A gigantic middle finger in Piazza Affari in Milan

The well-known finger – work of the artist Maurizio Cattelan – is located in front of Palazzo Paolo Mezzanotte, seat of the Stock Exchange, in Piazza degli Affari one of the best known examples of architecture of the Fascist Twenties in the city. L.O.V.E  – this is the name of the sculpture – by the same admission of Cattelan, represents a hand engaged in a fascist salute and eroded by time in all the arts, except that in the middle finger. 

The masterpiece is 11 meters high (36 Ft) in total: almost 5 of hand (16 Ft) with what remains of the fingers, the rest is base.

Made of pure white Carrara marble, was inaugurated in 2010 and its name is an acronym of freedom, hate, revenge, eternity. And, coincidentally, it also means love in English.

The vulgar gesture in Piazza Affari also seems to be aimed at the economic world and financial speculation caused, since the failure of the American bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008, the economic crisis that has also overwhelmed Italy too.

Maurizio Cattelan, artist from Padua, born in 1960 is mainly known for provocative and desecrating creations, in which he manages to transform irony into art.

At the end the interpretation is truly dedicated to the “imagination of all”, as the artist admitted. 

LOVE is placed right in downtown Milan, easily accessible by walking from Duomo Square or from the Castello Sforzesco.

The closest underground station is Cordusio on the red line.