The long-running ‘sexy priest’ souvenir calendar – the Calendario Romano – is under fire after claims that some of its dog-collar pin-ups aren’t clergymen at all
One of Rome’s most popular gift shop souvenirs has been accused of hiding a shock secret. The Italian capital city’s notorious ‘sexy priest’ calendar is facing claims that some of the men posing in dog collars aren’t the real deal.
The Calendario Romano, a black-and-white calendar stacked in gift shops around the Vatican and across the city’s tourist hotspots, has been a Rome staple for more than 20 years.
It’s often nicknamed the “Hot Priest Calendar” thanks to its moody portraits of handsome young men dressed like members of the clergy.
At around €8 (about £7), it’s cheap enough to be an impulse buy for tourists, and it’s said to sell thousands of copies a year.
However, a row has erupted after Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that some of the calendar’s ‘priests’ are not priests at all – prompting critics to brand it a “fake priest calendar”.
Giovanni Galizia has fronted the calendar for much of its 23-year run. The cover rarely changes with the same shot showing him in a clerical collar, smiling against the granite wall of a church in Palermo.
He said the snaps are part of an artistic tradition – and that no one watching a TV drama involving priests believes they are actually clergy in real life.
He said: “Of course, it winks a bit at the dynamic between the sacred and the profane, because it is clear that seeing a world that is distant and in some ways so lofty as the ecclesiastical world, with such a fresh-faced young man, creates a kind of dissonance.”
These days Galizia is 39 and works as a flight attendant for a Spanish airline. He was only 17 when friends introduced him to photographer Piero Pazzi.
Pazzi told the AP that at least a third of the men featured in the already released 2027 edition are real priests, though he hasn’t said who is who. Pazzi has also included a page of Vatican facts in the calendar – although it is not an official Church product and has no link to the Holy See.
Father Domenico, a South Korean priest, said: “They often think priests are stiff and distant.
“But looking at this calendar, they think priests are more familiar, and priests can be funny.
“I think in Korea this calendar is very famous, and it is OK.”
Rome’s ‘sexy priest’ calendar has built up a devoted cult following in the UK, fuelled by demand from holidaymakers returning from the Eternal City, the Times reported.
On ITV’s Loose Women, panellist Judi Love joked the calendar felt “a little bit sinful”, while Nadia Sawalha likened its appeal to the now-famous British “hot priest” trope.
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