A sketch by Michelangelo is being employed in an effort to help Italian youths avoid a life of crime as part a project using Renaissance art against Italy’s mafias. The Casa Buonarroti foundation has loaned a red pencil drawing, ‘Study for the Head of Leda’, by the Renaissance artist to the Istituto Matilde Serao school in Casavatore near Naples. Michelangelo owned the Casa Buonarroti building in Florence, which he left to his nephew, Lionardo Buonarroti. It is now a museum. The artist lived in Casavatore, and his sketch was preparation for a painting depicting the story of Leda and the swan from Greek mythology that tells how the god Zeus, in the guise of a swan, seduced the princess Leda. The drawing is on display until 2 June. The initiative is part of the ‘Rinascimento Contro le Mafie’ (Renaissance Art Against the Mafias) project, and the result of efforts by Casavatore council, the Associazione MetaMorfosi cultural association, the Federazione delle Associazioni Antiracket e Antiusura (Federation of Antiracket and Antiusury Associations) and anti-mafia group Associazione Libera. The loan of the drawing is the first in the initiative, and numerous churches, individuals and public cultural institutions have shown an interest in participating in the project. At a news conference in Rome to unveil the initiative, Interior Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri said: “To fight organised crime, police work is essential, but it is not enough: to win this battle, it is necessary to awaken the conscience.” She added: “Works by great artists have the capacity to convey emotions, especially among the youngest.” Casa Buonarroti’s director Pina Ragionieri said the drawing “is not only beautiful, it was drawn as Michelangelo was fighting for freedom and justice” Geppino Fiorenza, a spokesman for Libera, said: “beauty creates ethics, which are essential to fighting the mafia”.
