On Valentine's Day, the festival of lovers, it became customary to pay up to 10 euros for a classic rose - long-stemmed, over 70 centimeters in length, and almost entirely imported from abroad. The Association of Nursery Gardeners of Cia-Italian Farmers made note of this phenomenon, noting that unlike in Northern Europe, the turnover of cut flower producers in Italy is strongly correlated with anniversaries such as Mother's Day, Women's Day, Valentine's Day, and the Day of the Dead, which together account for more than half of all annual flower purchases. In Italy, nursery gardening accounts for 5% of agricultural production and employs 27 thousand people, with 20 thousand growing flowers and potted plants and 7 thousand working in nurseries. The entire sector is worth 2.5 billion euros, with five regions accounting for 80% of national production: Liguria (31%), Campania (16%), Tuscany (13%), Puglia (11%), and Sicily (10%).