Summer has arrived in Valencia and it is spent in the streets with neighbors, friends and tourists. What better way to have fun than in the Gran Fira de Valencia (the old July Fair) with a tradition of over 150 years and where you can go to a lot of activities throughout the month of July and whose most popular and representative act is known as La Batalla de las Flores, which means “battle of flowers”.
It is a spectacle that consists of a festive battle of flowers between the various floats and horse-drawn carriages that parade and the public who come as spectators. The Battle of Flowers of Valencia takes place on the last Sunday of July and ends the Great July Fair. The eve is celebrated in the City of the Fallero Artist the Night of the Pinchó, in which the master carriage makers finish pinching the flower on the floats that will parade in the Battle of Flowers.
It is a beautiful and original war in which the falleras, dressed in Valencian regional costume and mounted on their floats, parade along the Paseo de la Alameda and throw flowers to the public. While they protect themselves with rackets from the thousands and thousands of colored carnations that, in turn, the public throws at them.
The Battle of Flowers this year 2022, will have 30 floats and nine horse-drawn carriages, where the pre-selected falleras, the Falleras Mayores and representatives of other traditional festivals or cultural entities will sit and 1,500,000 carnations will be thrown. The floats will be decorated with thousands of flowers, work masterfully performed by falleras artists or other professionals of the guild.
After the great floral battle, the Paseo de la Alameda in Valencia becomes a huge flowery carpet, with an aroma that can be felt throughout the city.
What is the origin of La Batalla de las Flores in Valencia?
Valencia was the first city in Spain to celebrate this festival and the second city in the world. The promoter of this unique battle was Mr. Pascual Frígola, Baron of Cortes de Pallás, who introduced the flower battle in Spain, similar to the popular celebration of the same name that was held in summer in the city of Nice (France).
The first battle took place in 1891. In 2016, the 125th anniversary of this spectacular festival was celebrated. Traditionally, the Battle of Flowers was held on the last day of the month, July 31, until a few decades ago it moved to the last Sunday of July.
At the beginning, the Battle of Flowers consisted of a parade of carriages decorated with plants and flowers by local florists, from which some young ladies and girls shot carnations. After the first decades of the 20th century, the current floats made by fallero artists were incorporated, competing for the prize for the best float.
The floats carry the falleras mayores of Valencia, the falleras mayores of different falleras commissions and groups, as well as the aspiring falleras mayores of Valencia and courts of honor and other festive and civic groups.
The battle begins, as it could not be otherwise in Valencia, with a single-shell shot. The first to parade are the dolçainers and tabaleters, accompanied by ornate horses that are ridden by couples dressed in old costumes of the huerta.
Next, the floats parade, which are evaluated by a jury and at the end of the battle will receive the corresponding prizes.The most important of them all is the so-called Baron de Cortes, in honor of Pascual Frígola, Baron of Cortes, which rewards the most perfect decoration with natural flowers.
Once all the prizes have been distributed, the Battle of Flowers begins, where flowers are thrown from the floats to the Valencians and spectators and the Paseo de la Alameda is filled with a blanket of flowers. It is worth it to go and enjoy this peculiar battle and see the atmosphere of joy that is experienced throughout the battle and the tour of the floats.
If you want to know what to do in Valencia this summer with children, family and friends, you can get in touch with us at Españolé and we will be happy to recommend the best plans and tips for you to enjoy your vacations in this beautiful city.
