A religious leader simultaneously blessed and destroyed stunning pictures made of flower petals as he strode through the sidewalk displays at the Corpus Domini Flower Festival in Spello, Italy.
The intricate and masterful flower tableaus are created - then intentionally wiped out - each summer in the small mountain village located in eastern Umbria in central Italy.
A group of North Bay travelers rose early one morning to witness the elaborate preparations involving most of the local townspeople.
Karla Schikore, owner of Haus Fortuna, an Italian-oriented gift shop in Petaluma, led 18 people on her "Heart of Italy" tour, and they consider the flower festival as one of the highlights of the 10-day trip.
Artists paint on canvas, then trace the image onto the sidewalk and use flower petals, leaves and stems to create their pieces, the biggest of which are 10 feet by 50 feet.
"It's extraordinary. It's hard to describe how spectacular it is," said Schikore, who has traveled to Italy regularly for 15 years.
Schikore's aim is to show travelers a side of Italy they wouldn't ordinarily see as independent travelers or on a traditional sightseeing tour.
She takes people behind the scenes at factories in Deruta where she purchases ceramic goods for her Petaluma store and they meet with artisans to see the process of crafting the hand-constructed items.
They hunt for truffles, tour a balsamic vinegar factory, taste olive oils and wines, take a cooking class in Perugia, and tour the historic cities of Orvieto and Assisi.
Schikore timed the trip to coincide with the flower festival and the La Quintana Medieval Festival in Foligno, where spectators watched in amazement as the town turned out for a spectacular parade and jousting and equestrian competition with costumed knights in a stadium.
An estimated $30 million has been spent on authentically recreated medieval costumes worn by local residents, who come from 10 districts in the Foligno area, which has a population similar to Petaluma.
"These people get into the 16th century history, and the whole town lives it. They make their costumes right down to the shoes, " said Sandi Minutoli of Petaluma.
This is the second year she joined the "Heart of Italy " tour with her husband, Steve, who is of Sicilian heritage.
"It's very hard to explain how wonderful this trip is," Minutoli said.
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Before the Italy adventure last year, she had done very little traveling and learned of the trip from stopping into Haus Fortuna.
"It sounded really interesting," she said. "It' s not like I'd envisioned any tour."
Minutoli was impressed that Schikore's Italian tour guide took the group to off-the-beaten-path destinations.
Although participants have an opportunity to buy ceramics and other Italian goods, the focus of the trip is cultural rather than shopping, said Minutoli, who works in the sales department of Victory Chevrolet.
"I bought several things, but I didn't go just to buy. The people who go are different, but it's not like a tour with 18 strangers," she said. "I've never been anywhere, and I'm thinking of going next year ."
Schikore began traveling to Italy when she opened Haus Fortuna in downtown Petaluma. She worked for 27 years in corporate real estate for Bank of America and left the finance world nine years ago.
"I created a business to bring Italian goods here," she said. "There was nothing in this area to bring the whole wonderfulness of Italy here. It was a struggle at first."
Schikore gradually built business contacts enabling her to find and purchase unusual Italian items for her store.
"The reason I like it so much is everything is family produced," she said. "The businesses have been in the families for hundreds of years, and they have a passion for what they do."
The Umbria region is on the same latitude as Sonoma County and shares a similar climate, and its mountain towns date to the Etruscan era.
"Everyone goes to Tuscany. Umbria is far less visited," Schikore said.
Her aim with the tour is to give people up-close cultural experiences without traveling long distances in a bus. She says it's possible to travel the length of Umbria in 1 1/2 hours, but east-west takes longer because travel is limited to slow mountain roads.
Harry Newhall and his wife, Pat, had been been to Italy on a cruise ship but found Schikore's trip offered greater cultural immersion.
"It was extremely well organized, fun, the food was great, and the sightseeing was good," he said. "It was a wonderful experience. I've done a lot of travelling before but this was different, like a cruise, where you unpack one time. It was like going to the Napa Valley and exploring. You didn 't schlep bags and you didn't get up early. "
Schikore is trying to arrange the 2007 tour to coincide with the flower festival and the Quintana medieval event.
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