MILAN — City officials in Milan demanded the “denuding” of a publicly displayed Christmas tree adorned with sundry red sex toys today.
The city said in an order that the Christmas season, "qualifying as a holiday for children and families, requires sobriety in urban decorations," and stressed the importance of traditional Christmas symbols.
Norma Rossetti, the woman behind “The Tree of Pleasure,” complied with the order but defended the tree and its prevailing message: that sex toys are "completely normal everyday objects." She insisted that the toys she selected for the tree elegant and subtle.
Rossetti launched an online sex toy store earlier this year.
Another Italian town experienced a similar conundrum earlier this week, when patrons (mostly parents) derided the installation of a sex toy vending machine on a train boarding platform, visible and accessible to all.
The sex toy, condom and lingerie vending machine had not been removed at time of post.