Granadian Sayings: uglier than Picio

Being able to understand to understand the local culture is to know about and delve into its expressions: they are the most diverse, curious and deep-rooted; so is this that, if we move around the rest of Spain, it is rare for anyone to know about them what is their origin. In today's article, we would like to share with you one of the Granada expressions par excellence: "uglier than Picio" (in Spanish, “más feo que Picio”).

The truth is that this expression is not precisely a compliment; We use it to refer to someone or something that we consider unattractive or unpretty. Picio is not a random word, but it is a surname. It is difficult to trace the true history of such an ancient and popular event, so we are going to tell you two different versions of it.

It turns out that there was a shoemaker in Granada, more specifically in Alhendín (a local village), who, it is thought, killed his wife in a fit of jealousy, for which he was sentenced to death; others, however, claim that the cause of his conviction is unknown. In any case, this news had such an impact on him that he lost the hair on his head, his eyebrows and his eyelashes; Not only that, apparently a tumor also appeared on his bald head, deforming the shape of his face. In another version, they say that he went to a chapel to pray to ask for his salvation, when he received the news that he had been pardoned, causing him such surprise and joy that he went bald on his head, eyebrows and eyelashes, in addition to growing tumors afore mentioned.

He then moved to Lanjarón, a town in the Alpujarra of Granada, where he lived until the moment of his death.

As you can see, in any case, Franciso Picio had a quite complicated life, since not only did he have the misfortune of being despised for his appearance at that time, but it also gave rise to one of the most famous expressions in the city.