[imagesource: AP]

Spigolatrice di Sapri, a bronze sculpture based on a famous Italian poem, was unveiled on September 25 during a ceremony in Sapri, southern Italy.

Former Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte was on hand for the unveiling, with the statue paying homage to an 1857 poem by Luigi Mercantini.

That’s all rather bland sounding, but in this day and age of social media, there’s always a chance for a little outrage.

The woman depicted is the poem’s narrator, who at one stage says “They were three hundred men, they were young and strong, and they died!”

Except that sentiment has perhaps been sidelined by the so-called ‘sexiness’ of the statue:

Only in Italy a statue of an agrarian laborer, in memory of a massacre of 300 ppl, could take this form. 2021 in #Sapri pic.twitter.com/N9K1XDqZVk

— Francesca Piazzoni (@f_piazzoni) September 26, 2021

VICE reports:

Often studied in Italian schools, La Spigolatrice di Sapri tells the story of a woman who falls in love with Carlo Pisacane, a real historical figure who was one of Italy’s first socialist and anarchist thinkers. In the poem, she tells the story of Pisacane’s failed insurrection against the Kingdom of Naples, where he had hoped the local Neapolitans would join his 300 men in a revolution. Instead, they sided with the ruling Bourbons, and Pisacane was killed, along with all of his followers.

Image: Ivan Romano / Getty Images

Rather than depict Pisacane, or the 300 men, the sculpture unveiled this weekend commemorating the fated arrival of revolutionaries at Sapri is instead depicted by the gleaner – someone who collects grain after it’s been harvested.

Gleaners in that day and age would likely have worn modest clothing, with the fictional heroine of the poem leaving what was known to be back-breaking work in the fields to join a revolt against the Bourbon dynasty.

The statue’s dress is all but see-through:

Image: AP

Sculptor Emanuele Stifano says he is “shocked and disheartened” by the criticism, with a number of female politicians in Italy speaking out against it.

Monica Cirinnà, a member of the Italian Senate, said it was a “slap in the face to history and to women who are still only sexualised bodies”.

Teresa Macri, a professor at Rome’s Academy of Fine Arts, said the statue should be removed, while Italian lawmaker Laura Boldrini said the statue takes away “from that woman the story and the dignity that she had”.

For a spot of mansplaining, we go to The Sydney Morning Herald:

Stepping in to defend the work, Sapri Mayor Antonio Gentile said any perceived sexism “is in the eye of the beholder.”

“I believe that statues have been knocked down only in countries where democracy has been suspended,” Gentile said, rejecting the idea of the sculpture’s removal.

Ah well, as long as Antonio says it’s fine.

I mean, if this statue comes down, where does it end?

You blink, and next thing they’re tearing down statues erected in honour of war criminals and dictators and racist colonialists!

[sources:vice&smh]