QUOTE
Angry nude models across Italy have gone on strike in a bitter dispute over poor pay and conditions.
The protesters, both male and female, are demanding "professional recognition" and full-time contracts in a staged 24-hour walk-out.
Currently, only 50 of about 300 artists' models at Italian art schools have fixed annual contracts. The remainder are hired part-time and usually earn roughly €25 (£19) an hour.
Rossella Lamina, a spokeswoman for the trades union backing the protest, said that more than 60 art teachers in Rome, Florence, Venice, Carrara, Turin and Reggio Calabria had signed the models' appeal.
Antonella Migliorini, 42, told Italy's La Stampa newspaper: "Our work is not recognised. We pose for eight hours a day and still the colleges treat us like teaching tools. "We do a difficult job, with a great tradition resting on our shoulders, which requires both imagination and great physical concentration."
She added that being a life model was a "tough, cold job" and that most models who were lucky enough to have a full-time job only made around €900 a month.
Yesterday, models who gathered at a ceremony inaugurating the academic year at La Sapienza, Rome's leading university, kept their clothes on in protest.
About 30 protesters struck poses imitating famous art works, including Degas's ballerinas and Rodin's The Thinker, at the university entrance.
Nando Dalla Chiesa, an education ministry official, said he had agreed to meet the models and listen to their concerns.
The protesters, both male and female, are demanding "professional recognition" and full-time contracts in a staged 24-hour walk-out.
Currently, only 50 of about 300 artists' models at Italian art schools have fixed annual contracts. The remainder are hired part-time and usually earn roughly €25 (£19) an hour.
Rossella Lamina, a spokeswoman for the trades union backing the protest, said that more than 60 art teachers in Rome, Florence, Venice, Carrara, Turin and Reggio Calabria had signed the models' appeal.
Antonella Migliorini, 42, told Italy's La Stampa newspaper: "Our work is not recognised. We pose for eight hours a day and still the colleges treat us like teaching tools. "We do a difficult job, with a great tradition resting on our shoulders, which requires both imagination and great physical concentration."
She added that being a life model was a "tough, cold job" and that most models who were lucky enough to have a full-time job only made around €900 a month.
Yesterday, models who gathered at a ceremony inaugurating the academic year at La Sapienza, Rome's leading university, kept their clothes on in protest.
About 30 protesters struck poses imitating famous art works, including Degas's ballerinas and Rodin's The Thinker, at the university entrance.
Nando Dalla Chiesa, an education ministry official, said he had agreed to meet the models and listen to their concerns.