It was the early twentieth century when Ernesto Ravasio began to devote himself to floriculture. The love for floriculture continued in the Ravasio family, thanks to Eugenio, Ernesto’s nephew. After attending a floriculture school in Zurich, Eugenio worked as head gardener in the Vatican gardens of Castelgandolfo, and returned to Bergamo in 1930. Vittorio Ravasio, Eugenio's brother, imported seeds from South Africa of a flower that was at the time unknown in Bergamo, the poppy.
A wide selection of flowers and plants, attention to every customer’s desire, a high level of experience and expertise are the key words to describe Ravasio Fiori.
Together with the Urban District of Commerce we met Adriano Ravasio and this is his story:
“In the Ravasio brothers’ enchanting shop - on the corner between via Adamello and Largo Belotti - they are all in turmoil for Valentine's Day week.
More than anything else we are preparing for the arrival of last-minute late-comers. Those "panicked and with white faces", who will enter five minutes from closing, begging for some floral remnants of any kind, so as to not return home without the just thought of love in their hands. They seem to be certain of a harsh penalty!
In reality, the joke also hides a bit of regret. “Now it happens more and more for popular celebrations and less so in canonical festivities. Up until fifteen years ago, on the day of Santa Maria, on September 12th, we would open very early and in a short time we would finish all the flower stocks. Almost no one came in this year.”
For Adriano Ravasio, a florist for over fifty years, it is as if we were disaccustomed to beauty. "For me it was easy to recognise, I grew up playing in a greenhouse!"
Then, undoubtedly, genetics played their part. It was first great-uncle Ernesto who was passionate about flowers. After studying at the School of Floriculture in Zurich he became, at the beginning of the twentieth century, chief gardener in the Villa Keller Steiner in the Upper Town.
Then there was his uncle Eugenio - who in the war years worked as a gardener at the Holy See in the papal state - and, finally, the flowers also brought luck to Vittorio, Adriano’s father.
He, sent to a prison camp in South Africa, had a meeting with a wealthy lady from Johannesburg who had him work as a gardener at her home the entire time.
Flowers had also saved him, so much so that he didn’t return to Italy until two years after the war ended.
When Vittorio returned home, he brought with him in his pocket some seeds of a flower he had seen only there. A flower of which probably, he would have been homesick for how beautiful it was.
It was a yellow and red poppy that looked like it was made of fine paper.
Adriano shows it to us in the shop, he gently holds it, looking at it gratefully. “It was my father who first spread it throughout Italy and then Europe”- and left it with it’s nice English name Poppy, which brought with it the sweetness of a good time.
The first shop was opened in 1937, in the same place it is today.
The flowers are partly the same, those cultivated directly by the Ravasio family, to which those coming from all over the world have been added.
Outside on the large shop window still appears the golden vintage sign: Specialties Corbeilles and bouquets.
In the credenza behind the counter, Adriano preserves the elegant ribbons that his father used to tie the flowers. “Once they were strictly in fabric”, because beauty was also educated in this way, through precious details.
Today - he explains – everyone seems more distracted, more focused on astounding someone with special effects. “Think, a few days ago we were asked for 500 red roses!” -because there is still someone who plays the romantic... “But generally after marriage it passes.”
We burst out laughing, even if we are left with a bit of bitterness. In their shop, you are literally overwhelmed by an extraordinary grace. Not only that of flowers, but also the look and careful hands of those who work making bouquets and compositions that are explosions of life and colours.
Seeing the veil of melancholy that has come over us, Adriano adds with a smile, “In reality there are also beautiful stories: there is a lady who lives alone and every Saturday takes two bunches of tulips. She does it for herself: beauty lengthens life.”
Then there is the sweet story of the son, who every year, for his mother's birthday, bought as many roses as the number of her years.
Every year. Without ever missing one.
And every year with the roses, he wrote a carefully handwritten note that he said only, simply "Thanks Mum".”
