Fatti non foste a viver come bruti,
ma farvi dare un'occhiatina da un chirurgo estetico,
se fossi in voi,
non sarebbe una cattiva idea...
You were not born to live as brutes,
but in your shoes I'd think about to see a plastic surgeon. it wouldn't be such a bad idea... (Freely inspired by Dante's Inferno)
San Gimignano is a Tuscan town, that has been preserved with a picturesque Medieval appearance.
it flowered in the Middle Ages as an important passageway along Via Francigena, a pilgrim route from Canterbury, UK to Rome. When the route lost its importance, San Gimignano was less prosperous, and its buildings remained with a Medieval appearance.
Bad for the town and its inhabitants in the past, very good now for the local tourist activities.
An Austrian prospective buyer of a Tuscan estate has recently wrote to an Italian local realtor, he was in contact with, asking for a 55% discount on a property, which he was interested in, due to the “imminent bankrupcy” of the Italian economy because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
This has been the response of the real estate agent:
«I am very grateful for your interest, however we do not expect the possibility to give you a 55% discount, as desired.
You see, my dear Sir, our Country always got up from the most difficult of trials that the history has subjected to it, and we got up once again.
Among other things, we have 70% of historical, artistic, and cultural global heritage.
The world’s greatest ancient civilizations flowered around the Mediterranean Sea. Civilizations that shared culture, progress and knowledge.
I suppose you are in your home too, so you surely have time to translate this mail, so I write to you in Italian, and also I invite you to translate this old saying: “On the dead lion, the dogs celebrate. But the lions remain lions, and the dogs, dogs”. Best wishes»