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| Capri, Italy |
Sporus VI visited this island numerous times in later years; was "unsuccessful in establishing that island as the summer residence of the Popes...he would wander the island in brightly flowered robes, leather sandals and a straw tiara" [St. Fidgeta & Other Parodies, 57].
Bowen says the way islanders still talk about Sporus's fashion (brightly flowered robe, leather sandals and a straw tiara) is not a jab at hippy fashion but more so at beach fashion. "This is the sort of stuff people used to wear at the beach in the sixities. Nice, respectable, middle-class vacationers, not hippies. Plus Hippies didn't go to the beach, anyway. They went to San Francisco, with flowers in their hair." Myers agrees: Hippie fashion didn't rally reach full flower (pun intended) until the late sixities especially after the Beatles Sgt. Pepper appeared."
Myers says he might have been an influence in Bellairs's choosing the name. "By the time John wrote St. Fidgeta I had been to Capri several times during my Navy active duty. It really is one of the neatest places on earth, that even hordes of tourists can't ruin. I had no doubt written to him about it and described it face-to-face. I certainly would have mentioned that Capri seemed overrun with those whose love dare not speak its name. I suggest that this and not necessarily hippie fashion was the hidden message behind Pope Sporus' dress. I particularly member one experience on Capri, which I certainly would have told John. A cabbie was taking us up the cliff road from the seaside town of Capri to the top-of-the-cliff village of Anacapri. We passed a niche in the cliff containing a large statue of the Blessed Virgin overlooking the harbor. The cabbie pointed to the statue and said, 'That'sa de only virgin on de island!'" |
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capri
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