Near my home, Fioreria Baldan (Campiello de le Fraterne in Castello, included in the beautiful list of flower stores made by my friend Marjorie on her OG Venice Travel Guide) sells these beauties, showing the authentic look and feel of the charming and quiet Advent time in Venice. These floral designs do take up the ancient spirit of the season of the Lagoon.
Using local conifers and those from the near-by Dolomiti mountains of the Belluno area (that you can see below), we are lucky to create corone d'Avvento = Advent wreaths here in Venice.
Simple but heart-warming green decorations, which look so nice against the pastel background of salmon-colored cyclamen and white and purple elleboro (helleborus) arranged on moss to embellish the window banks.
We use the corone d'Avvento as wreaths on doors and as simple centerpieces on the table. They recall the simple Christmas spirit of times long past in the Lagoon, when people used to go foraging and fishing in the morning and collecting pine twigs and cones to use as Christmas decoration, as Lina, our grandmother tells me.
Simple beauties decorated with juniper twigs and berries, and walnuts colored with pale gold.
