Italy rejects bid to stop iconic Da Vinci loan to Louvre

An Italian court on Wednesday rejected a dramatic last-minute bid to halt the loan of Leonardo da Vinci's iconic Vitruvian Man drawing and other works to France's Louvre museum, ending a bitter cultural row.

The court in Venice cited "the exceptional global relevance of the (Louvre) exhibition and (Italy's) desire to maximise its heritage potential" in overturning the bid by a heritage group to stop the loan of several Da Vinci works.

The court last week suspended the loan of the world famous artwork, due to appear later this month in an exhibition at the Paris museum to mark the 500th anniversary of the artist's death.

It did so after the group Italia Nostra (Our Italy) filed a complaint saying the drawing was too fragile to travel.

The Vitruvian Man is kept in a climate-controlled vault in the Accademia Gallery in Venice and is rarely displayed to the public.

The court had put on hold an accord signed in September in Paris between Italy's culture ministry and the Louvre for a swap ..