I'll admit that it was the poster that first caught my attention, since as a dedicated omnivore I found it amusing back in 2016. It's maybe less amusing in 2023 where an increasingly shrill group is screeching that people who eat meat (or drink milk, or use honey, or eat cheese) are evil and in the case of whoever made this poster are probably culturally appropriating fascists as well.

Those people (not the ones who choose an animal free lifestyle - that's their choice and good luck to them - just the ones who demand it of others) are cordially invited to indulge in anatomically impossible activities, should they reach this page.

However when I looked closer, there was something that was not so much amusing but interesting in the background. Specifically, the collection of coins immediately to the right. You probably won't be able to read the notation on the packaging, so allow me to type it out below. You need to recall that the original currency of Italia (between the reunification of 1861 – really 1871 – and the turn of the century) was the Lira. After that Italia became a Euro using country.

"Se la tanto amata Lira potesse parlare, avrebbe molto da raccontare.

Questa collezione dà finalmente la parola alla moneta che tutti gli italiani ricordano con nostalgia in conto viva e vibrante testimoni di tante affascinanti pagine della nostra storia."

Roughly translated:

"If the much-loved Lira could talk, she would have a lot to tell.

This collection finally gives the floor (in the sense of someone "giving the floor" to another speaker; it doesn't translate well) to the currency that all Italians remember with nostalgia as a living and vibrant witness of so many fascinating pages of our history."

This is a collection of the Lire coins from the end of that period. I can't make out how old they are and I'm annoyed that I hadn't noticed them before. I'm not an avid coin collector but I DO have a collection. Not of mint condition, uncirculated coins – those have no interest for me – but rather coins and banknotes that have lived a life. I discussed this way, way back in 2011 in my Photo A Day gallery, which featured (by coincidence) my Italian 1,000 Lire note from the year 1961. I can but speculate on how many hands it has been through, who has held it, used it, what they spent it on, where they spent it... I have no way of knowing that, of course, but it's good to speculate.

Where this shot was taken, I have no idea. Based on the following photos we were still near the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, but with the prices in there and presumably the rents in there, I can't imagine that a coin shop would find it easy to survive in the Galleria itself. Certainly next time, I'll pay more attention.