The unveiling of a new mermaid statue in Monopoli, Puglia, has caused a stir due to its voluptuous curves.

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The statue, created by students at the Luigi Rosso art school, was commissioned by the mayor of Monopoli and is yet to be officially inaugurated.

However, photos of the statue taken during its installation have caused ridicule on social media, with one person describing the mermaid as having “two silicone breasts and… a huge arse never seen before on a mermaid.”

shoutout to my curvy italian mermaid girls pic.twitter.com/wpJTrdaCVu

— Mel Stone (@melstonemusic) April 28, 2023

Despite the controversy, Adolfo Marciano, headteacher of the Luigi Rosso art school, has defended the statue, calling it a “tribute to the great majority of women who are curvy.”

He stated that the students were tasked with creating several statues for the town, including one on the theme of the sea, and came up with the idea of a mermaid.

The council approved the students’ scale model and decided to place the completed sculpture in the square.

Female statues in other areas of Italy have caused similar controversy, including a bronze statue of a woman in a transparent dress in Sapri, which was branded “an offense to women” and caused a sexism row.

However, Marciano is keen to point out that the students have also created a statue dedicated to the victims of workplace accidents, which he believes is “much more important than the mermaid”. The statue will be unveiled on Monday.