‘It’s the fleur-de-lis, or a sort of stylised iris that is the symbol of Florence. Unlike the French version, it always shows a stamen posed above each folded petal. It appeared thus, on the reverse of the first gold florin ever struck, in 1252 in Florence,’ John explained.
‘That’s right. The fleur-de-lis, or the giglio as we prefer to call it, belonged to Florence long before the French had the cheek to pinch it from us. Some people date its association with Florence – Florentia, as she was originally known – back to the first century BC,’ Trixie Giraldi, who always believed what she wanted to, said. ‘And so there it was, the giglio, hanging from every window, on the ninth of May 1938. And for this special occasion, when tutti quanti would be here, our Leader had the brilliant idea of in
