The MEDICI have THEIR SAY!!!
"WE thank you for your support..."
Five tortaux gules two, two and one, and in chief, a roundel azure thereon three fleur-de-lys or.
(Five red balls placed two on each side and one at the bottom, surmounted by a blue ball bearing three gold lilies.)
"IF we were springing for the full-color option... PLUS the crown of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany (We, by the Grace of God, US.) PLUS a drapery swirl with attitude."
"The Medici thank you for your support!"
"Assuming that you are giving us a double fist pump (a.k.a. The Rocky Thing)."
"Not demonstrating elementary free-weight technique. Or trying out for Jersey Shore: Season Four...in Florence (Dio ci salva / God save us!)"
"But why bus in ringers from L'Altura del Littorale / Seaside Heights?"
"Our Loyal Subjects have talent to spare! And these days, they all carry cell phones. So, you can have them at Via dei Vecchietti 6... in minutes!
More MEDICI?
More MYSTERIES OF FLORENCE?
PHOTOGRAPH 1: Florence, Piazza Santa Croce © Lyle Goldberg
PHOTOGRAPHS 2 & 3: MTV (via the web)
Loved this!! What is up with those two ladies and their pink jazzercise gear? The lovely Italians.... The Medici Court ~ How humble, how giving....
ReplyDeleteI just reread the Jersey Shore comment...must have passed it the first time...I am still laughing....:>)
ReplyDeleteI saw Pauly D. and Vinnie a few months ago near the Mercato di San Lorenzo - "just hanging out" with a lot of entourage. BUT WHY HERE???!!! Florence is normally the most un-guido of towns. There are many down-home types and there is a strong popular culture - but folks JUST DON'T DO GUIDO. The crew could have staked out Rimini, Viareggio or a host of other places where there are beach and club scenes beyound the wildest dreams of Seaside Heights!
ReplyDeleteThis is too funny ~ they really look quite out of place with their Jersey 'style', in such a lovely place as Italy....but it seems the Italians were loving it. Lucky you!! (ha ha)
ReplyDeleteThe Florentines half-ignored and half-obsessed over the Jersey Shore invasion - treating it like a mildly entertaining natural disaster. "The Guido Thing" really is Italian-American, not Italian - although you can spot many of the constituent elements here in the Bel Paese. In the course of things, I have found myself in hundreds of small towns in the South (which - between you and me - is the part of Italy that I love most). I often find myself going up to little clusters of "local youths" (seeming Jersey Shore surrogates, with the funny haircuts and the funny clothes and the funny accesories) to ask directions or (more likely), "Where the hell can you park around here?"... And unfailingly, I encounter the incredible graciousness and old-fashioned good manners that have survived in that part of the world. It is like having Pauly and Vinnie and Ronnie furrowing their brows, giving you their undivided attention and calling you "Signore" three times in every sentence (inevitably, I feel a million years old!) Snookies and JWOWs are rarer, since Italian parents (especially in the South) seldom allow their daughters to trash it up quite that much. (Although Snookie and JWOW have pretty threadbare Italian creds!)
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