Posted February 24, 2017 06:52:51

Photo: An example of the digital graffiti being created at Florence's famed Duomo. (AP: Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore)

Florence's famed Duomo is cleaning up its act, removing centuries of graffiti from the cathedral dome interior and letting new visitors leave their mark digitally instead.

Photo: A woman uses a touchscreen to create digital graffiti. (AP: Claudio Giovannini)

The cathedral launched a pilot project last year in its Giotto-designed bell tower to allow visitors to use a touchscreen to leave a digital message rather than deface the 14th-century structure.

Visitors are able to choose what sort of utensil that would like to use, such as a pen, pencil or spray paint.

To date some 18,000 digital messages have been left, and the project was such a success that the cathedral administration said it was extending the project to Brunelleschi's dome, which dominates the Tuscan city.

The sales pitch? Digital graffiti will be kept forever, while real graffiti will be removed.

Visitors who hoof the 463 stairs to the dome can use a touchscreen onsite or download an app to leave a message.

The cathedral, named Santa Maria del Fiore, is the main church in Florence and was completed in 1436.

Photo: The famed Duomo dominates Florence's night skyline. (Supplied: Luuk Godefrooij)

AP

Topics: arts-and-entertainment, street-art, religion-and-beliefs, community-and-society, italy