What does a monsignor to the Vatican do when he’s not in Rome doing what a monsignor does?
Inquiring minds want to know, and I, my dears, have the answers!
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Recently I had the pleasure of having breakfast with Monsignor Luigi Falcone, a secretary of state to the Vatican, right here in San Diego.
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My student Bill (aka Giorgio) invited me. Giorgio and his wife Gina were hosting Monsignor Luigi during his first-ever vacanza (vacation) to California. Gina and Luigi, it turns out, are fourth cousins whose bis nonni (great grandfathers) were cugini (cousins) from Bisignano, Calabria…. Gina and Giorgio had met Luigi during a vacation to Italy many years ago, and he’d made a promise to visit them one day in San Diego, and now, here he was!
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When we met, Luigi had just flown in the day before with his friend Lillo. So, I was meeting them at their first colazione all’americana (American breakfast), which you may know, is substantially different from a typical Italian breakfast.
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Now onestamente (honestly), I had no idea what to expect… I imagined I’d see a man wearing a funny-shaped hat and long robes. But until we were introduced, I had no idea which of the two men was Monsignor Luigi, and which was Lillo. It turns out he was the one wearing una camicia sportiva azzurra (a blue polo shirt) — just like any lay-person might do on a warm Southern California morning!
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When asked about “uniforms” (in italiano, “divise”), he said when he’s working at il Vaticano, he wears lunghi vesti neri (long black robes) con una fusciacca viola (with a purple sash). And when going about his personal business, he must wear some type of colletto (collar) identifying him as clergy. But here, off duty and on vacation, he can wear whatever he wants. As the saying goes, when in SoCal…
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- Where’s Luigi? (E’ l’uomo a sinistra.)
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So what did we talk about and what did we EAT? Well, Luigi took the advice of our cameriere (waiter) and had the panino all’uovo e formaggio (egg and cheese breakfast sandwich). Lillo on the other hand, who’d already had a classic Italian breakfast of caffe e biscotti (coffee and biscuits) had the homemade date bar.
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You may be wondering whether we engaged in lofty, pithy conversation… for a little while, we did touch on lo stato del mondo (the state of the world) and la politica (politics), but mostly, I was translating between the four of them (giving them and their iPad translator apps a welcome rest!) on the topic of where they’d go and what they’d see during their time in sunny California.
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So where did they go and what did they see? The important cathedrals of SoCal? Non proprio! (not at all)… they gleefully went alla spiaggia (to the beach), SeaWorld, DisneyLand, Universal Studios, allo zoo (to the San Diego Zoo), Los Angeles, Palm Springs, and Newport Beach… and according to Giorgio, si sono divertiti un mondo (they had a blast)!
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Il morale della storia? (The moral of the story?) When in San Diego from Rome, do as the San Diegans do! (Wear polo shirts, eat egg & cheese sandwiches, visit Seaworld and Disneyland!) And, last I heard, they were talking about “next time” when they’ll go to Las Vegas!
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Sidenote: I’m looking forward to visiting my new friends in Italy, where I’ll visit Lillo’s city, Scilla, and do as the Scillans do – pescano (they fish) right off the balconi (balconies) of their homes built into the side of the cliffs overlooking the Mar Tirreno (Tyrrhenian Sea) …!
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Link to Mons. Luigi on internet – See him in traditional attire at the celebration of his 25 years as a priest.
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Have any interesting “vacationing Italian” anecdotes you want to share? Ever been to Scilla? I love reading your comments!
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