Once again, my friend Joe, another confirmed Italophile, reports in on what’s going on in Italy — and what else could it be this week, but the celebrations surrounding Italy’s World Cup win:
- Telegiornale 2 says 600,000 people were at the party at Circo Massimo on Monday evening.
- Best sign I saw in the crowd: Cannavaro Santo Subito. Cannavero is the team captain. “Santo Subito” means immediate sainthood. And that echoes the signs that were in St. Peter’s Square when John Paul II died.
- The team’s off-the-pitch uniforms–black suits with black collared shirts–were designed by Dolce & Gabbana.
- The infamous Zidane head butt on Materazzi is creating huge speculation centering on what Materazzi might have said that drove Zidane to the madness. A French anti-bias groups claims they were told Materazzi called Zidane, whose heritage is Algerian, “a dirty terrorist.” The Times of London enlisted a lip reader to study the tape. She claims Materazzi called Zidane “the son of a terrorist whore.” Materazzi denies it all.