inside Rhodes

My sentimental, very first pro-sporting event! No, it’s not football, or futbol– it’s calcio! [kal-chyoh] Fiorentina vs. Sampdoria (in northern Italy near Genoa), rooting for the team in the manly shade of violet. Forza Viola!!! Go Florentine Violet!!!

 

The crowd is covered in violet and red, and they wave flags and scarves. You can also buy clothes for baby boys that boast “Future Viola” or “Born for Viola” etc. in every market. In fact, man woman and child are all proud to wear electric violet. It might not sound too strange in theory, but it’s one of those gender conditioning things– I’ve just never seen so many men willingly wear a “female” color. It was fantastic!

The fans of the opposing team were grouped together in the stands under a massive standard of (what else?) red white and blue. They were surrounded by security and thick glass, with the sections next to them kept roped off and empty. There have been some problems with violence in the stadium, so all of this precaution is habitual for sports fans.

Florence almost had the match in the bag, and about two minutes from the end Sampdoria tied it up, 2-2. Viola fans were devastated, it was hard for me to watch. Unlike American football, Italians allow a match to end in a tie, but it screws up the season rankings something awful. I don’t know why they do it. I wasn’t ready to leave the stadium until there was a winner and a loser!!!

Now like I said, I’ve never been to any American games, but I’m pretty sure the crowd doesn’t sing most of the time, right? So let me present another interesting fact of Italian soccer life: every team’s fan base has a set of songs/chants that they unleash at the appropriate moment. Something simple, like “Ooo-ooo-oo-OOO-ooo-oo Fiorentina!” or the more complex ”Vio-o-ole, forza Viole, Viole, Viole, Vio-o-ole!” There’s also a confident chant roughly translated to “You’re trash! Get the trash out of Florence!” When things get dicey, they whistle through their fingers with a significance that is similar to the strongest insults in the American language. I was impressed.

Then I noticed that the heaviest heckling was coming from the little boy sitting next to me. He must have been around ten years old, and he screamed Italian obscenities at the field for the majority of the game, his father sitting proudly beside him. I don’t think I can repeat the things that this kid said, and he definitely had a wider vocabulary than I did in this arena, but you can bet I was cracking up the whole time and trying not to turn away from the game to look at him. He was dressed like an angel, kind of like an Italian boyscout. That and the high voice killed me. Best seat in the house.

Other big news: I finally saw Michelangelo’s statue of David. If at least one thing in the world lives up to the hype, his name is David. They don’t let you take pictures, but compared to your memory, photos would only be disappointing to look at later. This is not even coming from an art freak, trust me, if you are ever NEAR Florence, David is worth the look, it has it’s own room built especially for it at the Galleria dell’Accademia.

The unexpected find: there is an offshooting museum from the Galleria that houses historical musical instruments, and I saw two Stradivariuses. A violin, and the only stringed instrument in the world made by Antonio Stradivari that has not had its neck or body altered, a tenor viola with the Medici family crest embedded in its fingerboard, nick-named “the Medici viola.” Tenor violas are now obsolete, because we have found ways to improve the sound of lower tones using the smaller-bodied alto viola, which is what you commonly see in orchestras today. So I’m standing in front of the glass cases, gaping at these freaking priceless instruments, and people walking past me are just bumping into me all the time. I think I would have liked for there to be a bench right there. I don’t know, maybe you’ve seen something that got you all stupid. It was like that. Amazing, the way the word really means it.

Stencil Recognition Test stencil graffiti has to be my favorite. Do you know this famous person?

Stylish shoes are an integral part of Italian life I’m going to be so good at walking after this. When I get home to real pavement, it will be like floating above the street!

*Correction: Italians don’t have trouble saying Jenny. I have trouble distinguishing between hearing “Jenny” and hearing “vieni.” It’s starting to click.

Off to write the last paper of the semester! Arrivederci!

Jenny