Fleur de Lis

When I arrived to Italy I had a small Idea that Fleur de Lis were important here but I had no clue how many of them I would see. As a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma, one of our symbols is the Fleur de Lis, so seeing it everywhere is pretty cool. In French, fleur means flower and lis means lily, so naturally this topic also came up in horticulture. (There are debates on what exact flower the Fleur de lis represents so I'm not going to name a specific one). Seeing a symbol that means a lot to me almost everywhere in Florence, is pretty special. When I purchased my bag at the leather market in Florence it even has an embossed Fleur de lis on it. It's very small but it makes owning that purse even more symbolic for my time spent in Italy. Fleur de lis are said to represent French royalty, which is why I found it funny to see so many in Florence.  As well as royalty they symbolize perfection, light and life, which I heard Giovanni mention being an important part in Italian culture. When we went to the botanical gardens as a group there was even a Fleur de lis carved into the bushes, I snagged a picture with it but sadly it was blurry. Overall, I love getting to see them all over Italy because it's like a little peice of home. 

JNH