Saturday, February 4, 2017

Only in Italy #6

Apparently, Italians must love reality TV shows, because they are prevalent on Italian television.

One show recently caught our attention, a show about weddings in Italy.  The show is called My Crazy Italian Wedding in English (Il Boss della Cerimonie) and the setting is an over-the-top hotel in Naples.

The Grand Hotel La Sonrisa di Sant'Antonio Abate: The entrance makes for a dramatic arrival of the bride and groom

The Grand Hotel La Sonrisa di Sant'Antonio Abate: The reception hall
Each episode features an actual wedding from planning through ceremony and reception.  The episode we saw involved a fun-loving couple, Giusy and Luca, with lots of personality.  The episode was very entertaining.  

They know weddings in Italy.  (Who let the doves out?!)
What caught our attention was one of the events during the wedding reception, after the wine was flowing.  Several couples, including the newlyweds, competed in an egg race.  This was not your typical egg race.  The challenge was to move the egg inside the man's trousers from the bottom of one leg to the bottom of the other leg, without dropping or breaking the egg.  As you can guess, the hilarity comes midway during the egg's journey.  One couple had a problem--the egg became stuck midway.  So, the wife unzipped her mate and went searching for the egg.  Thankfully, after some probing and pulling, the elusive egg was located and continued its journey. 

Giusy looks like she is having a good time at her wedding. 
After watching the show, we searched online to learn what the game was called and whether it was an Italian invention, like the parachute and Zamboni.  The game is not exclusively Italian.  In the U.S. and Canada, it is called "Leggs Work Together" or "Egg Rolling" and is played all over.  If you want to watch a bride and groom play the game unsuccessfully, click here.  (Because they couldn't complete the game, we can't decide whether their marriage is doomed due to bad luck or destined to be long and fruitful.) 

For us, what made this an "only in Italy" moment was not the game itself, but realizing it was on primetime Italian television for everyone to see, even the bambini.  We guessed the next day there would be parents getting calls from schools all over Italy about their children shoving eggs and such up each other's pants.  Is that a problem?

Only in Italy.

P.S.  Below is a photo of the groom Luca dancing with cousin Patrizia. It looks like they are both trying to lead. 



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