I am a fan of neither weddings nor royalty but I am pleased to see a man who, however privileged, endured a terrible tragedy at a very young age finally obtain some happiness and OK - I am British enough to get just a little sentimental when I see TV pictures of that same prince striding out of the fortress that is Windsor Castle to meet the crowd and heading straight for one of the youngest members of it. Yes, I know it's only for a few minutes and that it is carefully planned and orchestrated by PR folk, but many in his place would not bother and it's - well, nice.
Sadly, though, Harry, I've had to turn down your invitation - which I am sure is held up in the post - as I'm off to the
Infiorata in Noto tomorrow. Now Noto happens to be in the Province of Siracusa, as is the pleasant town of Avola, which has a connection with the regal nuptials, for the
confetti - little bags of sugared almonds - to be given as wedding favours at the event were made from the famous almonds which are cultivated there. The
confetti have been produced by the
Confetti Pelino Company in Sulmona, Abruzzo and no flour or cornflour have been used - just Avola almonds and sugar. The Pelino company also made the
confetti for the wedding of Prince Charles and the then Lady Diana Spencer.
This is a note on the etymology of the word
confetti from a post I wrote in 2009:
The etymology of the word confetti is interesting because it means sugar-coated almonds [the type Italians give you before weddings, Christenings and graduations]. Originally, it was the town's aristocracy who got to ride on the Carnival floats and they would throw these sweets to the crowd. I can't help wondering if they caused any injuries among their targets! Later. this practice died out and the gentler activity of throwing paper around replaced it. The Italian for what we know as confetti, by the way, is coriandoli.
