Fresh battle against Goliath as city fights to hold onto David

Lawyers working on behalf of the Italian Ministry of Culture have used centuries old documents to draw up a case which says the marble figure - which brings in more than 8 million a year - belongs to the state.

However the Tuscan city of Florence, where David is on show in the Accademia Gallery and which has more than 1.5 million visitors a year, have hit back in the artistic tug of war and insist the masterpiece is theirs - and they are prepared to fight for it.

Maurizio Raugei and Luigi Andronio, lawyers acting on behalf of the Italian state and Culture Minister Sandro Bondi, have pored over documents dating back 500 years to prove their case.

They say history is on their side, pointing to the patchwork of independent city states that made up the peninsula of Italy until the county was unified in 1861.

The lawyers say that Florence City Council, which was created when the city was part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, cannot be considered the "descendant" of the Florentine Republic which existed when Michelangelo carved the statue.

The Renaissance legend was paid 400 florins for the work which was commissioned in 1501 for Florence Cathedral but when finished in 1504 placed outside the city's Palazzo Della Signoria, the seat of local government.

Standing 17 feet high, it is based on the Biblical character of David, the boy who took on the mighty Philistine giant of Goliath and killed him with a single stone from his slingshot.

The statute came to symbolise the then Republic of Florence's stance against other more powerful states surrounding it and David's warring gaze was directed towards Rome.

The government lawyers insist that David is as a result an heirloom of no longer existing republics, and that following on from Italian unification in 1861 it is Italian and not Florentine.

They also point out when David was moved in 1872 from outside the Palazzo to his current position in the Accademia Gallery the then city of Florence made no claim on it.

A lawyer's note written at the time on behalf of Florence Council agreeing to the move, states that "everything is included, all fixtures and fittings" and makes no specific reference to David which by then had taken on a significant symbolic value.

Florence's centre left mayor Matteo Renzi hit back and said: "Contrary to what the State's lawyers say we have documentary evidence which confirms that David belongs to the city of Florence.

"This government as we know is capable of many surprises but I hope they will see sense and realise that David is ours and I hope they will not cross the line on this matter."

The 500-year-old David is seen as a symbol of Italian culture and adorns postcards and guidebooks and as a result of its fame was targeted in 1991 by a man armed with a hammer who smashed off some toes on the left foot.

Between 2003 and 2004 the statue underwent major clean-up and restoration.