Ice Cream Men: Moda à la Mode

In general, I would say that most Italians pay a lot of attention to their appearance, they tend to iron their trousers and shirts, they usually shine their shoes, the unkempt look is rather hard to find 'round these parts. There is one group of people who, while far from sloppy, are perversely entertaining. In the summer, many middle-aged men (never the elderly and never young hipsters) walk around with well-ironed bright or pastel shirt and pant combos that are much better suited to ice-cream cones than pants.

Now. you'll say, That's mean spirited; what did that guy ever do to you?" And you'll be absolutely right, I felt terrible pangs of guilt at taking this guys picture just to publicly expose him as the personification of a black raspberry - strawberry ice cream cone. The black bar over his eyes is to, in some small way, protect his privacy.

And these two, were thinking I jumped in front of them to get a good shot at the cathedral behind them when in reality, I just was stunned by their color coordination. Here we have lemon ice cream two ways: with custard on the left and with "puffo"* on the right.

This guy had no idea I was snapping his fior di latte** - mango sorbet ensemble.

Here's the coup de grace: kiwi ice cream with watermelon sorbet.

*"Puffo" ice cream in Italy is made with an eye toward kids. Its intense light blue color is meant to remind them of the Puffi or Smurfs, as they're called in the States.

**Fior di latte is ice cream at its purest, just cream, milk and sugar.
Music to dress like an Ice Cream Man by: the quasi 1950's do-wop song, "Ice Cream Man" by Jonathan Richman.