Cristina Hodgson
THE Cordoba Patios closes another successful edition which has seen thousands of visitors left mesmerised by their dizzying floral displays.
The Fiesta de los Patios is booming and blooming thanks to the daily efforts of the patio owners who maintain the patios all year round, even if the actual Cordoba Patios Festival only lasts two weeks.
And, thanks to this ongoing effort, this year’s edition has closed with a record number of visitors, tallying 907,026 people who have passed through the alleyways and backstreets of Cordoba enjoying this celebration of flowers, smells and colours.
The most visited courtyard was that mini-neighbourhood located in the so-called bullfighters’ quarter, Santa Marina, specifically Marroquíes, 6, where 30,273 people passed through during the two weeks of the competition.
However, in this edition it has become clear that the City Council’s attempt to achieve a generational handover in the Fiesta has homework pending.
The prize of €800 reserved for the ‘Best Young Patio’, a new award for this edition, was not given out as ‘there were no candidates’ to inaugurate the category.
A minimum of three patios must participate in order to be awarded the prize. The only courtyard run by a person under 35 years of age was that of Santiago Hernández, at number 13 Calle Zarco.
The intention of the City Council was to ‘encourage the continuity of younger people to join this tradition’, considered by UNESCO as Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Regrettably this has not been the case and as stated by the Deputy Mayor for Culture, Marián Aguilar, Cordoba City Council “will have to continue to encourage young people to join”.
In general, Cordoba’s patios are maintained by amateurs who have learned their gardening skills from parents and grandparents and are spaces of comparable beauty, packed with trees and flowers, fountains and accessories.
READ MORE:
- Spain’s Patios of Cordoba will open their gates to the public as of today, Tuesday May 2
- FLOWER POWER: How to get around Cordoba’s spectacular Festival of Patios this May
- VISITING SPAIN: Why Cordoba should be top of your travel list this Spring
