Italy’s Strange Choice to Hide Its Art

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Anyone receiving a special visitor understands the desire to be a gracious host. But there’s no point in beating around the bush here: Italian officials have gone to an absurd length in kowtowing to President Hassan Rouhani of Iran on his first visit since the lifting of economic sanctions as a result of the nuclear deal.

As you can see from the photo above, nude statues at the Capitoline Museums in Rome were cloaked with ridiculous white boxes to spare Mr. Rouhani “any possible offense” on his visit to Rome on Tuesday, according to The Guardian. The Italian news agency Ansa said the decision to shroud the artwork “was seen as a sign of respect” for the Iranian president, The Guardian reported.

If the museum was an unacceptable venue for the meeting between Mr. Rouhani and Italy’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi, then they should have met somewhere else — perhaps in the catacombs, where, as I recall, nude statues aren’t an issue. A spokesman for the city of Rome, which manages the museum, said the arrangements were made by the prime minister’s office.

Great art is great art and it shouldn’t be hidden from a world leader just because he comes from a country whose religious ideologues have objections to nudity.

And if the statues are offensive to Mr. Rouhani, what about other Muslims, or people of other religions or philosophical persuasions, who may be uncomfortable with nudity? Isn’t that an argument for cloaking all of Rome, and all of Paris and New York for that matter, in one huge tent?

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