I must admit to having been rather puzzled by the significance of this icon warning sign posted on the old terazzo floor of a public building, but my son, Sandro, was able to explain it to me to straightaway.
"Obviously," he said, "it's a warning about the possibility of tripping over the hat of a gondoliere left lying around here on the floor."
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ReplyDeleteSorry, please delete second phrase of previous comment. I meant "Of course" - cat jogged elbow!
ReplyDeleteahahahha, it is really only in Venice lol
ReplyDeleteRight: What I meant to say was that I though the definition was really clever, and what a quick-witted youngster, and "Of course that's what it is ... so obvious" - but as I said, the cat interfered! Cat not here at moment, so this should be understandable!
ReplyDeleteThank goodness for clever children!
ReplyDelete����Smart boy!
ReplyDeleteBut I'm so intrigued to know It's meaning...What does it really mean?
Upon further observation, Jon, one notices it refers specifically to a small bracket bolted to the floor in which two push wood doors of quite unequal width secure themselves when fully closed. If both doors were left open at the same time, the bracket would become an easily-overlooked tripping hazard within the broad threshold of the door frame that separates each floor of the building from the stairs. But in its shape and especially in proportion to an actual human being the bracket bears very little or no resemblance to its icon. In those terms, though, it is indeed a very good depiction of a gondolier's hat.
DeleteThanks! I got it now.
DeleteIt just means Danger to trip over (pericolo di inciampo). I suppose the pavimento of this venitian public building is very irregular, with big holes in the terrazzo veneziano floor. But Sandro's explaination is very poetical. Real-life experience may be? (by Auvraisien)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anonymous. Shame on me not guessing, probably loosing my imagination. Age.
DeleteI've yet to see a gondolier's hat left lying by itself on the ground anywhere since living here--though I can imagine instances in which it might be resting upon a gondolier who is doing so.
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