Ephemeral art in Sicily: flower displays, festivals and temporary installations

Starting with ephemeral floral art, we stop off in Noto (SR). The Noto Flower Festival is held every year in spring, specifically on the third Sunday in May, when the central Via Nicolaci is transformed into a gigantic open-air ‘carpet of flowers’. A deeply rooted tradition famous throughout the world, which, since the 17th century, on the occasion of the liturgical celebrations of Corpus Christi, brings together the finest floral artists in Noto to create pictures of coloured petals, often with a sacred theme.

It is not flowers but vegetables that take centre stage at the unique Inverdurata in Pachino, which uses the exceptionally sweet Pachino PGI Tomato as its main ingredient and takes place every year in May. During the Inverdurata, Pachino (SR) is bathed in red, the intense colour which, together with other organoleptic characteristics (round shape, aroma, crispness on the outside and softness on the inside), makes the Pachino Tomato a vegetable synonymous with the region. The ephemeral artworks of the Inverdurata of Pachino are multicoloured, fragrant and vibrant, just like the vegetables from which they are made.

Looking for more ephemeral art? Come and discover the Insabbiata in Ispica, also held between May and June. This is the time when the town of Ispica (RG) treats visitors to a riot of coloured sand sculptures, arranged along an artistic route that makes the most of the splendid 16th-century setting of the Church of Sant’Antonio Abate.

Finally, let’s discover the festival that Sicily dedicates to ephemeral art forms, recognising their poetic value and providing them with a space for adequate visibility. The Festival of Ephemeral Arts is one of a kind and takes place in Noto, the ‘City of Sicilian Baroque’ and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which, drawing inspiration from its centuries-old Flower Festival, hosts a festival in July entirely dedicated to ephemeral arts: carpets of salt, sawdust, petals, sand, pulses and any other manifestation of the ephemeral as a symbol of human transience, interpreted by artists from all over the world. An unmissable opportunity for lovers of the genre and beyond!