Visitors to Florence for the next few months will find a pastoral atmosphere has taken over the city center as the Cow Parade has stampeded into the city. In what is billed as 'the world's largest public art event, the herd of bovine statues dots dozens of spots around town. It all started in Zurich a few years ago when a Swiss sculptor made three life-size fiber glass cow statues that he placed in public places. Later the cows multiplied so that they were all over Zurich - I remember getting off a train in Zurich Hbf only to be entranced by the brood of such bovine statues placed around the station - on the ground and swinging from the rafters. Subsequently 20 other cities embraced the Cow Parade and 5,000 artists have entered their renditions as public art. The cows are later auctioned off and proceeds given to charity.
There are 58 cows pasturing now in Florence.

Are these the same cows that were all over nyc?

You could check the cow plops for pecorino

It's my understanding that local artists produce the cows in each city so that they are not the same cows, but the Cow Parade was responsible for the NYC herd as it was in some 20 other cities - the cows are auctioned off after the show. So same organization but different cows.

And I believe there were Cows in Chicago.
Belfast, Maine has its Bears. I loved the bears.
Portland, Maine Area had lighthouses. That's when, IMHO, the whimsy went out the door. Hard to personify a fiberglass light house.
Would love to see the Florence event!

The cows were in the greater Kansas City metro area a few years ago, and it was great fun. They are "naked" when they arrive and local artists paint/decorate them, usually in motifs that tie into the local area. At the end they are auctioned and money goes to charity. Now, when one drives around the area, cows can be seen in both private gardens and on the grounds of corporations and hotels. It was fun. I hope it goes over as well in Florence.

Speaking of leather, does anyone know if Lilly of Florence shoe company is still open?

The cows are great, but here in Pittsburgh we had dinosaurs and it was awesome.

Tuscan
you still off to Phoenix/Scottsdale this weekend?

In Jacksonville, we had 'manatees'...

Here in Seattle it was pigs.

In Los Angeles, we didn't have anything

In Athens, GA we had bulldogs.

I have come across the cows in Manchester and Monte Carlo. Florence will be another great contrast.

Elephants and Donkeys in D.C.!

We had them in London - definitely a local theme in many cases - one or two photos at www.patrickwallace.me.uk/places.htm

There were plenty I didn't manage to photograph - one covered in artificial grass (soon worn away where children patted and stroked it) and one with the entire streetmap of London painted on it, and a couple of earnest-looking tourists tracing their route across the cow's capacious backside. I still smile...

Here's their website:

http://www.cowparade.com/

And those cows in Milton Keynes!

Raleigh, NC had red wolves.
Norfolk, VA had mermaids.

Luxembourg had cows a few years back.

Indianapolis had Indy racing cars.

Omaha had J. Does, (androgynous people shapes).

Cincinnati had flying pigs. Don't ask.

In Austin, we've got Bevo!

Hook 'em!