laurel-crown-history-meaning-graduation-florence
The laurel crown worn by Italian graduates on proclamation day is not a decorative accessory — it is a tradition more than two thousand years old, rooted in ancient Greece and carried forward through Rome, the Middle Ages, and into every university city in Italy today.
The origins: laurel in ancient Greece
Laurel was a sacred plant in ancient Greece, consecrated to Apollo — god of light, poetry, the arts and prophecy. According to myth, Apollo fell in love with Daphne, a nymph and daughter of the river god Peneus. To escape him, Daphne asked the gods to transform her — and she became a laurel tree. Apollo, heartbroken, embraced her and swore to wear her leaves forever, making laurel an eternal symbol of devotion and achievement.
From Apollo — deity of wisdom and the arts — laurel passed into everything that human striving reaches for: excellence, knowledge, creative achievement. Gian Lorenzo Bernini captured this myth in one of the most breathtaking sculptures ever made: Apollo and Daphne, housed at the Galleria Borghese in Rome. If you are studying art history in Florence, it is worth the trip to Rome just to stand in front of it.
From myth to poet laureates
In ancient Greece, laurel crowns were awarded to winners of the Pythian Games — the musical and poetic competitions dedicated to Apollo. In Rome, they became the mark of military and civic triumph: emperors wore them in processions along the Via Sacra.
In the Middle Ages, great poets were publicly crowned with laurel in formal ceremonies — which is where the term poet laureate comes from, a title still used today in Britain, the United States and beyond. From laureato — the Italian word for someone crowned with laurel — comes the word laurea, meaning a university degree. The crown is the origin of the concept of an academic title itself.
The Italian graduation tradition
In Italy, this historical continuity has survived more intact than almost anywhere else. When a student defends their thesis and is proclaimed dottore or dottoressa, they wear a fresh laurel crown — often decorated with red roses, berries, or other elements chosen by the family. It is a ritual that connects a deeply personal moment to something far older.
In Florence, a city that has been home to poets, artists and thinkers for centuries, this tradition carries particular weight. Dante Alighieri, who studied in Florence and whose statue stands in Santa Croce, famously dreamed of being crowned with laurel in his native city. He never was — but the tradition he embodied lives on every time a student walks out of an exam room wearing those leaves.
How to choose a laurel crown for graduation in Florence
A laurel crown needs to be fresh, well constructed, and made to last an entire day — from the photos outside the university to the dinner that evening. The difference between a crown prepared with care and one put together quickly shows immediately, and shows even more in the photographs.
On Fiorit you will find laurel crowns prepared to order in our Florence workshop: classic, with red roses, with berries, with gypsophila. You can choose to have it delivered to an address in Florence or pick it up at the workshop the day before — often the calmer option, with no variables to manage on the morning of the proclamation.
Order at least 24 hours in advance. During the busiest graduation sessions — particularly July and October — 48 hours is better.
