Mutande (Panties) of Italy

http://www.barganews.com/daily/2005/12/09/the-mutande-of-barga-exhibition-opens-in-florence/

I think this artist is so clever. He has gone around this medieval Italian town (it's an artsy nature loving town) painting the underwear hanging outside people's windows. And his show of pantie paintings is now in Florence. He made a calendar of these photos (and I'm trying to order two). Very few people use clothes dryers in this town like we do in the US, so in this town (and I suspect much of Italy) you often see underwear on clothes lines hanging outside the 15th century old buildings, along with the begonias, geraniums, and other flowers. And you often see shoes airing out on the window cills (sp?) as well.

In some ways, I see many similarities between this old Italian town and SoWal -- the natural beauty is wonderful, there's an effort to find the balance between the old and the new, there's an effort to balance tourism with the peacefulness of the town (yet tourism is one way the locals are bringing income to their families), there's an effort to balance striking natural beauty and growth. It is turning into an artists' community (the photographers on this board have counterparts in Barga -- you all should meet someday). There is jazz and outdoor opera in the summer as well. Hmmm, it would be interesting to be sister towns...

I guess our version would be "beach towels of SoWal" unless we can convince association boards in SoWal to let people hang underwear from their porches (we're not supposed to hang towels from our porches, so panties would be a stretch).