Private citizen saves Banksy's sole Italian work

Rome, April 13 - A private citizen has taken action to protect the only remaining work in Naples by England-based street artist Banksy, titled "Madonna With Gun", a stencil located on the side of a building in Piazza dei Girolamini. The artist's only two works in Italy were both located in Naples, but the first, in Via Benedetto Croce, was covered over by a graffiti writer in 2010. That work was an interpretation of Bernini's Blessed Ludovica Albertoni, holding a fast food hamburger and french fries as a symbol of consumerism. In "Madonna with Gun", Banksy painted a gun in place of a halo on the Virgin Mary, whose glance is towards a votive niche that's no longer present but was just a few feet away when the artist originally stencilled his work. Mariano Russo, a 43-year-old building administrator, said he became aware of the work when he was browsing online and found a petition soliciting signatures in an initiative to protect it. "I found various online initiatives to contribute to the work's conservation," Russo told ANSA. "In particular I found an online petition, which I signed, and various appeals inviting the community to take action to save the work of the English street artist," he said. "Thinking of the destiny the English artist's work had in via Benedetto Croce, I decided to do something to save the Madonna, both from environmental effects as well as, above all, acts of vandalism," Russo said. "I went right to action: I took the wall's measurements, I tracked down and contacted the building's administrator and asked for authorisation. Immediately after, I bought the plexiglass needed, and, with the help of a trusted builder, we installed the covering," he said. The plexiglass plate leaves space to allow air to circulate and avoid condensation build-up. Russo said he wants to send a message with his action. "I could have remained perfectly anonymous, that absolutely wouldn't have been a problem for me," he said. "But I was interested in telling this brief story to show that all of us can do something, even small, but useful. To those who ask me why I did it, I simply respond: I felt the need".