Livorno exhibit of Modigliani fakes

(ANSA) - Leghorn, May 19 - Thirty years after a group of students fooled the art world by producing false busts of Amedeo Modigliani, the artist's home town will show the fakes to the public in a special exhibit.
    Preparation of the exhibit will begin June 6 in a room in the Fortezza Vecchia (the old fortress) made available by the Port Authority of Livorno. No exact date for the start of the exhibit has yet been set but a statement by the city press office said that it will include the three fake Modigliani heads that were found in July 1984 in the Royal Moat in Livorno when the hoax was launched. One of the heads attributed to Modigliani was sculpted by three art students and two others were sculpted by a Livorno artist.
    The three fake heads were then substituted for real statues by Modigliani to complete the prank.
    In the exhibit 27 panels will be erected with cuttings from foreign and Italian newspapers at the time recounting how the hoax developed and was reported around the world. Entrance will be free for the first two months.
    "For a long time we have wanted to tell a story that was unique in the 20th century and is sure to be a tourist attraction," Livorno Culture Councillor Mario Tredici said.