DEDELATE: Hooked on taking selfies in hard-to-access spots
Photo 1 credit: @dedelate Instagram
A teenager filmed himself outside the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral dome in Florence on the night of July 11.
Believed to have hidden inside the cathedral after it closed, he is shown walking up a stairwell before reaching the level of the 15th century cupula and stepping out onto an exterior platform where he takes a selfie.
The footage was then posted on the @dedelate Instagram account and exterior shots taken by an accomplice appear to show him later fleeing the cathedral.
“We have learned about the unauthorised access to Brunelleschi’s dome,” Luca Bagnoli, president of the cathedral’s Works Commission told the La Nazione newspaper.
The cathedral was “sacred and monumental” and a world heritage site, he stressed. “Unfortunately for some it is also a playground, and this is saddening. The relevant authorities will take care of the rest.”
Although not officially identified, the Italian media maintain that he is a 17-year-old from Lombardy who has carried out similar selfie-ops in the past.
They include Milan Cathedral last May, together with earlier stunts in Milan’s San Siro football stadium and Sanremo’s Ariston theatre where the song festival is held.
The Vatican could be next on Dedelate’s list, as one of his 227,000 Instagram followers has now challenged him to challenged him to climb to the top of St Peter’s Basilica.
