NSC Expeditionary Force to Italy
Club members join local dandies for a fashion parade in front of the cathedral at the end of the event
On the first weekend of June, a contingent of NSC types joined Italian member Luigi Sbaffi at Dandydays, a festival of dandyism in Arezzo, Italy. This is its eighth year, so it is well established, if modest in size and agreeably disorganised. The Saturday began with a parade of vintage cars, motorbikes and bicycles which then arrayed themselves in the Prato, a park area. Luigi’s brothers Lorenzo and Francesco brought their vintage rides, a 1970 VW camper van and a Fiat 600, and those of us who were staying with them at their country house were lucky enough to be able to arrive in style.
Once a month Arezzo has a massive antiques fair across both Saturday and Sunday, and this alone would have been enough to keep the average Chap diverted, but the organisers had also laid on guided tours of local museums (all in Italian, mind), a buffet lunch on both days and an elaborate dinner on Saturday night. There was supposed to be a dog show, but I’m not sure if that every happened, though as an offbeat bonus on Sunday there was a display of some Chinese martial art.
As you can see, Italian dandyism is not necessarily vintage in its outlook—while dandies in the Chap sense tend to hark back to what they see as a Golden Age of menswear in the first half of the 20th century, Italian dandies can be very modern in terms of styling. Their defining characteristic seems to be a love of bold colour and pattern and a fondness for accessories: I’ve never seen so many jewelled and tassled man-bags on display, nor so many pins, brooches, scarf rings and other gewgaws. There was also a lot of cigar smoking, which made me wonder whether there was an element of conspicuous consumption, a bit like the Sapeurs of Congo, who pursue an opulently dapper look as a defiance against their modest everyday lives. There was also a lot of lush hair in evidence, both topiaried facial whiskers and windswept shoulder-length locks.
Sunday saw a catwalk fashion show on the steps in front of the cathedral. There was some consternation when the day was marked by bouts of rain—it seems there was no plan B for the outdoor fashion event in case of bad weather (not an oversight you’d encounter in the UK). Fortunately, the sun came out again and the weather was fine for the show, though the DJ who had been pumping out chilled Euro-dance all weekend was clearly disgruntled when his soundtrack was blotted out by the church bells every half hour. The fashion on display struck me as neither Chap nor Dandy (although the young men were wearing hats at one point), but it was nevertheless quite an achievement to pull together all these events for the occasion. The show was preceded by a parade of all the dandies present.
There was also a pre-event dinner on the Friday night, and both this and the Saturday meal were held at Casa Thevenin. This place is a charity offering shelter for women and children and we only found out later that the whole Dandydays event was raising money for this charity. This might explain why they had so many sponsors (including Spumante Sbaffi, the excellent sparkling wine by by Luigi and his brothers)—all of whom were thanked at great length at every opportunity—but it might have made sense to make this aspect more clear from the off.
In our expeditionary force there were five who stayed in B&Bs in Arezzo while the other five stayed at the Sbaffi family’s country house in nearby Foiano della Chiana. Surrounded by olive groves, from which the brothers make their own olive oil for sale, this ramshackle pile was once three separate residences, which explains its odd layout. It has everything you need—including hot water created by lighting a fire under the boiler—but the brothers delight in keeping everything as it has been since the mid-twentieth century, so no chance of installing a gleaming modern kitchen any time soon.
All in all, it was a splendid wheeze. It was good to meet new people and soak in the dandified atmosphere. Arezzo itself was also a delight—I have many more photos of scenery, buildings and the insides of churches which I have spared you in the official album. Many thanks to Luigi and Barbara for their hospitality, and in particular to Luigi for driving us around sites of interest, and to and from airports. Thanks also to the Sbaffi brothers, and Lorenzo in particular, for plying us with delicious wine and grappa all weekend.
See https://aziendaagricolasbaffi.it to learn more about the Sbaffi brothers’ products. See many more photos from the event at https://www.flickr.com/photos/sheridanclub/albums/72177720317739762.
Team Sheridan, including both UK and Italian members