It was the early twentieth century when Ernesto Ravasio began to devote himself to floriculture. The love for floriculture continued in the Ravasio family, thanks to Eugenio, Ernesto’s nephew. After attending a floriculture school in Zurich, Eugenio worked as head gardener in the Vatican gardens of Castelgandolfo, and returned to Bergamo in 1930. Vittorio Ravasio, Eugenio's brother, imported seeds from South Africa of a flower that was at the time unknown in Bergamo, the poppy.
A wide selection of flowers and plants, attention to every customer’s desire, a high level of experience and expertise are the key words to describe Ravasio Fiori.
Together with the Urban District of Commerce we met Adriano Ravasio and this is his story:
“In the Ravasio brothers’ enchanting shop - on the corner between via Adamello and Largo Belotti - they are all in turmoil for Valentine's Day week.
More than anything else we are preparing for the arrival of last-minute late-comers. Those "panicked and with white faces", who will enter five minutes from closing, begging for some floral remnants of any kind, so as to not return home without the just thought of love in their hands. They seem to be certain of a harsh penalty!
In reality, the joke also hides a bit of regret. “Now it happens more and more for popular celebrations and less so in canonical festivities. Up until fifteen years ago, on the day of Santa Maria, on September 12th, we would open very early and in a short time we would finish all the flower stocks. Almost no one came in this year.”
For Adriano Ravasio, a florist for over fifty years, it is as if we were disaccustomed to beauty. "For me it was easy to recognise, I grew up playing in a greenhouse!"
Then, undoubtedly, genetics played their part. It was first great-uncle Ernesto who was passionate about flowers. After studying at the School of Floriculture in Zurich he became, at the beginning of the twentieth century, chief gardener in the Villa Keller Steiner in the Upper Town.
Then there was his uncle Eugenio - who in the war years worked as a gardener at the Holy See in the papal state - and, finally, the flowers also brought luck to Vittorio, Adriano’s father.
He, sent to a prison camp in South Africa, had a meeting with a wealthy lady from Johannesburg who had him work as a gardener at her home the entire time.
Flowers had also saved him, so much so that he didn’t return to Italy until two years after the war ended.
When Vittorio returned home, he brought with him in his pocket some seeds of a flower he had seen only there. A flower of which probably, he would have been homesick for how beautiful it was.
It was a yellow and red poppy that looked like it was made of fine paper.
Adriano shows it to us in the shop, he gently holds it, looking at it gratefully. “It was my father who first spread it throughout Italy and then Europe”- and left it with it’s nice English name Poppy, which brought with it the sweetness of a good time.
The first shop was opened in 1937, in the same place it is today.
The flowers are partly the same, those cultivated directly by the Ravasio family, to which those coming from all over the world have been added.
Outside on the large shop window still appears the golden vintage sign: Specialties Corbeilles and bouquets.
In the credenza behind the counter, Adriano preserves the elegant ribbons that his father used to tie the flowers. “Once they were strictly in fabric”, because beauty was also educated in this way, through precious details.
Today - he explains – everyone seems more distracted, more focused on astounding someone with special effects. “Think, a few days ago we were asked for 500 red roses!” -because there is still someone who plays the romantic... “But generally after marriage it passes.”
We burst out laughing, even if we are left with a bit of bitterness. In their shop, you are literally overwhelmed by an extraordinary grace. Not only that of flowers, but also the look and careful hands of those who work making bouquets and compositions that are explosions of life and colours.
Seeing the veil of melancholy that has come over us, Adriano adds with a smile, “In reality there are also beautiful stories: there is a lady who lives alone and every Saturday takes two bunches of tulips. She does it for herself: beauty lengthens life.”
Then there is the sweet story of the son, who every year, for his mother's birthday, bought as many roses as the number of her years.
Every year. Without ever missing one.
And every year with the roses, he wrote a carefully handwritten note that he said only, simply "Thanks Mum".”
