Sanremo, the City of Flowers
Sanremo, a world-known city located along the stretch of the Ligurian coast called Riviera dei Fiori, is known for the Tenco Music Award, the Motor Racing Rally Race and, of course, the Sanremo Musical Festival.
What makes it renowned all over the world, however, is the cultivation of flowers in the Riviera di Ponente on which the city economy is based, which earned it the name City of Flowers. The surrounding areas are rich in greenhouses, focused on the cultivation of Carnations, green plants and roses, appreciated for their elegance and beauty. The quality of Sanremo flowers has become popular even abroad, thanks to the export requests that see the products reach, for example, the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna during the New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
A symbol of botanical and biological excellence, the flowers cover the streets of the city and the gardens of the residents, making the landscape magical, characteristic and always being the real star on the Ariston stage, house of the Sanremo Music Festival where, every year, the majestic and typical bouquets are used as a decoration and used as a welcome gift for guests, showing them a nice play of colours and petals that impress the even the audience watching the show from their home.
The flowers from the Riviera di Ponente, recognized as an integral part of the history of Sanremo, are the driving force of its economy. This is celebrated every year during the Corso Fiorito parade, also called Carnival of Flowers, which takes place in Sanremo on the Sunday before the Saturday in which the famous cycling race Milano-Sanremo takes place, that usually corresponds to the Sunday in March. During the Carnival of Flowers, allegorical chariots, made by the municipalities cities of the Imperia province, march through the streets of Sanremo, all adorned with the local flowers. The first edition took place in January 1904 under the name Festa della Dea Flora and, to date, remains one of the pivotal events of the area.
The flowers grown in Sanremo and throughout the Ligurian West Coast are exported all over the world, become a prestigious product thanks to the dedication of the growers and their tireless search for improvement. The refinement of the roses, the vivid colours of the Geraniums and the creative floral arrangements are now a stable element of the Sanremo landscape, the setting of a rich artistic and architectural heritage with the enchanting Ligurian sea as the background.