Milan Has to Repair Bull Mosaic's Testicles Again. Thanks, Tourists.

If you've stomped on a bull in Milan for luck, the city is now undoing some of your handiwork. Milan has launched a fresh restoration of the famed bull mosaic on the floor of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II after years of tourists grinding their heels into its testicles in a ritual meant to bring good fortune and a return trip, reports the BBC. The clockwise spinning tradition has worn a small hole through the pink tiles at the "lucky" spot, city officials said, noting that "thousands of people every day" take part.

Artisan Gianluca Galli is hand-cutting new stone pieces on-site to repair the damage to the 19th-century work, which represents Turin, Italy's first capital. "It's probably a charming gesture, but also quite damaging for a work of art," Galli tells the AFP of the ritual. Thwarted from their spinning by Galli's restoration work, tourists turned to a nearby she-wolf mosaic that represents Rome. The bull mosaic was last restored in 2017. The Galleria is "a living heritage, which can wear away precisely because it is loved and experienced," city councillors said—which is what keeps it in need of perpetual fixes.