A decision to cover up several
nude statues at Rome's Capitoline Museums during a visit on
Monday by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has stirred a furore.
The move was apparently made as a form of respect for
Iranian culture.
Furthermore, wine, which is forbidden by Islam as it is
alcoholic, was not served at institutional ceremonies either on
Tuesday, ANSA sources said.
"The covering up of the statues in the Capitoline Museums
during Rouhani's visit is a sign of excessive zeal," Luca
Squeri, an MP for ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's opposition,
centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party, said Tuesday.
"Respect for other cultures cannot and must not equal the
negation of ours. This is not respect, it is the cancellation of
differences or, worse still, submission.
"It's confirmation that when (Premier Matteo) Renzi speaks
of identity and integration, he is talking nonsense.
"You should not hide identity and there can be no
integration if we don't value our identify".
Rouhani met Renzi, President Sergio Mattarella and other
institutional figures on Monday, when Italy and Iran signed 17
different agreements.
He met Pope Francis in the Vatican on Tuesday and
discussed the recent accord on Iran's nuclear programme and
Iran's role in helping solve conflicts in the Middle East, among
other issues.
Matteo Salvini, the leader of the rightwing Northern
League, said covering up the statues in the Capitoline Museums
was "madness" and blasted Renzi welcoming a man "who would like
to wipe Israel from the face of the Earth".
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