Breakfast at a namesake

We will continue our marathon of the extended tour of the Duomo and its environs next post. Instead I will tell you about going a local pasticceria across the piazza from the Duomo and Baptistery which was in our family name.

Scudieri is the original derivation of my last name Scudere. My great grandfather changed it at Ellis Island. There are several theories within the family as to why, which I will not get into the weeds with here, but my personal theory is that he changed the spelling ever so slightly due to the prejudice against Italian immigrants in the early 20th century and “Scudere” could be thought to possibly be French, versus Scudieri, which was more obviously of Italian derivation.

This is one of the hottest corners in all of Florence and the pasticceria has an excellent outdoor seating area where I had breakfast on my third morning.

I had stopped for a cold drink the day before and told the waiter ” Sono uno Scudieri degli Stati Uniti” (I probably didn’t say it quite this well but it was good enough that he understood) “Wow! no kidding he replied in English” and then called over to another waiter him “È uno Scudieri” (he’s a Scudieri) laughing. I asked if he was a Scudieri and he said no, I then asked if it would be possible to meet a Scudieri and he said he would ask. A little while later he came back and said they were too busy. Well, it was lunch time and I didn’t want to be a bother so I just told him I would come back tomorrow as the shop was only a couple of blocks from my hotel.

Now, I should note at this point that all Scudieri’s are not necessarily related, as “Scudieri” in Italian literally means “squire” as in one who tended to a knights equipment and needs back in the day. It then morphed into the title of the majordomo, or chief of staff, of a noble household. As with many people, such as smith’s and miller’s, in the past, one’s position became one’s “cognome” or last name. This came as a surprise to those of us, or at least me, who lived in the St. Louis area and were the only “Scudere’s” for hundreds of miles. We thought our name was rare. The name is much more common in the northeast US and definitely common in Italy.

So, on the morning shown above as I came to the outdoor dining area my waiter from the day before called “Buongiorno Signore Scudieri! Come va!” (Good morning Mr. Scudieri! How’s it going) and showed me to a seat. I had a nice omelet with a croissant and asked my waiter in English “Do you think I might get a picture with a Scudieri? He said “I’ll ask”. So, I chilled, enjoyed my breakfast and the lively street scene and waited. After a bit he came by and said “Sorry”.

To be honest, I wasn’t totally surprised by this as I knew that one of my great uncles, who had fought in Italy in WWII, had returned after the war to go to Sulmona, La Aquilla, Abruzzo to an old family home and had the door closed on him. The following I do not know this for an absolute fact, but, I think there was a rift in the family around the time of Mussolini when a portion of the family joined the Fascists (that I do know for a fact) and the rest of us who did not…who knows it could be that or it could be as simple as “Dear God! Another Scudieri from America!? Just tell them no!” Oh, well.

Undaunted I asked my waiter what his name was “Ludovico he replied, but everyone calls me Ludo” to which I replied “Ludo sei uno Scudieri” (Ludo you are a Scudieri) to which he replied “No I’m not Scudieri” to which I replied “Si! oggi tu sono Scudieri” (Yes! today you are a Scudieri) to which he grinned, said “Si oggi uno Scudieri” and we took this picture.

“Screw em” I’ll not be denied LOL. Their loss because I had planned on dropping a dime with them buying namesake gifts for my siblings “ma no photograph, no soldi” (but no photograph, no money). I did however learn the appropriate pronunciation of the Italian derivation of our name. It is phonetically “skoo Daah ree” with the rhythm of eighth note, quarter note, eighth note so, the visit was not a total loss.

Ok, back to more culture next post. Ciao!