Austrian tourist breaks toes off 1804 Canova plaster cast while taking selfie at Italian museum

A 50-year-old Austrian tourist has confessed to damaging a 19th-century plaster model by Antonio Canova while taking a selfie at the Gipsoteca Museum in Possagno, northern Italy. CCTV footage captured the man wearing a green t-shirt and black shorts sprawling over Canova's Paolina Borghese Bonaparte as Venus Victrix, accidentally breaking three toes from the sculpture. The tourist had left contact details with the museum due to COVID-19 regulations, which helped police identify him. According to the Treviso Carabinieri, the man later admitted to what he called a 'stupid move.' The damaged artwork is the original 1804 plaster cast model from which Canova later created a marble statue now held in Rome's Borghese Gallery. Vittorio Sgarbi, president of the Antonio Canova Foundation, wrote on Facebook that the perpetrator must not 'remain unpunished and return to his homeland,' calling the damage 'unacceptable.' Investigators told CNN that museum experts still need to assess potential further damage to the sculpture's base. The incident highlights ongoing concerns about visitor behavior at cultural institutions.