Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
The Scorpioni
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Scorpioni was small group of elderly English ladies who lived in Florence in 1930s and 1940s. They got the name "Scorpioni" because they didn´t like Italians or Americans very much. One of them was English governess called Mary O'Neill. When World War II began, the ladies were put under arrest in San Gimignano.
The ladies spent their days in Gran Caffé Doney which was a very English cafeteria on Via Tornabuoni. They also liked about Uffizi Gallery and English Cemetery of Florence.
These ladies are mentioned in lesbian writer Violet Trefusis's memorial and also in director Franco Zeffirelli's memorial wherein he tells that these ladies looked after him when he was little orphan boy in Florence. The ladies were subsequently taken to an internment camp by Italian forces and Zeffirelli never saw them again.
The film Tea with Mussolini was made about these ladies.