Bomb disposal experts were called to Piazzale Michelangelo on Monday morning after a worker saw a gas cylinder under the replica of David by Michelangelo. The original statue in the Accademia is unaffected.

A gas cylinder was found beneath the replica of Michelangelo‘s David at Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence on Monday morning, prompting a security operation at one of the city’s best-known viewpoints.

Alarm raised at 7.30am by worker

The cylinder was discovered at around 7.30am by a worker from Alia, the company responsible for waste collection in the area, who alerted the 112 emergency number. Carabinieri patrols and the force’s bomb disposal experts attended, and the square was closed to traffic while checks were carried out.

At 9.30am the carabinieri told Fanpage that the bomb squad was still working and that the exact nature of the object could not yet be established. It had not been confirmed whether the cylinder was full or empty.

Investigators are examining footage from cameras in the area to establish how and when the cylinder came to be left beneath the statue, and whether it was simply abandoned or whether other circumstances lie behind its presence.

The statue concerned is the copy that overlooks the city from Piazzale Michelangelo, not Michelangelo’s marble original, which is kept in the Galleria dell’Accademia some distance away.

No further details had been released at the time of writing.