Nipple cover-up ordered by Italian Prime Minister

**Jenna** · 08-04-08, 04:07 PM

The government cover-up that Italians are whispering about these days has nothing to do with politics. Instead, it's about a missing nipple.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's staff have altered a reproduction of a famous 18th-century painting by Giambattista Tiepolo to cover an exposed breast on full display in the press room in the Palazzo Chigi, the prime minister's palace.

Nude artwork rarely offends in Italy, home to innumerable classical nudes in painting and sculpture. But this particular bare breast, in Tiepolo's "Time Uncovering Truth," was the backdrop for press conferences and often caught on camera.
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Aides decided to repaint the woman's gown to cover the offending nipple.

"It was an initiative by those on the presidential staff who look after Berlusconi's image," his spokesman Paolo Bonaiuti, was quoted telling the daily Corriere della Sera.

"That breast, that nipple ... it ends up exactly inside the frame captured by TV news stations at press conferences."

Vittorio Sgarbi, an art critic and once a culture undersecretary in a previous Berlusconi government, called the move "crazy."

"What should be done with all the statues of women at dozens of Italian museums, where breasts can be admired that would even leave Pamela Anderson breathless?" Sgarbi told Corriere.
Berlusconi takes fire for nipple cover-up
PM's office paints over oft-seen breast in painting; critic says move 'crazy'

Italia

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is seen in front of a reproduction of a famous painting by Giambattista Tiepolo, in the press room of Palazzo Chigi, in Rome, on July 4. The woman's robe was recently repainted to cover her left breast.
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Andrew Medichini / AP file

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26010033/

**Captain America** · 08-04-08, 04:47 PM

Thank you Jenna for keeping us abreasted of this controversy in Italy.

**Xiphos** · 08-04-08, 05:00 PM

Wouldn't it be easier to move the podium or put a curtain behind him during press conferences? I just don't get butchering art. If it offends you, move it or get rid of it. That would seem easier than going to all the trouble of altering it.

**deputysykes** · 08-04-08, 05:09 PM

I'm glad! Womens' bare breasts and nipples disgust me and should always be covered.

OK, I can't do it anymore...what a bunch of crap!

When you look at the pic, it actually looks like they painted a left hand cuping the woman's left breast...