news wrote:

> maybe 4" high ceramic containers too small for
> vases and without lids. They are also too oddly shaped to easily drink
> from,having a rounded flair just under the lip on top, a 1" waist and
> another rounded flair near the bottom before forming a truncated
> pedestal. Made in Italy, they are beautifully painted under the glaze,
> with almost calligraphic writing around the middles. One says Una
> Rasino, the other Una Di Tuzia
> I have uploaded a picture to my Flickr site .Any ideas?
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/phoenixwench/

Apart from "una", the female form of "a" or "an", there isn't a single
italian word there. Or they're written in some local slang or they're
written in another language or Di Tuzio and Rasino are surnames: then they
could mean two female persons from these two families: "one (female) from
the Rasino family" and "one (female) from the Di Tuzio family". Who knows?
From their look and size I would say they're some kind of kitchen ornament,
those where one just puts some dried ears of wheat with part of the stem as
an ornament and a "portafortuna" (lucky charm) since wheat is supposed to
bring wealth.
--
ViLco
Let the liquor do the thinking