Dario Nardella, mayor of Florence since 2014, is in the national and even international headlines these days. When last generation environmental activists sprayed orange paint on the façade of Palazzo Vecchio on March 17 to protest the Italian government's climate policy, Nardella stepped in boldly. The Social Democratic mayor, who happened to be nearby, grabbed one of the two activists, tore him away from the wall of the famous building and shouted at him: "Stop it! What the hell are you doing?"

Matthias Rüb

Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta, based in Rome.

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Nardella then took part in the washing up work. Visibly upset, he said: "They are barbarians! That's not how you protest." Later, after footage of his intervention went viral on social media, Nardella apologized for shouting and violently attacking the activist: "I acted out of instinct. As a representative of the institutions, I should not have attacked the young man in this way."

In a new excitement about the capital of Tuscany and its mayor, it is mainly about Michelangelo's world-famous sculpture of David, which can be admired in the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence. Last week, Hope Carrasquilla, principal of the Tallahassee Classical School in Florida, had to resign from her post. In the art class of a sixth grade on the subject of "Art of the Renaissance", she had shown photographs of Michelangelo's David, of his ceiling fresco "The Creation of Adam" in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican and of Sandro Botticelli's painting "The Birth of Venus", which can be seen in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Parents complained about "pornography" in class

As a result, some parents complained to the Tallahassee school board that their children had been subjected to "pornography" at school and that they themselves had not been informed about the subject matter in advance. After consultations, the school authority finally asked headmistress Carrasquilla to resign in order to forestall her dismissal.

Nardella has now invited the ousted teacher from Florida to Florence "to express her appreciation on behalf of the city," as the mayor wrote on Twitter. "To confuse art with pornography is just ridiculous," Nardella tweeted. "Art is civilization, and whoever teaches it deserves respect."

Nardella's invitation has met with a broad response in Florida and beyond in the United States. The director of the Galleria dell'Accademia, Cecilie Hollberg, was also appalled by the forced resignation of the headmistress: "This is absurd. Nudity is not the same as pornography." Hollberg, for her part, invited teachers and students of the Classical School from the capital of Florida to the capital of Tuscany to experience the "art of the Renaissance" in Florence, instead of being informed about it through photos in a functional classroom in Tallahassee. "To believe that David is pornographic shows a complete lack of understanding of the content of the Bible, Western culture, and Renaissance art," Hollberg said.

Victor Carrasquilla, the husband of the fired teacher, criticized the decision of the Tallahassee school board, assuring that his wife was "a strong evangelical Christian." Perhaps the pornography affair of Tallahassee around Michelangelo's David will trigger a lively visitor traffic from Florida to Florence. And maybe even the headmistress will get her job back.