How One Italian Artist Named Cibo Turns Hate Graffiti All Over His City Into Colorful Food Murals

Messages of hate are covered by something that’s universally loved — food.

Basil, mozzarella, and tomatoes are both the makings of a Caprese salad and a creative way to cover hate speech that had been tagged on a wall near Verona, Italy. 

Pier Paolo Spinazze creates art under the name Cibo, an Italian word for food. He says he was sick of seeing swastikas and other hate symbols, so he started using his art to do something about it.

“I take care of my city by replacing symbols of hate with delicious things to eat,” he explained.

Some of Cibo’s 365,000-plus Instagram followers will alert him when racial slurs or neo-Nazi graffiti appears in public places. 

And once Cibo creates a food mural to cover the hate speech, he tracks the location of the new art on a map. 

Cibo says his food murals are meant to combat the rise in extremism and to inspire others to use their talents to better their communities.

“The message I want to give with my art,” he said, “is that everyone can make a difference and can give something back to the community with their own skills and their own creativity.”

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