Worn down by thousands of passers-by honouring an unusual tradition, a floor mosaic of an anatomically detailed bull in one of Milan’s grand arcades is getting a sensitive makeover.Legend has it that grinding one’s heel on the mosaic bull’s testicles at the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II guarantees a return one day to the city.“Because of constant pirouettes on the heel made by tourists visiting Milan, the pink tesserae that make up its testicles have been worn down, forming a small crater,” city authorities said in a statement.
SRCSouth China Morning Post
LANGEN
LEANCenter-Right
WORDS87
ENT2
THU · 2026-05-28 · 19:19 GMTBRIEF NSR-2026-0528-80009
NSR-2026-0528-80009News Report·EN·Human Interest
Milan restores 19th century bull mosaic’s testicles to former glory
A 19th-century floor mosaic of a bull in Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is undergoing restoration. The mosaic's testicles, a popular spot for a tradition where visitors grind their heel on them for good luck to return to the city, have become worn down into a small crater due to constant use by thousands of passers-by.
Agence France-PresseSouth China Morning PostFiled 2026-05-28 · 19:19 GMTLean · Center-RightRead · 1 min
South China Morning PostFIG 01
Reading time
1min
Word count
87words
Sources cited
1cited
Entities identified
2entities
Quality score
100%
§ 01
Briefing Summary
AI-generatedNEWSAR · AI
A 19th-century floor mosaic of a bull in Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is undergoing restoration. The mosaic's testicles, a popular spot for a tradition where visitors grind their heel on them for good luck to return to the city, have become worn down into a small crater due to constant use by thousands of passers-by. City authorities stated that the pink tesserae forming the bull's testicles were eroded by these "pirouettes" from tourists. The restoration aims to repair this damage.
Confidence 0.85Sources 1Claims 4Entities 2
§ 02
Article analysis
Model · rule-basedFraming
Human Interest
Tone
Measured
AI-assessed
CalmNeutralAlarmist
Factuality
0.80 / 1.00
Factual
LowHigh
Sources cited
1
Limited
FewMany
§ 03
Key claims
4 extracted01
The pink tesserae forming the testicles have been worn down, creating a small crater.
quotecity authorities
Confidence
1.00
02
The mosaic's testicles have been worn down due to a tradition of people grinding their heel on them.
quotecity authorities
Confidence
1.00
03
A 19th-century bull mosaic in Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is undergoing restoration.
factual
Confidence
1.00
04
Legend states that grinding one's heel on the mosaic bull's testicles guarantees a return to Milan.
factual
Confidence
0.90
§ 04
Full report
1 min read · 87 words§ 05
Entities
2 identifiedKey playerOppositionContextPositiveNeutralNegative
§ 06
Keywords & salience
8 termsbull mosaic
1.00
galleria vittorio emanuele ii
0.90
milan
0.80
tradition
0.70
restoration
0.70
tourist tradition
0.60
worn down
0.50
tesserae
0.40
§ 07
Topic connections
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