Flower Group of Gerano "Infiorata di Gerano Madonna del Cuore"
Gerano distinguishes itself from others Infiorata held throughout the peninsula of Italy but also abroad, with the use of exclusively flower petals placed on the pavement on which the religious motifs and designs to be represented have been drawn.
Flower Art Maestro Mariano Caciaguerra and his father Maestro Michele Caciaguerra along with Daniele Censi, Adriano Proietti, and Giuliano Pisanelli will present Madonna del Cuore "Mary, Madonna of the Heart," a tradition maintained for over 290 years as a profound expression of devotion and identity from Gerano, Italy. The story of the Gerano Infiorata has its roots in the past, while maintaining a language of the present, open to changes in the times but firmly linked to religious values, faith, art, creativity, joy and sharing - a sharing with the aim of discovering and making known new ideas (solutions, strategies, resources) with which to improve our abilities and those of a community, a country and the world around them. Gerano is a small community with roughy 1,100 inhabitants in the Lazio region, central Italy, province of Rome. They are nominated for inclusion in the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices - as the Infiorata in Gerano is a complex celebration where everyone offers a little of themselves, of what they can and where the peculiar characteristics of the identity of the Gerano community are manifested.
The Flower Group of Gerano will arrive in Sarasota, Florida in the United States on November 1. They will prepare the design and organizing materials from November 2 - 6, and then separating flower petals with a team of volunteers on November 7. The placing of the petals will start in the morning of November 8 and continue throughout opening day at the Sarasota Int'l Chalk Festival. The Flower Carpets will be on display Saturday and Sunday. Starting Sunday around 4:30 PM, the Florida Flora & Fauna Puppet Parade will start overtop the artwork as a closing ceremony, marking the end of these fleeting works of art. Tickets are on-sale now - click here.
"An extraordinary polychrome flower carpet where the exaltation of color mixes with the scent of the most concrete symbol of nature, the necessary and indispensable element for man in his existence, the emblem of many different meanings and at the same time a sign of beauty and the most extraordinary aesthetics: The Flower!" - Gerano the oldest Infiorata in Italy
About the Artwork:
Mary, Madonna of the Heart, docile instrument of the Divine Spirit, embodies the religious spirit of the whole community of Gerano, which for over 290 years gathers around this miraculous image to offer her the Infiorata, as a sign of strong devotion and identity, which has allowed this centuries-old tradition to be handed down with great cohesion to the present day. The Madonna, with her humility - looking downward - gives to the whole world her Son and her heart, lit by love for all of us, her children in Christ. The painting by the painter Sebasiano Conca (Gaeta 08.01.1680 - Naples 01.09.1766), arrived in Gerano in 1729 and remained here through miraculous conditions, due to the attachment of the Geranesi to the sacred image. Since then, the devotion to Our Lady of the Heart and the Infiorata dedicated to her have never experienced interruptions, not even in times of war, pestilence and calamities.