Dolceacqua’s Church of St Antonio Abate, in the northwestern region of Liguria, was once painted by Claude Monet and boasts an ancient stone bridge and a medieval castle. The French artist captured the scenic village in the 1880s.
An image of the church, showed the crosses removed from its facade and its bell tower, in the promotion by a Lidl branch in the nearby town of Camporosso, angering local villagers.
When the crosses were removed so as not to offend the sensibility of Muslim immigrants, Fulvio Gazzola, the mayor of Dolceacqua, made a formal complaint to Lidl, saying they have tampered with one of the iconic images of the village.
He has demanded that the chain restore the crosses in the black and white photograph but that nothing had been done since. The mayor said he was considering taking legal action against German company.
“You need to show photos of Dolceacqua which correspond to reality. If you don’t want to show crosses, then use an image of our castle,” the mayor said.
“Lidl said that removing religious symbols is part of an Italian and European publicity strategy. They are free to do what they want but they shouldn’t ruin photos. This is harmful to the image of our village and to our Christian traditions.”
Lidl has meanwhile apologised to The Telegraph, a British daily, for using the image of the church devoid of its crosses, and “to our customers and to the inhabitants of Dolceacqua.”
The company said the image would be removed “immediately” as part of a marketing campaign to display beautiful images of some of Italy’s most picturesque villages.
Lidl said that the crosses had already been removed from the church when the image was obtained from a photographic database.
But customers pointed out that some of the Halal meat products on offer at Lidl appear to feature buildings with minarets, features of Islamic religious architecture.
A similar controversy erupted last month involving packaging for a range of Greek food in which the crosses on top of a blue-domed church on the Greek island of Santorini were removed by the German-owned grocery chain.
When the airbrushing of the crosses from the photograph of the church on Santorini emerged last month, Lidl said in a statement: “We avoid the use of religious symbols on our packaging to maintain neutrality in all religions. If it has been perceived differently, we apologise to those who may have been shocked.”
The church had been featured on a range of Greek-themed products including olive oil, spices and pastries.
Lidl is now one of Europe’s largest retailers, with more than 10 000 stories in 27 countries.
