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Home » Visit » You’ve got to love the Italian sense of humor

You’ve got to love the Italian sense of humor

10 July 2008 by Lori 14 Comments

Learning Italian can give you the possibility to understand Italian humor and discover Madonnari, a type of street artist that you can meet in art cities. And you can get a lot of other benefits too by learning Italian. You can read a menu in a restaurant and order your favorite dish without help. You can enjoy a book or a movie. But learning Italian can allow you to read the many signs spread almost everywhere. By doing so, you will discover a world made of humor, with funny pieces of advice, curious warnings or suggestions topped with jokes and humor. This is what I found one day while wandering in Rome. It was right under my feet, next to a painting a man was doing. He was part of the so called movement of Madonnari. It is very common to meet Madonnari in the city centre, but this one had something more to say than its art.

Street indications next to a Madonnaro painting
FAQs for tourists in the streets of Rome

Ever heard of Madonnari?

In the 1980s,  it was possible to find, in many Italian cities, the so called madonnari. They were street artists who used to paint pieces of public streets. The name comes from Holy Mary (Madonna, in Italian) as they mainly prefer holy subjects. You can still find them in some cities. I saw one of them in Rome last April. What was interesting was something he drawn near his painting. Fed up with answering always to the same questions…he wrote a FAQs. Isn’t that bright?

Madonnari have even a museum

If you want to find out more about this type of street art, there is a Museum dedicated to Madonnari in the province of Mantua. It is open everyday but I strongly recommend to check in advance and write them to be sure it is possible to visit it.

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Filed Under: All Categories, Lazio, Visit Tagged With: art, funny, graffiti, Italia, italy, madonnari, madonnaro, Rome, street art, street artist

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Accommodation Pistoia

    13 July 2008 at 22:27

    pure genius
    the mcdonalds line would be some perfect place to advertise a restaurant

    Reply
  2. oMan

    14 July 2008 at 0:05

    I was several times in Rome, never lost my way. 🙂

    Reply
  3. fgd

    14 July 2008 at 4:59

    ah, but there’s a McDonald’s next to the Pantheon. So you can kill two birds with one retarded stone.

    Reply
  4. Jenny

    14 July 2008 at 6:00

    I love it! And quite true! Tourists and Mcdonalds. Tsk

    Reply
  5. Lori

    14 July 2008 at 11:33

    hei wow. I though the post had to be explained (I wanted to add more text) but it seems it doesnt need explanaition.
    In anycase, this is a great example on how Italians can be creative.
    Thank you everybody for your comments.

    Reply
  6. alice

    14 July 2008 at 18:03

    Bello!
    Che specie di messaggio lascia per tutti gli immigrati illegali?

    Reply
  7. Lori

    15 July 2008 at 13:25

    Alice che razza di messagio e’?

    Reply
  8. Lori

    15 July 2008 at 13:25

    (messaggio..)

    Reply
  9. Teddy

    4 October 2008 at 7:55

    I once saw a guy who worked for a beach resort on a Thai island wearing a t-shirt that read: I am not a weatherman

    Guess people asked him what the weather was going to be like tomorrow a lot!

    Reply
  10. tajo

    14 December 2008 at 22:42

    So true, all they ever want to do is take photos and eat McDonald’s, you wonder why so many people bother leaving home.

    The response on that board is pure poetry, might suggest to a friend in ronda that they do the same thing…

    Reply
  11. Laura

    15 December 2008 at 19:55

    Directions to the Colosseum aren’t hard… Just find a metro station, and go to the “Colosseo” stop. Done.

    Reply
  12. Michaela

    4 February 2009 at 21:39

    And the metro stop is two minutes down via condotti at piazza di spagna. I would say see #1 and go to metro tunnel and ride to Colloseo. I remember as a teenager always being asked directions by tourists. I needed a sign like that to hang around my neck.

    Reply
  13. Lori

    7 April 2015 at 8:06

    thanks

    Reply
  14. Lori

    17 June 2015 at 17:56

    thank you

    Reply

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Hi, my name is Lori. I'm 100% Italian. In this blog I will share secret places to visit, tips on how to save money visiting my country and how to experience the Bel Paese just like an Italian. Read More…

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