Priests as pinups? Only in Italy

Susan Spano’s Postcards From Rome

Imagine my shock when I noticed calendars for sale in shops all over Rome featuring a photo of a handsome young priest for every month.

Yes, it’s a clerical pinup calendar, published by Piero Pazzi of Venice, who’s been making souvenir calendars for many years.

On a recent trip to the Lagoon City, I met Pazzi who said that the men pictured are real priests, not models, and pointed out that the calendar has a page of detailed information about Vatican City. He dismissed any questions of taste by saying the calendars depict an important aspect of Rome.

OK, but what would the Holy See say?

Pazzi has also created a gondoliers calendar for Venice and a toreadors calendar for Spain.

– Susan Spano, Los Angeles Times staff writer

[Photo: Calendars for sale in Italy by Susan Spano / Los Angeles Times]

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 12:47 pm by Susan Spano and is filed under Europe, Italy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.