Internet divided over curvy mermaid statue in Italy

Internet divided over curvy mermaid statue in Italy.

Social media users have weighed in on the controversy over a voluptuous mermaid statue in southern Italy, and most critics are taking issue with the mermaid having both a human backside and a fishtail. 

“The debate aroused by the Mermaid is welcome, as long as it is about such issues like the freedom of artistic expression or the remains of an ancient and out-of-the-time way of looking at the female (or male) body,” Adolfo Marciano, principal of the IISS Luigi Russo art high school that produced the now-famous statue, told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

The school created the statue as a way to honor Rita Levi-Montalcini, a late Italian senator and Nobel laureate, according to the Monopoli Times, which first covered the story. 

Tiziana Schiavarelli, an actor, said that local residents were right to express “some perplexity” about the statue.

“It looks like a mermaid with two silicone breasts and, above all, a huge a—s never seen before on a mermaid. At least not any I know,” Schiavarelli said, according to The Guardian. 

The statue, which was sculpted by the IISS Luigi Rosso art high school and is reportedly meant to honor Rita Levi-Montalcini, a late Italian senator and Nobel laureate, has been erected in the Puglia region, according to The Monopoli Times, a local news outlet that covers events in southern Italy.

Students of the IISS Luigi Rosso art high school in Monopoli crafted the cheeky and buxom mermaid statue and the artwork has been erected at the Piazza Rita Levi Montalcini – a new town square named after the famous senator in Bari, a port city and province within the Monopoli township of Puglia.

Since late April, residents of the area and the larger Italian population have been debating whether the curvy mermaid statue is an appropriate art display given its proximity to the square’s park.

Fox News Digital reached out to the IISS Luigi Russo art school for comment.

The high school uploaded an article excerpt on Monday, May 1, that states the mermaid statue was temporarily covered with a tarp to hide its “provocative” form, but the statue was unveiled again as hundreds of tourists have traveled to the city of Bari to take pictures with the stone siren.