La Fiorita takes place every year on 23 May: it is a commemoration of Fra Girolamo Savonarola, originating from the heartfelt, spontaneous popular initiative that saw the site of his execution in Piazza della Signoria covered in flowers on the morning following the preacher’s death in May 1498.
Mass is celebrated in the Chapel of the Priori in Palazzo Vecchio; afterwards, the Procession of the Florentine Republic proceeds to Piazza della Signoria, where a wreath of flowers is laid upon the plaque set into the paving of the square.
The Procession then continues to the Ponte Vecchio, where ‘Florentine Madonnas’ scatter rose petals into the Arno as a symbolic gesture.
