Silvio Berlusconi Picks Fight with Daniel Libeskind

Proof that when you’re a powerful starchitect you don’t bother having feuds with the common man. No, you go all the way to the top. Such is the case with Daniel Libeskind, who has found himself in a battle of words with Italy’s Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi. It all went down after Libeskind submitted his plans for a new set of buildings in Milan and Berlusconi said (paraphrased here), “it’s not manly and it emanates a sense of impotence.” But beyond that, he also threatened to cancel the permissions for the project unless the starchitect butched it up a bit. But, of course, Libeskind isn’t having that and has fired back with his own volley of angry words:

“In Fascist Italy, everything that was not ‘straight’ was considered ‘perverse art’,” said Libeskind. “My tower is inspired by the work of Leonardo da Vinci, and great Italian culture. [Mr Berlusconi] does not have the time or intellect to study these.

“As an American and Jew brought up in Poland, I find Berlusconi abominable. His concept of nationalism, of closing borders and denying what’s different, is repugnant. He hates foreigners.”

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