An Italian town is pursuing legal action against French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for a cartoon showing victims of an earthquake as types of pasta, and another suggesting the Mafia was to blame for the death toll of almost 300.
One cartoon, entitled "Earthquake Italian Style", captioned drawings of a bloodied and bandaged man "Penne in tomato sauce", a scratched and swollen woman "Penne au gratin", and a collapsed building with blood and feet emerging from it "Lasagne".
After Italians responded angrily, the magazine, famed for its provocative, taboo-busting cartoons, published a second one, showing a person half-buried under rubble saying: "Italians ... it's not Charlie Hebdo who built your homes, it's the Mafia!"
Amatrice, the home of "amatriciana" pasta sauce, was flattened by the quake on August 24.
The local government called the cartoons "a macabre, senseless and absurd insult to the victims", Mario Cicchetti, a lawyer for Amatrice city hall, told Reuters.