Holy Deception: Rome's 'Sexy Priest' Calendar Star Never Set Foot in a Seminary
Pazzi says at least one-third of the 2027 edition’s 12 portraits are real priests, while the calendar remains a Vatican-area souvenir.
- The 'Calendario Romano' continues its two-decade run as a Rome bestseller as of Wednesday, May 20, 2026, featuring 12 black-and-white portraits of men in clerical attire, though many are not actually priests.
- Photographer Piero Pazzi created the calendar with 12 portraits often recycled across editions; he has also produced calendars featuring Venetian gondoliers and founded museums in Budapest and Montenegro.
- At 17 years old, Giovanni Galizia was photographed for the calendar and now, as a 39-year-old flight attendant, he notes he has never been a priest despite the enduring clerical image.
- Father Domenico, a priest from South Korea, noted that young people view the calendar with humor, saying it makes the clerical world seem "more familiar" and less distant than traditional depictions.
- Although independent from the Holy See, Pazzi claims at least one-third of the men pictured in the already released 2027 calendar are actually priests, though he provided no supporting details.
35 Articles
35 Articles
Orlando Sentinel
Holy deception: Rome’s ‘sexy priest’ calendar star never set foot in a seminary
The photographer says at least one-third of the 2027 calendar's subjects are real priests.
Associated Press News
Holy deception: Rome's 'sexy priest' calendar star never set foot in a seminary
A calendar featuring close-ups of young, handsome priests has been a popular Rome souvenir for two decades. However, many of those photographed aren't actually priests.
"This photo has haunted me for 23 years," Giovanni Galizia jokingly told the Italian daily "La Repubblica." His black-and-white photo in a cassock on the cover of the calendar, now on sale for next year, appears in hundreds of places in the Eternal City: on market stalls and in souvenir shops. "Am I the most famous priest in Rome? No, they tell me it's the Pope. Or so I've heard," the cover hero adds with a smile. 39-year-old Giovanni Galizia ca…
ledauphine.com
His face has illustrated for almost 25 years the famous Roman Calendar, sold to tourists. Las: despite his sudan and Roman pass, Giovanni Galizia has never been a priest.
Among the souvenirs that flood Rome is one that has particularly captivated the tourist for two decades: a calendar of 'pretty priests'.
In 2004, he met a photographer who wanted to show various Italian cities through photographs: "Venice with gondoleros and Rome with priests".
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