Tourists are causing havoc in Italy (again). Last year vandals defaced the Colosseum in Rome, sending locals and government officials into a frenzy. Now another reveller, as yet unidentified, has sent shockwaves through Florence after jumping on to a statue of Bacchus on a street near the Ponte Vecchio bridge. Images posted on social media show the young woman hugging and kissing the statue and then (ahem) simulating sexual positions. The art critic and polemicist Vittorio Sgarbi, who relishes the spotlight, said on X (formerly Twitter): “It is a transfiguration: when art is truer than life. A loving exaltation. No real man can compete with Cellini’s [demigod] Perseus. A drunk girl performs a critical, non-erotic act.” Others disagreed. “Tourists are welcome, but there must be respect for our monuments, whether they are originals or copies,” Antonella Ranaldi, the city arts superintendent, told Corriere della Sera. The statue is a replica of an original piece created in the 16th century by the celebrated sculptor Giambologna. The fate of the amorous statue hugger meanwhile remains unclear.
