By ELISABETTA POVOLED

FLORENCE, Italy - For 500 years, Michelangelo’s “David” has stood as a symbol of Florentine independence and virtue. So when a report commissioned by the federal government emerged claiming that Italy ? and not the city ? was the statue’s rightful owner, local tempers flared.

The sculpture, Mayor Matteo Renzi retorted, had always and would always “belong to Florence.” “The ‘David’ is not an umbrella” to be haggled over, he said. “It’s a monument in which the city of Florence still sees its identity.” Civic pride aside, the dispute over “David” has also brought to light a question increasingly raised by many local governments: Who should benefit from Italy’s cultural patrimony? In 2009, more than one million people saw “David,” which is housed in the Accademia Gallery, the country’s fourth most visited cultural site.

Ticket sales topped $7 million. The proceeds went into the federal Culture Ministry coffers. The ownership issue ? and related requests to have a stake in profits from “David” ? dates from previous administrations. But the turning point came earlier this year when the Culture Ministry commissioned a pair of lawyers to peruse existing documents and determine the rightful owner.

In a nine-page document written in dense legalese, the lawyers concluded that “David” belongs to the nation, the true legal successor of the Florentine Republic, which commissioned the statue in 1501. Completed by 1504, the statue was immediately hailed as a masterpiece and placed in front of the Palazzo della Signoria, then - as now - the civic heart of the city.

It remained there until 1873, when it was transported to the Accademia, which belonged to the newly created Kingdom of Italy, the predecessor to modern Italy. A base was constructed for the massive work, and in 1877 the city lent the national government money to complete the structure.

At the time, the city could have advanced its ownership rights but did not, the lawyers wrote in the report. Therefore, they said, the city has no grounds for a claim. But the mayor has his own documents .

For one, Florence had been the capital of the Kingdom of Italy from 1865 to 1870, and “David,” he said, was part of a package deal that the kingdom gave the city after transferring the capital to Rome. Proof of ownership, he said, is in a June 9, 1871, document that authorizes the transfer to the city of several buildings, including the Palazzo della Signoria.

The lawyer’s report says that there is no specific mention of “David” in such documents, “even though by this time it had assumed enormous, even symbolic, value.” “If the state and the city actually ever bring this issue to court, it will be terrible publicity for Florence,” fretted Gabriele Toccafondi, a member of Parliament and the local leader of the center-right People of Freedom Party.

“People will see this as a sort of commedia all’Italiana.”