When Hope Carrasquilla and her family arrived in Florence on Friday, they went straight to the Accademia Gallery. The Floridians had traveled to Italy to see the museum's main attraction: Michelangelo's David, who was sculpted without clothes—an artistic decision that, more than 500 years later, cost Carrasquilla her school principal job in Tallahassee when parents complained about students being shown images of the statue in class. "I am happy to be able to welcome her and introduce her to the beauties of our museum, besides showing her the David, a sculpture that, I repeat as I have said, has nothing to do with pornography,'' said Cecilie Hollberg, director of the museum, per USA Today.
"The thing that impresses me the most is that this whole gallery was built for him," Carrasquilla told the BBC in a statement. Having seen the statue in person now, she added: "Michelangelo would have done him wrong to sculpt him in any other way. I think it's wonderful." Hollberg, who had invited Carrasquilla to the gallery, said in a statement that David is "a masterpiece, it represents a religious symbol of purity and innocence, the victory of good over evil." (More Michelangelo stories.)