Italian Press Dubs ‘Jersey Shore’ Cast ‘Supercafoni’

Now that the cast of MTV’s “Jersey Shore” is in Florence, Italy, the Italian press has wasted no time in finding nicknames for them. In an article that talks about the first day of work for the cast, Mike “the Situation,” Vinnie, Pauly D, Ronnie, Snooki, J-Woww, Sammi and Deena Nicole are collectively referred to “supercafoni” and “tamarri.”

Fans of The Sopranos may already be acquainted with the term “cafone,” which sounds like “gavone” in the American version. Gavone is defined as “a phony or embarrassment to himself and others; gavone (slang pronunciation),” but cafone is defined as a “peasant, bumpkin or hick,” or just any generic dork. There’s also a whole list of subtle distinctions for rude or disgusting dorks. So we assume they added the “super” to distinguish them from all the other cafoni.

The Jersey Shore cast is also collectively referred to as “tamarri.” Italian wikipedia devotes a whole page to the meaning of that word and says one particular way the word is used is to describe a youth group perceived as vulgar and “showy.”

So “supercafoni” and “tamarri” are obviously the equivalents of “guidos” and “guidettes,” capisce?

The Il Nazione article details the adventures of the Supercafoni on their first day of work at a pizzeria just steps away from Piazza della Signoria. The Situation was employed as a “buttadentro,” someone who has to escort customers in — real customers, who had to go in through the back and sign a photo release permitting them to be filmed. The report also said it was pretty hard maintaining order with throngs of fans and photographers constantly surrounding the supercafoni.