No More Commercial Exploitation of David

It is now illegal to exploit Michelangelo’s “David” for commercial purposes in Italy and throughout Europe. The Court of Florence issued this mandate after “Visit Today,” tour company sold tickets at a higher price to see the statue using leaflets with the image of the sculpture.

The order states that David’s image cannot be used for marketing or sales purposes without the permission of the Accademia Gallery. The Office of the State Attorney is now also querying the legality of David souvenir items.

Director of the Accademia, Cecilie Hollberg plans on meeting with companies that produce the image of David and stopping them from exploiting it. The Ministry of Cultural Heritage has the authority to allow images of cultural property, such as the statue of David, to be reproduced or not.

Visit Today never followed those guidelines. The court fined the company for €2000 per day for every day they didn’t comply with the laws.

Hollberg hopes that this action will incite other museums to take action against scammers. President of the Opera of Santa Maria del Fiore (Cathedral complex) Luca Bagnoli wants to adopt similar strategies to combat exploitation of images.

To read more in Italian, visit Florence’s La Repubblica news site (deanna carbone).