In Rome, in the middle of Trastevere, installed a monument to porchetta, which disgusts everyone

Few monuments in recent history have aroused such unanimous outrage as the one that popped up yesterday in Rome, right in the center of Trastevere, in Piazza San Giovanni della Malva, just a stone’s throw from Ponte Sisto: it is a travertine porchetta in the form of a now lifeless pig, tied up and ready to be eaten. The travertine porchettona is part of an official project promoted by the Municipio Roma I Centro, in collaboration with RUFA - Rome University of Fine Arts, a private fine arts academy. The idea is to “regenerate” Roman squares through contemporary art.

“The Municipal Council,” explains the president of Municipio I, Sabrina Alfonsi, “has decided to take one more step on the road to the regeneration of the Center, thanks to this project that aims, through art, to further enhance some of the places redeveloped thanks to the ’Rome is mine’ call. Starting June 18 and for the entire summer, some of the squares in the Historic Center will not only tell the story and layers of a city that is never fully known, but will also welcome the original and innovative works of the ”next generation“ of artists. In this way we are offering these talented young people the chance to experience their art on an important stage, which guarantees their works a very wide visibility hopefully also at the international level, with the expected return of tourists to the Eternal City.”

The problem is that the travertine porchetta disgusts everyone, despite the fact that its author, Amedeo Longo (who titled it Dal panino si va in piazza), has cloaked it with meaning: “porchetta, a typical food from Lazio, ironic and mocking,” the artist explains, illustrating the work’s “concept,” “capable of fueling goliardia, but also of generating confrontation. The food of opposites: popular and noble, democratic and monarchical, papal and infernal. These are the souls of a city that are sought out by walking, informing, knowing. Driven by a desire for discovery and real sharing. Porchetta is the food we talk about even as we eat. The work made of travertine, echoing the depiction of animals typical of classical Roman art, celebrates this tradition.”

Unfortunately, however, it turned out to be a very indigestible porchetta, and not only because of the dubious taste (“Since we do not have enough animals of various kinds in Rome, the administration decided to beautify the city with this marvelous marble pig,” tweeted Carlo Calenda, one of the many who spoke out against the travertine pig), and for the dubious artistic value, but also for the reactions it provoked in the animal rights community, so much so that one of the first to criticize the work was Gianluca Felicetti, LAV president, who called for the removal of the San Giovanni della Malva piglet. Along the same lines was the entire association, which also issued an official note: “In the intentions of Sabrina Alfonsi and Giuseppa Urso, respectively president and councillor for Urban Regeneration of Rome City Hall 1, the statue should celebrate a lost Roman tradition, the aggregative and itinerant act of eating food in theoutdoors,” says David Nicoli of LAV Rome, “but the work offends the sensibilities of about three hundred thousand vegan and vegetarian Romans, who see in it an insult to the value of the life of animals sentient beings, to their forced sacrifice in the name of a food preference that is not even necessary but only selfish.”

In Rome, in the middle of Trastevere, installed a monument to porchetta, which disgusts everyone

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