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| Hitler wine bottles |
(Scroll down for video) A company defended its actions of selling wine bottles adorned with Hitler images as nothing more than a joke, according to the company owner.
A Norwegian couple vacationing in the seaside town of Rimini, Italy, reported to have seen the bottles, which were adorned with images of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and swastikas, appearing on store shelves.
"I was surprised that there was a market for something like this, because I thought that even in Italy, the market cannot be so large that it was economical to produce such wine," Paret Havard said.
Last year, the same wine bottles were removed from a supermarket in Veronese, in response to a complaint from a U.S. tourist. At that time, the brand attracted the condemnation of Italian Integration Minister Andrea Riccardi, who said its presence "offends the memory of millions of people and risks compromising Italy's image abroad."
The wines are part of a "history series", produced since 1995 by the Udine-based company Vini Lunardelli. According to the firm's website, the 50-strong collection is designed to "remind us of the lives of famous people of Italian and world political history,” including Che Guevara, Winston Churchill, Karl Marx and Napoleon Bonaparte.
Available to order online, the cult collection includes “Der Prosecco Vom Fuhrer” for 10 euros, “Grappa Del Duce” for 12 euros and “Napoleone I” Pinot Grigio for 8 euros.
In response to the furor over the wines of his company, the owner, Alessandro Lunardelli, said that the products are usually purchased by tourists as a "gag gift" and added: "It is not intended to offend anyone."