A beloved floor mosaic in Milan has sparked an unlikely wave of online ridicule after a restoration project appeared to leave the bull at its centre anatomically diminished. The Rampant Bull, set into the floor of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II — one of the world's oldest shopping arcades, built between 1865 and 1877 near Milan's iconic Duomo cathedral — had developed a small crater precisely where tourists had been grinding their heels for generations. According to local legend, planting your right heel on the bull's testicles and spinning clockwise three times brings good fortune and guarantees a return to the city. Even celebrities including George and Amal Clooney have reportedly taken part in the ritual.
The restoration, which reportedly cost €30,000 (£26,000), was carried out by master artisan Gianluca Galli, who hand-cut new pieces of stone while kneeling before the mosaic behind a small enclosure. When Milan city councillor Marco Granelli shared a photograph of the refurbished work on Facebook last weekend, praising the results, the post was quickly overwhelmed with mockery. "What happened to the testicles?" asked one commenter, while others observed that the bull now resembled a castrated ox. Some accused the city council of deliberate "censorship" aimed at discouraging the tourist ritual altogether.
Milan's city council pushed back against the criticism, insisting the restoration is not yet complete. Officials explained that the mosaic remains partially covered to allow the new tiles to settle and that the lighter-coloured stone used was selected as the closest match to the work's original appearance. They also noted that a previous restoration in 2017 had used darker marble, meaning the current lighter shade is closer to historical authenticity. Galli told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that he had received no objections to his work, carried out under the council's supervision.
The blue-and-beige mosaic, which depicts a prancing bull representing Turin — the northern Italian city that served as the first capital of unified Italy when the piece was created in the 19th century — sits at a crossroads inside the arcade. The controversy is the latest in a series of clashes between popular tourist rituals and heritage preservation across Italy. A bronze statue of Juliet in Verona has required restoration twice after tourists repeatedly touched it for romantic luck, slowly wearing away the bronze.
The episode highlights the tensions that arise when living cultural traditions collide with conservation needs at historic sites. Whether the bull ultimately regains its famous anatomy remains, for now, an open question — though the debate has already ensured that the mosaic receives considerably more attention than any restoration project might normally expect.