A heavily-tattooed couple has been slammed by online bullies who say they “look like drug addicts”.
Alessia Castellani and Daniel Iaconis are in the process of finding a property to rent in their new home city.
The couple, who both work as tattoo artists, posted an advert on Facebook stating that they are willing to pay up to €750 a month for a two to three-bedroom property in Turin, Italy.
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But instead of attracting notes of helpful advice, they were attacked by members of the Facebook group ‘Sei di Mirafiori Sud’, a neighbourhood in Turin.
Alessia shared screenshots of numerous replies to their polite post.
One local said: “How can you expect anyone to rent a property to you looking like that?
“It’s disgusting, you both look dirty like drug addicts.
“I would rather burn down my property than rent it to you.
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“You won’t ever find a house or job with those tattoos.”
Another wrote: “To be honest, I prefer to avoid dealing with people who flaunt the devastation of their bodies as a main characteristic.”
“I will not rent to tattooed people,” commented someone else.
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Alessia and Daniel, who originally come from Milan, are qualified tattoo artists with over 1,500 hours of training behind them.
Daniel has been a tattooist for 10 years and has already relocated his business to a new studio in Turin, as reported by What’s The Jam.
Alessia said: “We are used to the looks, the comments and the insults, especially me, a young woman with black tattoos on my arms.
“Unfortunately, we come across people who judge us over our appearance every day, completely ignoring the fact that we are people first and foremost.
“Yes, we have tattoos. It’s our profession and passion in life, but I find it vile and old-fashioned to associate our look with drugs, dirt and crime.
“Every day, we have to fight bad people who offend us with their truly disturbing words, especially me, as I am the most sensitive when it comes to hateful criticism.
“Behind these tattoos are people whose lives you ignore, you do not know if they have a degree, if they are honest, if they do charity work, or if they are people who help others.
“You arrive at the conclusion ‘tattooed person equals drug addict’, but we are no longer living in the 1960s when many were convicts.
“Here we are in 2024 and we’re still fighting against tattoos instead of people who hate on others.
“You are the evil in our society, not us.”
Turin housing official Jacopo Rosatelli said: “We tend to see discrimination as something based on skin colour and disabilities.
“But finding yourself being rejected for reasons associated with the body still constitutes as discrimination.
“In this sense, society has to mature.”
Alessia and Daniel say they will not be deterred from trying to find a rented property in their new home city.
