Italian Royalty
I have finally met a member of the Italian Royalty. What an experience. He is a Duke, and to avoid any unknown or unforeseen repercusions, I will not mention his name. However, he and the Duchess were at a fancy dinner I attended. When it was my turn to meet him, I walked up and extended my hand and said 'Buon Giorno, e piaceri', which means 'Hello, I am pleased to meet you.'
He and the Duchess just sort of looked at me, leaving my hand extended, and looked through me as if I were not there. Fortunately a friend took me aside and told me that when I was addressing any sort of Royalty in Italy, it was customary to make a slight bow to them when I spoke to them. So I went up to him again, extended my hand again, greeted him again, and made a slight bow from the waist. He smiled and shook my hand warmly, saying in perfect English that he was very pleased to meet me, and was glad that as an American I had decided to settle in Italy.
We spoke together for about ten minutes, and each time I said something, he ignored it until I had made my little bow. It almost became second nature to me.
Our paths crossed several more times during the evening, and each time when we spoke I remembered to bow politely after each time I said something. We got along well, and he invited me to his country estate to see the land and take whatever pictures I might want to take. I was thrilled by that. Aside from the bowing bit, he really was just like everyone else. Molto Gentile as they say in Italian.
At the end of the evening, people lined up, and the men each approached the Duke, then dropped to one knew and extended a hand to the back of his calf as they said their good byes. He would smile, they would stand up and shake hands with him, and be on their way.
When it was my turn, I walked up, dropped to one knew, took a hold of the back of his calf, and pulled his leg, just as I have been pulling yours.
With apologies to Tom Waits. (Alice)
He and the Duchess just sort of looked at me, leaving my hand extended, and looked through me as if I were not there. Fortunately a friend took me aside and told me that when I was addressing any sort of Royalty in Italy, it was customary to make a slight bow to them when I spoke to them. So I went up to him again, extended my hand again, greeted him again, and made a slight bow from the waist. He smiled and shook my hand warmly, saying in perfect English that he was very pleased to meet me, and was glad that as an American I had decided to settle in Italy.
We spoke together for about ten minutes, and each time I said something, he ignored it until I had made my little bow. It almost became second nature to me.
Our paths crossed several more times during the evening, and each time when we spoke I remembered to bow politely after each time I said something. We got along well, and he invited me to his country estate to see the land and take whatever pictures I might want to take. I was thrilled by that. Aside from the bowing bit, he really was just like everyone else. Molto Gentile as they say in Italian.
At the end of the evening, people lined up, and the men each approached the Duke, then dropped to one knew and extended a hand to the back of his calf as they said their good byes. He would smile, they would stand up and shake hands with him, and be on their way.
When it was my turn, I walked up, dropped to one knew, took a hold of the back of his calf, and pulled his leg, just as I have been pulling yours.
With apologies to Tom Waits. (Alice)
posted by Steve at 9:28 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home