The littlest helper

And , of course, there is Jessica, the current love of my life, helping out with the infiorata. She finished best in her age category. Go Jess!!!

Infiorata

Another design by the teenagers in the village.

Infiorata, Paciano

Every year on the feast of Corpus Christi, there is the Infiorata, the designing of the streets with flower pictures. The children also receive their First Holy Communion, as seen in the white gowns. This picture is in the piazza where there was a big procession of all these children, priest, members from the church, and , of course, out marching band made up of all the town people, the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker, along with the mechanics, plumbers, electricians, and more...This year I was up at 6 , on the streets at 7 with my team, creating this design shown here.

Infiorata, Paciano, Italy

Park of the Monsters-Bomarzo ,Italy

These are stone sculptures from the Park of Monsters, created in 1552 by Prince Orsini. Years later the whole project was abandoned after creating this( because of no heirs) and was adopted 400 years later by the Bettini Family and restored.It has been studied for years, documentaries have been done, journalists all over the world have written about this. I just visited this for the first time and it is amazing. These are just a few of the creations. The first is the Leaning House, designed like this on purpose. When I went into it, everything is askew so much that I got dizzy, much like being on a boat below deck! It is said that many who came to rest here also got dizzy and people would not stay. The top right is Hercules slaying and quartering of the evil Cacus who stole from the poor. The bottom left is the Sleeping Nymph or Beauty, supposedly halfway between sleep and death. The puppy is watching over her. The bottom right is the Ogre, a giant man's head,petrified in a scream of terror, symbolizing the entrance of the underworld. The mouth of the Ogre was about 8 feet high to give you an idea just how big this head was. This giant 'mask' expresses the desperate helplessness of the creature stricken by destiny.