Press Release of the Governorate of the Vatican City State Holy Week 2026
Thousands of multicolored flowers and plants from Italy and the Netherlands will adorn St. Peter’s Square and the Basilica for the celebrations of Holy Week. Their arrangement and artistic creations will be carried out by the staff of the Gardens and Environment Service of the Directorate of Infrastructure and Services of the Governorate of the Vatican City State, in collaboration with the entities who have donated the plants and flowers.
For Palm Sunday, March 29, 120 palms and 120,000 olive branches—provided by the National Association of Olive Oil Producing Cities, Umbria Region—will be distributed. A delegation of the Association, led by President Michele Sonnessa and Director Antonio Balenzano, and representatives of the Association and the oil producing cities of Umbria, will be present in Rome during the celebration.
The distribution of numerous “phoenix palms,” donated by the Neocatechumenal Way, will be overseen by the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff.
The traditional palmurelli are also present; they have been purchased by the Governorate and come from Sanremo, woven by the artisan Grazia Errico.
The palmurelli were blessed in the Cathedral of San Siro on Tuesday, March 24, by the Vicar General of the Diocese of Ventimiglia-Sanremo, Monsignor Antonio Arnaldi.
During the Easter Vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica, floral decorations will be created by the staff of the Gardens and Environment Service, also thanks to the contribution of floriculture professors from the Biotechnology Center of Naklo and a professor from the Biotechnology and Tourism Center of Novo Mesto in Slovenia.
On the Solemnity of Easter, Sunday, April 5, St. Peter’s Square will be adorned with thousands of flowers and plants grown in the Netherlands. The decorations will be realized thanks to the generous contribution of Dutch florists and decorators, led by chief decorator Piet van der Burg, in collaboration with the staff of the Gardens and Environment Service.
This year marks the fortieth anniversary since the Netherlands first offered the generous floral gift to the Pope on the occasion of Easter. The initiative has been promoted from the outset by volunteers in the floral industry, supported by the Dutch Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the “Bloemenpracht Rome” Foundation.
For the arrangements, the following will be used: 65,000 bulbs of tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths, as well as mini daffodils; 220 white and orange violas; 7,800 flowers, including roses, delphiniums, anthuriums, chrysanthemums, gerberas, and matthiolas; 600 branches of plumosa; 80 azaleas; and 600 long branches of willow catkins, long eucalyptus branches, and various types of greenery.
Before departure for Rome, all these flowers will be blessed on Tuesday, March 31, by the Bishop of Rotterdam, Monsignor Johannes Harmannes Jozefus van den Hende, President of the Bishops’ Conference of the Netherlands, in the Keukenhof Floral Park in Lisse.