event, because if you can dream it you can also do it, but if you dream together with your friends and colleagues it is even more beautiful.
For this I first of all thank my association CulturArte Noto which I am honored to chair and which celebrated its 18th year of its establishment in Florence on 26 April 2006. An age of majority reached with a spirit of self-sacrifice and a lot of work where the promotion of culture and of art are in our statute and above all in our name, chosen not by chance. We have been representing Noto, Sicily and Italy in local, national and international events for 18 years. I always say that a captain cannot win without a great team and I am proud to be the vice president of Cidae, because in Florence I felt in that square the vibrations of all my friends and colleagues who were not with us and I am proud of the great work that the Italy of ephemeral art carpets has put in place, because identity and tradition must never be exchanged for presumption. This is the Italy that I like, made up of people who use art to grow together and create bridges and not to destroy. Now we are preparing for our Infiorata of Noto and for the world event which will be held in Guanajato, Mexico, precisely in the days of the Infiorata of Noto”.
The inauguration took place in the presence of the mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, the president of the Tuscany region, Eugenio Gianni, the MEP, Daniela Rondinelli, the tourism councilor of Noto, Massimo Prado, the mayor of Camaiore, Marcello Pierucci, of the mayor of Montefiore dell’Aso, Lucio Porrá, of the deputy mayor Monica di Blasio and of the councilor and president of the Bim (mountain catchment basin), Marco Di Nicola, of Torricella Sicura, of the provincial councilor and head of the Genzano Infiorata, Marta Bevilacqua, and Roberto Basili, Bolsena’s Tourism Councilor.
The associations that participated are:
Culturarte Noto Odv Association
Camaiore Sawing Carpet Association
Montefiore dell’Aso Infiorata Association
Bolsena Infioratori Association
Artistic Flower Festivals Association Torricella Sicura
Gerano Infioratori Group Association
Coriandolata Acireale Cultural Association
Pachino Vegetable Association
Santa Maria Guspini Flower Decorators Association
Association of the Academy of Infioratori Masters of Genzano in Rome
Portopalo Insabbia Association
Infiorata Taurianova nel Cuore Association
Matteo Raeli Noto Infioratori Association
Express yourselves Malta
Catalan Federation of Catitfaires
