The paper flowers

Perhaps it was the cost of fresh flowers, an unaffordable luxury for the inhabitants, that determined the tradition of paper flowers, which are still packaged in great secrecy with procedures handed down from mother to daughter. There are thousands, of all kinds, from roses to wisteria clusters, to orchids, imitated with such precision and skill by the women of the village as to be confused with the real ones.

The five-year solemnities in honor of the Holy Cross date back to the times of the first cholera epidemic in 1836, when the population resorted to the protection of the Cross and the disease ceased as if by a miracle. Archways covered with pine branches and paper flowers, illuminations, cannon shots, processions and fireworks are the fixed script around which expectations and emotions revolve.

The next edition of the Festa di Santa Croce will be held in September 2025.

Photos by: Linoolmostudio.it, Oscar Colosio