flowers in umbria {corpus domini}

Two weeks ago, when we were up in Todi, I decided to run over the Caseifico Giuliani. Of course I didn’t really need any cheese (does anyone ever need cheese?) but since my friend Eugenia had done a big favor for me, I thought a nice way to pay her back would be in cheese.

To get to the caseificio (which is really just a farm) we drive through the small village of Collelungo. It’s really just a couple dozen buildings on either side of a narrow road.  A church, a bar and a supermarket draw most people here.

But as we were driving right through the center (blink and you miss it) I saw red and pink ‘stuff’ along the side of the road. It took me a while to figure out they were flowers.

“Corpus Domini,” said Jane, who besides never missing a good cheese outing,  also knows all things relating to Catholic holidays.

While I knew of the bigger festivals that celebrated Corpus Domini located in nearby towns like Spello and Orvieto, where the streets get covered in elaborate floral carpets, I had no idea that the holiday was celebrated on a smaller scale in villages like Collelungo.

The red geraniums and pink roses lead us right up  to a road-side shrine I had never noticed before. Each step was covered in a mixture of mostly roses and Spanish broom.

No one else was around, but the flowers must have been strewn moments before, since they were completely un-wilted and incredibly fragrant in the noonday sun.

A few minutes to take some photos and we continued on our cheesy expedition. By the time we passed through again, on our way home, the wind had already scattered most of the petals away.