Apart from the fact that I love giant blue Tortoises with crowns, I also love to go sailing in my little classic sailing boat called Betty Blue.
So back in 2015 I thought why not combine the two. But someone had beaten me to it !
You might be surprised to know that inside the medieval Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall (and museum) of Florence that there are 100 sailing tortoises.
During the renaissance every important family had a motto, a saying which expressed their philosophy. When Cosimo I of the Medici family came to power in Florence in 1537 he looked to ancient Rome and took the maxim of the emperors, Augustus and Titus which was “festina lente”, or hasten slowly. As a symbol of this idea, Cosimo chose a tortoise with a wind-filled sail on his back to remind him to find the perfect balance between SPEED and patience. These sailing tortoises can be found all throughout the decoration of Palazzo Vecchio.
Hence Fiona Speed Designs motto: Festina Lente-Make Haste Slowly-Dreckly
The strangest thing is that I did have two Dubby with a sail design cushions in my shop as decoration and four years ago an Italian lady came in and purchased one.
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