Ciao Readers!

Just in case you were beginning to think (as I was) that all of the art in this city was created pre-1600, today’s post is for you!

One day when I was on a tour with my old school, one of the other students pointed to a street sign and asked our teacher about it.  He thought she was pointing at a very old cross on a historical building and thus gave us a 5 minute lecture on its history.  However, what she was really asking about was street sign art (non-sanctioned, “guerrilla”) by “Clet.”  (When she re-pointed and asked the teacher again he just shrugged with disinterest and continued our tour).

Since that day I have learned that Clet is pretty famous here and I have even seen t-shirts with images of his signs.  Clet Abraham is a French artist who has been living in Florence for years and creates his street sign art by applying adhesives to the signs.  He has apparently been fined many times for his creations (but I am guessing the t-shirt sales and publicity cover the fines).  Whenever I see one of his signs in town (and I have remembered my camera) I stop and take a picture.  I know there are several other versions out there I have missed, but below are a sampling of some of the ones you can find all over town (they are repeated throughout the city).  You can find more information here and photos of many other signs here.

Fun stuff!