An email from Jihad Watch reader CS:
On Sunday 25 March, the Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported in its print edition (not available online) that the president of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, the communist Fausto Bertinotti, has had removed a painting showing a scene from the Battle of Lepanto from the hall in which he receives visitors to this lower house of parliament.
A letter from a reader of Giuliano Ferrara’s daily Il Foglio first brought the news to public attention, after which the story has also been picked up by Il Giornale. According to the latter newspaper, the painting has been replaced by a picture of a roe deer.
Confronted with the matter, Bertinotti says it is a gesture of peace and dialogue, the painting’s title being “Naval battle between Christians and barbarians”, but an anonymous insider reveals it was done to avoid offending Muslims.
The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7, 1571. The Holy League, comprised of the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, Spain, Genoa, and others, defeated the Ottoman Turks in a decisive sea battle that significantly diminished the jihadists’ chances to subdue all of Europe. Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote (before Pierre Menard wrote it, that is), lost a hand in the battle, earning him the sobriquet el manco de Lepanto.