On Tuesday, a mural dedicated to Paola Egonu, a standout player from Italy’s historic Olympic gold-winning volleyball team, was vandalised just a day after it was installed outside the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) office in Rome.
The artwork, created by the artist Laika, was defaced with pink paint sprayed over the skin of the Italian champion.
Both government officials and opposition members condemned the act. Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani expressed “solidarity and the utmost disdain for this grave gesture of vulgar racism,” declaring that Egonu is “our pride” on X (formerly Twitter).
Elisabetta Lancellotta, a lawmaker from Premier Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (FdI) party and a national councillor of CONI, said she was “shocked that in 2024, in Italy, someone could be offended by a mural of a champion who just led our national team to its first Olympic gold in volleyball.” Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri called the defacement a “shame” and an “insult to a great Italian,” while Annalisa Corrado, a member of the opposition Democratic Party (PD), labelled the perpetrators as “cowards who hide behind masks.”
Corrado added, “They can’t conceal their deep ignorance, resentment toward a world that is evolving, and a desire to exclude others, which only leads to tragedy.” Agostino Santillo, a lawmaker from the Five-Star Movement (M5S), stated that “the foolishness of an individual will not overshadow the achievements of Italian champion Paola Egonu.”
“Italian-ness”
The mural, titled “Italian-ness,” was not only meant to celebrate the Italian women’s volleyball team’s victory at the Paris Olympics but also to stand as a statement against racism. The title “Italian-ness” references a controversial claim made by right-wing League MEP General Roberto Vannacci in a bestselling book, where he asserted that Egonu’s “somatic features do not represent Italian-ness.”
Egonu, 25, who was born in Veneto to Nigerian parents, top-scored in Sunday’s Olympic final victory over reigning champions the USA, securing Italy’s first Olympic volleyball gold medal.
Laika’s artwork depicts Egonu spiking a ball emblazoned with the words: “Stop to racism, hate, xenophobia, ignorance.” The Roman street artist, who has been “fighting injustice” through her works since 2019, stated that this piece is a response to Vannacci and others who share his views.
Note: We made the deliberate decision to place an image of the artwork before it was vandalised as the main image of this article, in order to help pass on the intended message of the artist: “Stop to racism, hate, xenophobia, ignorance.”
