[imagesource: Facebook / Calendario Romano]

The hot priest calendar, or the Calendario Romano, as it is formally known, has become a cult souvenir for anyone visiting Italy.

A 60-year-old Venetian photographer, Piero Pazzi, started the project as a labour of love, photographing nameless men of the cloth in black and white, against an often liturgical backdrop.

Some wear a Cappello Romano (a type of wide-brimmed hat), others a clerical collar, while the favoured priest for December always remains the same: pictured holding a copy of Le vie di Roma close to this cassocked chest:

My Catholic priest calendar came in the mail. The cover priest is a little Matt Damon ish pic.twitter.com/tH6gX6rxch

— mandonator (@mandonator) February 7, 2015

Pazzi describes it as a “clean and honest product that simply advertises Rome and its most eloquent symbol: the Catholic clergy”, per The Guardian, but much like the UK’s Italian Pirelli calendar, it has segued, albeit into sexier territory.

Sexy priest calendar. pic.twitter.com/lYEA1OAOia

— Ádhaimh Coire (@adamcorrie) February 19, 2016

That’s because, generally speaking, all the priests featured are pretty damn hot:

Hey @JenClairRobson here it is… the Hot #Priest calendar in #Rome! pic.twitter.com/LE8kUv88EV

— Nicola Jayne Little (she/her) (@NicMINTBizClub) February 21, 2016

Next year marks 20 years since the calendario Romano was first published, with Pazzi, himself a Catholic, having spent the past few decades visiting Rome and Seville to take these pictures:

He says he created it to “educate the tourists who visit Rome by providing precise information on the Vatican state” – with facts and titbits written inside. He describes this as “very simple information, which the average tourist fully disregards”.

But get this, “They are not all priests, and they are not all from Italy,” according to Pazzi, who has a rather dubious selection process, basically snapping anyone from the streets with his Fuji camera:

next time someone harps on evangelical celebrity pastors, I’m just going to point out this 2014 RC priest calendar: pic.twitter.com/sPKBVYksZL

— Tim ‘The Beez’ Bertolet (@tim_bertolet) March 24, 2014

He has also plainly stated that his work is not affiliated with the Vatican, and visa versa:

Pazzi says the two are not linked: “I have never been reproached or called into question by any religious authority for the calendar,” he says, adding that, about 10 years ago, the Vatican confirmed that “it was not its official initiative but that of a private individual”.

The calendar itself is printed by a specialist “and distributed in an artisanal way”, he says, rather than being mass-produced.

Although the images of some priests are repeated year after year, the calendar is still wildly popular:

During its mid-2010s heyday, the calendar is said to have sold about 75,000 copies a year and, despite a dip during the pandemic, it remains in high demand. Pazzi prefers not to estimate how many are sold now in case he gets it wrong, but he will go so far as to say that “in Rome, it is quite common”.

The 2023 calendar is on sale now, costing around 10 euros (just under R200) depending on which shop or kiosk you buy it from.

The priests are not named, which to Pazzi means that neither the calendar nor its poster boys are “products of vanity”.

The profits also go to a support group for women and men abused by religious and institutional authorities, he says.

[source:guardian]