A young Italian sculptor living in Rome is gaining in popularity by turning dead tree trunks in the Italian capital into impressive pieces of art.
The young man, 22-year-old Andrea Gandini, began carving logs five years ago and finished his 66th sculpture at Villa Pamphili Park on Friday.
In front of a certain inexhaustible tree, Rome is known for being one of Europe's greener cities, with some 313,000 trees adorned by its many parks and downtown streets.
But many of these trees are nearly a century old and are now weak or dying. Leaving it neglected in this picture prompted Gandhini to think about doing something.
"I was carved on wood since I was young, in our garage, and then I chose to carve a tree trunk in the street, so I chose to start sculpting on logs in Rome," Gandini said as he carved his latest work.
He said he likes to meet people during sculpture and does not demand any personal ownership of faces, animal shapes or other artwork he carries on the logs.
"It takes about a week to finish one sculpture and then become the property of all," he said.
Gandini publishes a map of the logs he carved on his website, where it has become a tourist attraction and even tour guides incorporate his work into their programs.
Despite his fame among local residents and tourists, the city authorities in Rome were less enthusiastic.
While there is no law preventing people from carving dead tree trunks, police have threatened to prevent Gandini from entering historic areas and following new strict rules that have been applied in the past few years to preserve public taste.