Milan restores bull mosaic’s testicles worn down by pirouetting tourists

The artwork in a 19th-century shopping arcade has been damaged by visitors honouring an unusual tradition A floor mosaic of an anatomically detailed bull in one of Milan’s grand arcades is getting a sensitive makeover after being worn down by thousands of passersby honouring an unusual tradition. Legend has it that grinding your heel on the bull’s testicles at the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II guarantees you will return to the city. “Because of constant pirouettes on the heel made by tourists visiting Milan, the pink tesserae that make up its testicles have been worn down, forming a small crater,” city authorities said. The beige mosaic is part of the flooring in the 19th-century shopping arcade, near the Duomo cathedral. It represents Turin, which was then the capital of Italy. Gianluca Galli, a restorer, worked on the mosaic on Thursday as tourists milled around and looked at the windows of the first Prada store. “It’s probably a charming gesture, but also quite damaging for a work of art,” Galli said of the curious tradition. He cut pieces of stone by hand after looking at designs from the period and taking an impression of the original bits. He said he would use e