Today they are family men with responsible jobs but twenty-six years ago Michele Gherlarducci, Piero Luridiana and Francesco Ferruccio were behind what became known as the "prank of the century” in Italy: in 1984 the trio of twenty-year-olds from Livorno created a sculptured head using carpentry tools and threw it into the town’s Medici Canal.
At the time, the canals that criss-cross the city were being dragged in the hope of finding works by Amedeo Modigliani, who was born in Livorno in 1884. According to legend, several of Modigliani’s friends thought his sculptures were ugly and had advised him to throw them into the canals.
A find would have helped to publicise the Modigliani Centennial Exhibition which was taking place in the town.
When the head was found, it was attributed to Modigliani and a few hours later a second sculpture was discovered. On 10th August, a third sculpture turned up in the canal and the city celebrated all three finds.
Later the second and third sculptures were revealed as being the work of a dock worker called Angelo Froglia, who wanted to protest against the “art system”.
Gherlarducci, Luridiana and Ferruccio still meet sometimes to talk about their prank and are currently in talks about a docudrama, reports ANSA.
Three out of four works attributed to Modigliani are thought to be fakes by some art experts.
