It comes to us all, old age. Dave’s got dodgy ankles, apparently, and ‘underground architect’ Fernando De Simone claims that planned construction work may see Michelangelo’s masterpiece crumble and collapse. David’s ankles have micro-fissures in the marble and it is the construction of a new high speed rail link (and a tunnel at a distance of a mere 600 metres) that worries Sig. De Simone, both in terms of vibrations from construction work followed by ongoing vibrations from the trains.
De Simone added “it would be preferable to move the statue to a purpose-built museum, which would also protect it in case of an earthquake, and would allow visitors to see it from multiple points of view: ascending, descending, and from a spiral perspective, as Michelangelo wished and as (art critic and historian) Carlo Ludovico Raggianti amply demonstrated”.