by Justin Ortman (San Carlos, CA)ON THE DAY of the Feast of San Giovanni Bautista, Jackie, Lynne and I had been watching a broadcast of the last game that Italy would play in the 2010 world cup. We were absorbing the nationalism and culture around us as the Italian anthem played. The first half had ended and a crowd had begun to form just outside of the patio. Many men dressed in fancy multi-colored apparel that was obviously not of this century, began to march as the trumpets blew and the drums pounded. We decided that something greater than the game was worth our attention as the parade of John the Baptist started. Wanting to see more than just the tail-end of the parade, we scurried through the winding streets of Florence and landed in the shade of the Baptistry across from the Duomo.
Puzzled we wondered why there triumphant trumpets were moving away from our intercept point for the parade… wanting to be certain that we wouldn’t miss the full festivities, Jackie asked a vendor at a small cart if the parade was coming this way and this began the disconnect… attempt after attempt was made, and it ended in the cart vendor confirming that, yes… we were at the Duomo. I then decided that I would try my luck with a local Florentine Police officer; “does the parade come through here?” was a simple enough question, but little did I realize the officer spoke no English whatsoever, not did my question contain a single trans-cultural cognate by which he could understand… I then attempted Pa-Ra-DAY?… which then left an even more puzzled look, and him repeating, Parade”? and followed that up with some Italian that I had never encountered before… He was then called away to deal with some sort of situation, and our triad was left more puzzled than before. Needless to say, the parade of saint John the Baptist, does not end in front of the Florentine Duomo.
