Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has bought a new penis. Berlusconi's new penis cost Italian taxpayers 70,000 euros and is magnetic to enable quick removal if it needs changing again.
The penis has been fitted to marble Roman statue in Mr Berlusconi's office. in the Palazzo Chigi, central Rome. The statue is of the god Mars and Mr Berlusconi did not like the look of the statue's original penis so he ordered it to be snapped off and replaced. "This is aesthetic surgery carried out on the personal whim of the prime minister," said Manuela Ghizzoni of the opposition Democratic Party.
The statue dates from around AD175 and stands alongside a statue of Venus, who must be perplexed at the changing status and shape of her neighbour's private parts. The Italian public are said to be a little perplexed themselves, wondering perhaps how their prime minister can use public money for a new marble penis when Pompei is crumbling and he has applied swingeing cuts to arts and heritage budgets.
Across the years many penises have been chiseled off Roman nude statues often as souvenirs.
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