At La Marseillaise in 2006 I visited Battezanti's huge museum tent in Marseille, bought a couple of his Fannys, and we had a very long chat about all the different models he had on exhibit. Since many people have been asking us about Fannys for their backyard boulodromes, we hooked up again and the first shipment of beautifully colored damzels arrived today. They did travel in style, by UPS Express, leaving Provence on Friday evening, arriving in North Carolina Monday morning.
Battezanti is quite a character. Fannys have become his life, and he has become an icon to all the Marseillaise players and visitors. We chatted again last week and he's very proud that one of his pieces will become a permanent exhibit at the International Petanque Museum. I plan to meet him again soon, and will make an extensive report, especially about some of the hilarious contraptions he has designed.Meanwhile my resumé is going from bad to worse:
"What do you do for a living, sir?" - "Well, I sell balls, and naked butts". Anyone ever notice what a coincidence it is that Fanny can mean "butt" in American English? As to British English... Let's not go there.
Fannys by Battezanti
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