irukanji posted about a
5-foot chicken made out of oil drums in Miscellany earlier today. Behold his awesome:
That reminded me of a giant rooster who loomed large in my own childhood. It was handmade in wrought iron by the metal workers of
Grazzano Visconti, an artisan village that was built in the early 1900s by the local squire (Giuseppe Visconti) on the site of a crumbling medieval hamlet. It's a touristy place -- lots of Ren faire style events -- but a great one, dedicated to keeping alive local arts like wrought iron, carpentry, ceramics, and just a beautiful place to wander around.
Outside the main ironwork shop stands the giant rooster, so grand he towers over even the oil drum chicken. My dad tried many times to buy him, but he's more than just the greatest wrought iron chicken of all time, he's a symbol of Grazzano and their craft, so the store, wisely I suppose, refused to let him go. We got a gigantic copper cauldron instead that has to be 4 feet in diameter. I kept my tennis rackets in it. True story.
Anyways, without further ado, here is the Grazzano Visconti chicken (click for larger versions), still standing watch outside that shop:
You can see more of the exquisite detail on the ironwork, every feather made individually, in this closeup :