Italian Officials Slam Controversy Over Statue of David at Florida School: 'Ignorance of History'

A controversy surrounding a Florida school's handling of a lesson about Michelangelo's famous Renaissance sculpture of the Biblical figure David has drawn the attention of Italy, home to the beloved artwork.

According to the Associated Press, Florence Mayor Dario Nardella and the director of the Galleria dell'Accademia, where the marble statue is located, have invited a former principal, parents, and students to visit the museum after a controversy at a Florida school earlier this month.

As PEOPLE previously reported, now-former Tallahassee Classical School principal Hope Carrasquilla said she was asked to resign following a lesson where sixth-grade students were shown images of the famous sculpture, which features David in the nude.

School board officials, and Carrasquilla, told local outlets that a letter about the lesson was not sent to parents before it took place, leading to complaints.

The Tallahassee Democrat said at least one parent felt the statue was "pornographic."

"Mistaking art for pornography is just ridiculous," Mayor Nardella wrote in a translated tweet on Saturday, which included a full image of the statue.

"I will personally invite the teacher to Florence to give her recognition on behalf of the city," he said in a follow-up post. "Art is civilization and whoever teaches it deserves respect."

David was sculpted by Michelangelo around the year 1500 and is widely considered a masterpiece. Much of Renaissance art — and art from many other eras throughout history — feature bodies in the nude. Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man," Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus," and Masaccio's "Expulsion from the Garden of Eden" all feature varying degrees of nudity.

While speaking to the AP, Galleria dell'Accademia director Cecilie Hollberg echoed Nardella's sentiments, explaining that equating the sculpture to pornography is to misunderstand it on numerous levels.

"To think that David could be pornographic means truly not understanding the contents of the Bible, not understanding Western culture, and not understanding Renaissance art," Hollberg said.

She added to BBC: "A distinction must be made between nudity and pornography. There is nothing pornographic or aggressive about the David, he is a young boy, a shepherd, who even according to the Bible did not have ostentatious clothes but wanted to defend his people with what he had."

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Marla Stone, head of humanities studies at Rome's American Academy, told the AP the controversy highlights a "moral crusade against the body, sexuality, and gender expression" and an "ignorance of history."

"The incident is about fear, fear of beauty, of difference, and of the possibilities embedded in art," Stone said.

Carrasquilla told the AP she is considering Nardella's invitation to Italy.