Dot Joyce Is Happy to Skip Italy

Behind every great man is a great woman, and the great lady behind Mayor Tom Menino is his spokeswoman, Dot Joyce. (Apologies to Angela Menino.) Whether she’s explaining Menino’s use of gang signals or keeping the mayor on time for his grueling schedule of public appearances, Joyce is a consummate professional.

Which is why we thought it was unfair that she wouldn’t get to tag along with Hizzoner as he heads to Italy for an economic conference this week. But Joyce is OK with staying in Boston.

“We’re all probably better off if I don’t go,” Joyce tells Boston Daily. “I don’t speak Italian.”

Menino leaves tomorrow for a six-day visit to the Villa d’Este on Lake Como. A quick look at the website shows the digs are pretty swanky, so we’d be peeved if our boss left us at City Hall, while he’s enjoying the marble floors and frescoes in the Sala Colonne.

But Joyce isn’t broken up about missing the Ambrosetti Forum, or staying on the East Coast during the DNC. “My role is here in the city,” she explains. “I travel once in a while, but only to events that are city-based.”

There is an upside to missing out on a Milanese working holiday. “I’ll get a lot of work done. The volume of calls drops off when [Menino] isn’t here.”

Photo from Villa d’Este website