(ANSA) - A 'modern' nativity scene set up by authorities in the main square of Viareggio has spoiled the Christmas cheer in the Tuscan seaside town by splitting the population in two.
The six-metre high white sculpture features a mother wearing high heels and a shortish skirt sitting next to her baby, who is lying on a blanket. The father, who some say looks suspiciously like Lenin, stands to the side with his hands in his pockets looking up at the sky.
If the sculpture's departure from tradition has left some Viareggio residents perplexed, it has enraged many conservative politicians in the city. They have branded it an "obscenity" and demanded its removal.
"It is an offence to our city's religious and cultural tradition. We want proper respect for Catholic sensibilities," said Antonio Cima and Alessandro Lemmetti, members of the Catholic-oriented UDC party.
The polyurethane crib, produced by local artist Roberta Giovannini Onniboni, has a framing arch over and behind it which has also angered some critics due to the face of the moon sculpted into it. One local councillor said it made the depiction of the Nativity look like something from "a Walt Disney cartoon".
Apart from the surprise at seeing the Madonna represented as a contemporary woman with smart shoes and a skirt that stops above her knees, there is also a political angle to the criticism. Some residents saw it as a piece of leftwing propaganda, arguing that Jesus' father resembles the Communist icon Lenin and his mother's face looks like that of German revolutionary Rosa Luxembourg.
The author of the piece threw off this interpretation with a laugh. "I don't even know what Rosa Luxembourg looked like," Onniboni said. "I just wanted to represent Mary and Joseph as people of today. My Madonna is a normal woman." The 54-year-old sculptress, who has a long list of exhibitions all over Europe under her belt, admitted she was surprised and a little embittered by the polemics that have rained down.
She said the entire affair reflected "the arrogant and vulgar society in which we live".
Despite the calls for the crib's removal, the city's leftwing mayor, Marco Marcucci, appeared set on keeping it in place throughout Christmas.
"I like it," he told a local newspaper. "It's a good artistic idea which underlines that Mary and Joseph are a father and a mother."
He dismissed the idea that the woman's heels and skirt detracted from the image of motherhood. "It is a modern mother, one of our times," he said.
The artist, a Catholic although she says she is critical of the Church's hierarchy, had no regrets about her decision to ignore the customary iconography.
"I don't see why a normal family cannot represent the Holy Family. I know a lot of couples who do good. They are not the Madonna and Saint Joseph and they dress like everyone else," she said.
