Just a few shenanigans: Florence and its sayings

Today we want to focus our attention on some curious Tuscan, specifically Florentine, expressions that are frequently used and whose origins are often ignored by many.

The first one can only be an authentic trademark “Sei un Bischero!”

Bischero, in addition to denoting the revolving pin around which strings are wound in musical instruments, is synonymous in Tuscany with foolish, stupid, mouthy, and the like.

But why exactly bischero? The Bischeri were a wealthy family who owned several properties, some of them located between P.zza del Duomo and Via dell’Oriuolo. When Florence decided to build the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, it was proposed to the Bischeri family to purchase its properties near the construction site in order to demolish them and make way for the area where one of the greatest masterpieces of Florentine architecture would rise.

The Bischeri rejected the purchase offer made by the city authorities with the clear hope of driving up its value. A grueling negotiation then followed, conducted for years in a stubborn and very short-sighted manner. After waiting some time and putting on a good face, the City of Florence made an imperious decision and expropriated the land without paying a single florin for it. Public utility! And the owners made, precisely, a fool of themselves with it.

It is said that the family, after the embarrassment they had suffered, moved away from Florence only to return after a long time. Time had brought counsel and also a new surname adopted perhaps with the hope of a better future. The Bischeri had become Guadagni.

How many times have we heard or used the expression “I’m at the doorstep with rocks!” An important appointment is coming up, we have to make a decision that cannot be postponed, a mortgage payment is due, and at that very moment we will be “atthe gates with stones!”

We are back in Florence where the expression “Being at the gates with ‘stones” originated in medieval times, when the city, surrounded by the third circle of walls in its history, was accessible only during the hours established for the opening of the city gates. Even today these splendid city entrances are clearly visible in their austere majesty: Porta al Prato, Porta San Gallo, and Porta alla Croce above the ‘Arno; Porta San Frediano, Porta Romana, Porta di San Miniato and Porta di San Niccolò in the Oltrarno area.

The gates were closed at one o’clock in the morning, and it was in the approach of that moment that pilgrims and farmers returning from the fields at the sight of the entrance to the city would throw stones at the immense gates, to signal their imminent arrival and prevent the guards in charge from making them spend the night out of doors by bolting them shut.

Colorful language in Florentine tradition has never been lacking, and the proverb “Il culo e le quarant’ore” is a confirmation of this But how did this imperishable saying come about?

The resulting colorful expression, “it fitslike the ass and the forty hours,” signals one thing that has nothing to do with another and is a very close relative of the perhaps better known “it fits like the cabbage in a snack.” The origins of the saying seem to be lost in time and refer back to the religious services “Of the Forty Hours,” which consisted of the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in every Florentine church, which ran for a total duration of forty consecutive hours.

Getting to the point, the story goes that during the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in one of the city’s smaller churches, which may have been that of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in the small square of Limbo, the episode at the ‘origin of the famous saying occurred. During the solemn service a woman, feeling groped, lost her temper and began slapping an unfortunate gentleman behind her back. The man, caught in the act, tried to justify himself by saying that the inappropriate gesture was caused by the crush of worshippers present at the “Forty Hours” church service. But the woman was not beguiled and responded in kind, “Or what does the ass have to do with the Forty Hours?” Chapeau! A joke that went down in history!

We conclude this brief roundup of typical Florentine expressions with “Troppa grazia Sant’Antonio!”

We are neither in Padua nor in Lisbon, the cities of the very famous namesake, but we are again in Florence, which has its St. Anthony, a man to whom the origin of the very famous saying is linked. Who was Saint Antony of Florence? Anthony Pierozzi was an Italian theologian, Catholic archbishop and man of letters. A member of the order of the Friars Preachers, he was an archbishop of Florence, a scholar in the ranks of late scholasticism and is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church. As a marble effigy on the facade still reminds us today, he lived in a small building on Via dello Studio, where he used to receive citizens who came to him for spiritual help, so much so that he was soon renamed as “Antonino dei consigli.”

The story goes that Dante Pitti and his wife Marietta, unable to have children, had to turn to their beloved bishop. A short time passed, and the “miracle” was accomplished and their first son was born, to whom the name Guido was given. But the bishop’s intercession proved far more powerful than the couple could have expected: within a few years the woman bore as many as six children! Faced with the story of the couple being “favored” by the bishop’s grace but, at the same time, bewildered by such numerous and unexpected offspring, the Florentine people coined the famous motto that has come down to the present day: “Too much grace, St. Anthony!”