For 500 years, Michelangeloâ??s â??Davidâ? has stood as a symbol of Florentine independence and virtue.
So when a report commissioned by the federal government emerged this month claiming that Italy â?? and not the city â?? was the statueâ??s rightful owner, local tempers flared. The sculpture, Mayor Matteo Renzi retorted, had always, and would always, â??belong to Florence.â?
â??The â??Davidâ?? is not an umbrella,â? to be haggled over, he said. â??Itâ??s a monument in which the city of Florence still sees its identity.â?
Civic pride aside, the dispute over â??Davidâ? has also brought to light a question increasingly raised by many local governments: Who should benefit from Italyâ??s cultural patrimony?
In 2009, more than one million people saw â??David,â? which is housed in the Accademia Gallery, the countryâ??s fourth most visited cultural site. Tickets sales topped $7 million. The proceeds went into the federal Culture Ministry coffers.
The ownership issue â?? and related requests to have a stake in profits from â??Davidâ? â?? dates from previous administrations. But the turning point came earlier this year when the Culture Ministry commissioned a pair of lawyers to peruse existing documents and determine the rightful owner.
In a nine-page document written in dense legalese, the lawyers concluded that â??Davidâ? belongs to the nation, the true legal successor of the Florentine Republic, which commissioned the statue in 1501.
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