The Scorpioni
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Scorpioni was small group of elderly English ladies who lived in Florence in 1930s and 1940s. They got the name "Scorpioni" because they were known for their arch humour. One of them was an English governess called Mary O'Neill. When World War II began, the ladies were put under arrest in San Gimignano.
The ladies spent their days in Gran Caffé Doney which was a very English cafeteria on Via Tornabuoni. They also liked visiting the Uffizi Gallery and English Cemetery of Florence.
This group of women is mentioned in the memoirs of lesbian writer Violet Trefusis and also in those of gay director Franco Zeffirelli. Zeffirelli describes the Scorpioni looking after him as a young orphan in Florence. The ladies were subsequently taken to an internment camp by Italian forces, and Zeffirelli never saw them again.
Zeffirelli recalled that the leader of this colony was an old dowager who often acted selfishly, but was so rich and powerful that nobody ever complained.
The film Tea with Mussolini was made about this group of ladies.
