FLORENCE—Italy and China are engaged in a cultural exchange that has become a debate over aesthetics, the New York Times reports via the Guardian.

Two years ago, the city of Florence gave the city of Ningbo, China, a bronze reproduction of Michelangelo's David. In exchange, Ningbo offered Florence two stone reproductions of Tang dynasty figures — a smiling warrior and a bureaucrat. But Florentine authorities are having trouble finding a place to display the 13-foot-tall figures, because city residents do not like the way they look.

"They are ugly and too imposing," said Andrea Ceccarelli, a representative of Florence's residents.

The statues have been housed in a freight warehouse ever since arriving in Italy, but now the city must find a place for them, as a delegation from Ningbo plans to visit to Florence later in the month to inspect them.

A city official, Silvano Gori, blamed the situation on the stubbornness of the Florentines: "Every time you try something different in Florence there is a row," he said.