Despite my best efforts for silence the Bishop of Siena heard about my pilgrimage and insisted on meeting me at Porta Romana at the gates of the city with hundreds of city dignitaries. This was all fine but then they made me give a speech in Italian:
"Prego, grazie mille. Toto Schillachi bastardo, pizza pomodoro pronto. Paoli Rossi, prego, Mafiosi prego. Prego pronto pasta ravioli, ragu il Via Francigena e Sophia Loren, Cinema Paradiso e Buffalo Mozzarella Pronto lasagne, il vino rosso Montalcino bellissimo, ciao bella. Irelanda ama Italy e Italy ama Irelanda. Bravissimo."
At this point you could hear a pin drop. And some sobbing in the crowd. Then I hit them with the big punchline:
"La saggezza e', come la saggezza fa". This means 'Wisdom is, as wisdom does'.
At first there was silence. Then the clapping started, and the people rose to their feet in unison and gave me a standing ovation. For 15 minutes. And then I continued on my way, for it was all that I knew.
Glad to see you practising your Italiano! You'll be fluent by the time we see you ��
ReplyDeleteMy Italian is not great, so I used modern technology and put you speech in google translate..........
ReplyDeletePlease , thank you so much . Toto Schillachi bastard, tomato pizza ready . Paoli Rossi , please , please Mafiosi . Please ready ravioli pasta , ragu the Via Francigena and Sophia Loren , Cinema Paradiso and Buffalo Mozzarella Ready lasagna , red beautiful Montalcino wine, hello beautiful . Irelanda loves Italy and Italy loves Irelanda . Very good."
Mmmmmm🙄