A provocative statue of a curvy mermaid is making waves within the southern Italian city of Monopoli.

The voluptuous paintings sits in a brand new sq. within the Puglia city referred to as Piazza Rita Levi-Montalcini - named after a Nobel prize-winning Italian scientist.

It was created by college students from the Luigi Rosso artwork faculty in Monopoli after a fee from the native municipality and is situated close to to a youngsters's playground. It is a part of a €350,000 (£310,000) redevelopment of the realm.

Adolfo Marciano, headteacher of the Luigi Rosso artwork faculty, mentioned the statue was a "tribute to the great majority of women who are curvy".

"The students got together and came up with the idea of a mermaid," Mr Marciano advised The Guardian. "The council was proven the size mannequin and mentioned it was good, after which determined the finished sculpture could be positioned within the sq..

"You see adverts on television with models who are very thin, but the mermaid is like a tribute to the great majority of women who are curvy, especially in our country. It would have been very bad if we had represented a woman who was extremely skinny."

The statue has understandably roiled social media, with equal passions being raised for and towards it. "But who could have inspired this," requested one Twitter person. "Kim Kardashian?"

Tiziana Schiavarelli, an actress from the close by metropolis of Bari, wrote on Facebook {that a} pal from Monopoli had been "rightly perplexed" by the monument.

"At first glance, it doesn't look like the image of the famous scientist. It actually looks like a mermaid with two silicone boobs and above all the hugest ass ever seen on a mermaid. At least the ones I know."

Ms Schiavarelli concluded by saying she did not "mind the authors of the work, nor the municipal administration of Monopoli" it simply "amuses me a lot. Who knows, maybe it will become a tourist attraction?"

That sentiment was echoed by a Monopoli native on Twitter, who revelled within the city's surprising fame: "Monopoli in all the newspapers for a big-ass mermaid, that's us!"

The statue is but to be formally unveiled.

Content Source: information.sky.com