DWARF ENVY

Heigh-ho! Heigh-ho!

You are across the river, on the outer edge of the Oltrarno district (Florence's "Left Bank"). In the never-neverland above Piazza Tasso and below Piazza Bellosguardo. (The exact location has been concealed, in order to protect the identity of the implicated.)

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You are in the heart of one of Florence's micro-neighborhoods, with its own history and its own traditions...and apparently its own seething feuds.

Never forget that Italy is the land of the Montagues and the Capulets, not mention the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. Not to mention Torino and Juventus, and Milan and Inter. Not to mention Gucci and Armani, and Fendi and Ferragamo. Not to mention Gina Lollabridgida and Sofia Loren.

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 Monochrome Dopey (above) meets Technicolor Dopey (below).

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Two households both alike in dignity...or lack thereof. A few doors apart. With their competing arrays of Disneyiana.

The street, alas, is too narrow for us to squeeze them both into the same frame. But the two competing Biancanevi (Snow Whites) could pretty nearly reach out and wring each other's neck.

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One house has the year-round yellow tulips (certainly a nice touch), but seems a dwarf or two short of a full deck.

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Not to mention the oddly undersized Snow White—hidden away in the corner.

Does she even come from the same set?

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Meanwhile, the other has a fresh paint job and that terrific terrace over the garage (from which to review the troops or bless the crowd on your favorite feast-days).

Not to mention the tricolore on rousing display.

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However jolly Mammolo (Bashful), Brontolo (Grumpy), Eolo (Sneezy), Pisolo (Sleepy), Cucciolo (Dopey), Gongolo (Happy) and Dotto (Doc) may seem, they are still behind bars and chained at the feet.

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Unchain that dwarf? Not so fast!

What happens in Via Domenico Burchiello stays in Via Domenico Burchiello. 

Passions run high. And gnome-napping?

Don't ask!!!

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PLUS: A High Art Alternative...

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Vicenza: Villa Valmarana ai Nani, with its famous dwarves (Nani) on the garden wall. Distinctly pre-Disney (Eighteenth Century)(Photo courtesy of BLUOSCAR)

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