A 19th birthday cake featuring a swastika and the symbol of the SS. It was created by a pastry shop in Matera, Note di Gusto, who also posted a photo on Instagram.

The photo inevitably went viral and began circulating in chat rooms, sparking negative comments from many users.

"It was a request from a customer who wanted to play a prank on his son," the pastry shop explained, removing the content from social media after the controversy. The cake, on a red background, was decorated with a swastika in the center of a white circle, with the words "Happy Birthday Antonio – 19" written in black and the symbol of the SS, the Nazi paramilitary organization.

A flood of critical and outraged comments erupted, prompting the pastry shop's owner, Alessandro Crimelli, to personally apologize and justify his actions: "A post made hastily and carelessly, without proper depth," he explained. "We clearly distance ourselves from the content and apologize for publishing a post whose content we disagree with. We naively focused on the artistic aspect of the cake, without considering the underlying message. The customer simply wanted to play a prank on his son, but we didn't know what it was. We apologize."

(Unioneonline)