American principal fired, ‘Michelangelo’s David is not porn’

2023-04-29 15:46:03

“I’m already interviewing to go back to teaching at a classical studies school and as soon as I can I’ll talk to students about the importance of Italian Renaissance art and the Florentine one in particular. I’ll definitely be showing Michelangelo’s David again, because it’s a universal symbol of perfection and beauty. There is absolutely nothing porn about it.” This was stated by Hope Carrasquilla, former principal of the Tallahassee Classical School in Florida, fired at the end of March after an art history lesson during which Michelangelo’s David was shown, judged ‘pornographic’ by the parents of some students. “I hope that teaching Renaissance art is no longer a problem for anyone.”

Hope Carrasquilla arrived in Florence, with her husband and two children, for the weekend, at the invitation of Mayor Dario Nardella and the hospitality offered by Simonetta Brandolini d’Adda, president of Friends of Florence, a foundation of US patrons. Accompanied by the director of the Galleria dell’Accademia, Cecilie Hollberg, Carrasquilla admired the David live for the first time. “I didn’t know that the entire Gallery was built for Michelangelo’s statue – said the American teacher – It’s beautiful because it seems to enter a church made to contain the purity of this figure of which all humanity is captured which is the aspect I love the most. There is nothing wrong with the human body. Michelangelo did nothing wrong, he could only sculpt it like this, it could not be otherwise. It is wonderful and I am truly happy to be here”.

Hope Carrasquilla was then received this morning in Palazzo Vecchio by Nardella, who gave her a parchment “for her commitment to educating the younger generations to beauty and harmony through art”. The parchment, signed by the mayor on behalf of the City of Florence, was delivered at the end of a meeting moderated by the journalist Gerardo Greco which took place in the Sala degli Elementi which was attended by, in addition to Nardella, Simonetta Brandolini d’Adda and Cristina Acidini, president of the Academy of Design Arts.

“Confusing art with pornography – Nardella underlined – is ridiculous and even offensive. The nude is part of art. Kids don’t need censorship or crusades but a serious education that explains what the history of art and how important it is for the development of civilization”. The delivery of the parchment to Professor Hope Carrasquilla “I believe it is a gesture – added the mayor – which serves to tell the whole world what the beauty of Florence is, what Michelangelo’s David symbolizes and that nudity in art can never, ever, ever be considered profanity or pornography.”

Simonetta Brandolini d’Adda, president of Friends of Florence, an American foundation which has been working for twenty-five years for the conservation of the Florentine and Tuscan artistic heritage, underlined that the invitation to the principal dismissed in Florida is “an opportunity to recall the importance of the transfer of Western civilization values ​​through Italian art and culture, which must never be hindered by ignorance.Millions of American citizens travel to Italy every year to visit Renaissance masterpieces, send their children to study in Florence , in Rome and in other cities of art. If this happens it is because the majority of American people and people understand the importance of Italian art and culture in the formation of contemporary citizens”.