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U.S. school principal fired for showing image of David visits famous statue

A restorer cleans Michelangelo’s David statue while preparing for the reopening of the Galleria dell’Accademia on May 27, 2020, in Florence, Italy.  (Laura Lezza)
German Press Agency

German Press Agency

ROME – After losing her job for showing an image of the naked statue of David in art classes, a Florida school principal finally got to admire the original 16th-century artwork in Italy.

Hope Carrasquilla was forced to resign in March after a parent complained that sixth-grade students at the Tallahassee Classical school had been exposed to “pornography.”

Carrasquilla was finally able to travel to Florence, where the world-famous Renaissance sculpture by Michelangelo is located, at the invitation of Mayor Dario Nardella.

Meeting on Saturday at the city’s Palazzo Vecchio, they talked about art and how important art is for the development of culture, the city said.

The case also caused a stir in Florence in the form of a passionate debate about art and pornography, culminating in the educator’s invitation to the city.

“I think it’s a gesture that serves to show the whole world what the beauty of Florence is, what Michelangelo’s David symbolizes and that nudity in art can never be considered vulgarity or pornography,” Nardella said after their meeting.

On Friday, Carrasquilla visited Florence’s famous Galleria dell’Accademia, where the more than 5-meter-tall marble statue created between 1501 and 1504 has been kept since 1873.

“I’m really impressed by the David sculpture,” La Repubblica newspaper quoted Carrasquilla as saying. “I didn’t know the whole gallery was built for it.

“It’s wonderful and I’m really happy to be here.”

The museum in Florence is one of the most visited museums in Italy – mainly because of the famous David. The sculpture shows the biblical David as he is about to take up the fight against the giant Goliath with a slingshot.