Someone in charge of scheduling at Mole Vanvitelliana — the main cultural center in the town of Ancona, Italy — is in big trouble. Officials in charge of the site had planned a career retrospective for the Brooklyn-based, Bologna-born artist Federico Solmi shortly before the Eucharistic Congress. So what's the problem? Well, the Eucharistic Congress is a formal, several-days-long meeting of high-ranking Catholic Church members, including Pope Benedict XVI. Solmi's irreverent video animations, meanwhile, chronicle the exploits of a porn-addicted Pope in a fictional town called "Vatic-Anal-City." The two events were originally scheduled to take place only one month apart — in the same room.

Solmi's retrospective was slated to open on June 10 in the center's main space and run through July 31. Coordinated by the MAC, an independent Italian cultural association directed by Monica Caputo, the show features the artist's drawings and video animations, which satirize powerful figures, from Brad Pitt to the aforementioned Pope. The retrospective was to coincide with Solmi's debut at the Venice Biennale, where his work will be featured in the alternative pavilion "Italians Do it Better!" Over the last six months, however, local authorities have repeatedly attempted to block or reschedule the exhibition and, in February, temporarily canceled the show. Now, it is Solmi who has decided to call off the exhibition conclusively, reporting that he feels unwelcome in Aconca and unsatisfied with the ongoing negotiations. "I began to feel that it was becoming a waste of time, and that it was impossible to make a decent compromise," he told ARTINFO.

According to Andrea Nobili, chief of the culture department in Ancona, the thematic clash between the two events was entirely coincidental. Solmi's exhibition needed to be rescheduled because it interfered with the renovations required to prepare for the Eucharistic Congress, which will run September 3 to 11, he wrote in an email. "I know nothing of the technical aspects and the logistical necessities," he noted, explaining that the city of Ancona did not organize Solmi's show, but only made the space available to the MAC, an independent organization in charge of the exhibition. "I hope they succeed in resolving the problems, or at least identifying a different period from that proposed initially."

View Slideshow: Artist Federico Solmi's "Porno Pope" Show Butts Up Against the Real Pope in Italian Town, Causing Tempers to Flare

This isn't the first time Solmi's work has gotten him in trouble with local authorities. In 2009 — the very same year he earned a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship — a controversial crucifix sculpture was confiscated from Arte Fiera, the contemporary art fair in Bologna. The sculpture, which features a grinning pope with a throbbing erection, had angered a local judge visiting the fair. The police promptly seized the artwork and Solmi was charged with religious offense and obscenity. The court ruled in the artist's favor: the charges were dropped and the piece was returned to the collector who had purchased it at the fair.

The current dispute began in February, when officials from the culture department in Ancona expressed dismay that works from Solmi's series "The Evil Empire" — the porno Pope series, which included the controversial 2009 cross — would be featured in the survey. After careful consideration, Solmi agreed to remove "The Evil Empire." "This was not an easy decision for me, but I thought that it was a good decision to avoid a controversy," he said.

The next day, Solmi discovered that the exhibition had been canceled from the museum's calendar by a directive from the culture department. "I felt cheated because I understood that the issue was not 'The Evil Empire' series, but rather to cancel the exhibition at any cost," said Solmi, noting that the same culture department officials had originally signed off on the exhibition, but were now likely under pressure from Catholic Church officials opposed to the work. "They said when they realized what my work was about they got scared," he explained. After consulting with exhibition curator Gabriele Tinti and officials from MAC, Solmi decided to sue the city of Ancona for breach of contract. On April 21, a regional court ruled that the city did not have proper grounds to cancel the exhibition and that it should proceed as planned.

Nobili maintains that the department never intended to cancel, but only reschedule or move, Solmi's exhibition. Once the city council became aware of the scheduling conflict, "it suddenly demanded, for obvious reasons, that the exhibition be delayed to a subsequent time, ignoring who the artist was and the 'reference to religion' in the show," he said.

Solmi, however, views the schedule conflict issue as a ploy to downsize and marginalize his exhibition. "Instead of giving me the 1,500 square meters of room at the Piano Nobile of the Museum of the Mole Vanvitelliana in Ancona, they proposed I do the exhibition in some ugly, hidden rooms on the ground floor, almost one third of the space of the one originally approved," he said.

The controversy has led to intense press scrutiny in Ancona. "The fierce debate that was going on in newspapers and blogs was pathetic to me and honestly, I felt it was also dangerous for me to be in Ancona," Solmi told ARTINFO. Nobili agreed that the matter had been "too exploited and dramatized" by local residents and press.

From Solmi's perspective, the backlash against his exhibition is part of a larger reactionary cultural shift in Italy: "In Europe, at the moment, with all this immigration from Muslim countries, they've become so attached to the cross. It's the only way to keep them united in Italy." In his analysis, conservative Italians have latched onto the Christian symbol at a time when immigrants and reformers are calling for the removal of crucifixes from public schools. Solmi's Washington, D.C. gallerist, Leigh Conner, offered a more straightforward explanation for the conflict: "The private sector is much more receptive than public institutions to controversial work," she said.

Those curious about what all the fuss is about still have another chance to see Solmi in action however, with his work coming next month to the Venice Biennale. The "Italians do it Better!" project, an alternative pavilion devoted to Italian art that is inspired by video-game technology, will be held at the Sala dei Laneri in Venice, beginning June 4.