Italy is full of nude statues and murals. So why is it so upset about a new kind of tradition: tourists posing basically naked, basically anywhere?
Tourists are often stripping off (and proposing) on Amalfi’s beaches and on the sweaty path of the gods (a hike, in case you were wondering), but outside a cathedral? Well, they have now.
A video of a ‘naked’ British tourist posing for photos in front of Italy’s cathedral of Amalfi (a medieval Roman Catholic cathedral in the Piazza del Duomo in Amalfi) has sent shockwaves through the land of hard, pebbly beaches.
WATCH: woman’s ‘obscene’ photo shoot outside Amalfi cathedral
According to Influencers In The Wild – an Instagram account whose mission is to aggregate all the most hilarious examples of people posing for the ‘gram – the tourist is British and “has been charged with ‘obscene acts’ for taking her clothes off for a photo shoot in front of Italy’s cathedral of Amalfi.”
“Locals captured the incident on video and can be heard calling the tourists ‘crazy’ for being ‘naked at the church.'”
In a video posted by Influencers In The Wild, the woman can be seen posing for photos holding some kind of red robe, with subtitles apparently translating comments from locals. The words on the screen read: “But there are crazy… what excuse are they crazy? He almost greets on top of the church and its expel if you remove the one.”
According to Italian publication Il Mattino, the trio did not have permission for the shoot (apparently it’s hard enough to book the steps for a baptism) and the antics only stopped when local authorities were summoned by onlookers. The Daily Mail reports the trio told the cops they were just tourists creating a “personal memory.”
Though many on Facebook were purple with fury, many Instagram followers of Influencers In The Wild called this video relatively inoffensive. Looking through their videos, you start to see why.
“This is the tamest thing I’ve seen in the recent years so I’m not casting judgement on this one,” one wrote. “If they think that’s obscene, wait till they hear about the Catholic Church,” said another.
Others were simply relieved to learn the nationality of the woman (“slightly relieved to learn she wasn’t American,” one said), with American and Australian tourists both having disgraced themselves recently.
More choice comments included: “This is how people are getting attention nowadays” and “as cringe as influencers are, pearl clutching about nakedness is worse.” There were also several more cracks at the catholic church, with various comments like “Maybe if she was a child the church would look at this differently” and “are they upset because she wasn’t a young boy?” rolling in.
Some people came to the defense of the Italian traditionalists, writing things like “just because you can does not mean you should” and “nothing wrong with getting naked but this is not the time or the place…”
“Not ok. Disrespectful to the cultural history of the place and the people,” yet another wrote. According to The Mirror, many people were aggrieved on Facebook too, with one writing: “Undressing badly in front of a cathedral of considerable importance [is] squalid and unacceptable … shame.”
That being said, a lot of people on Instagram supported the photoshoot. Instagram user @girlroz, for instance, wrote: “Italy churches and museums are full of naked statues. I literally was just at the Vatican and saw balls of all sizes in stone. Is it bc it’s a real like body and it’s the men who have an issue with this[?]”
“I’m sure the Catholic Churches have so much more to worry about vs a real life naked body of a woman on their steps.”
Instagran user girlroz
“If they think a naked woman in front of a church is crazy, that’s proof that they aren’t paying attention to all the crazy stuff going on inside,” another person added, alongside many other defences of nakedness (“Naked like we were all born?!?!”, “What’s the difference between this and dressing up as a sexy nun?” etc.).
Just another day on social media. La dolce vita indeed. Oh, and for those interested in history, the cathedral in question was founded in the ninth century, rebuilt in the 11th century in the Romaesque style, then altered various more times.
Per The Daily Mail. “The facade and the atrium date from 1800s, but the carved bronze doors were cast in Constantinople around 1000, making them a culturally significant artefact.”
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