Sculptures made from pizza dough showing The Colosseum, the Pope and The Spanish Steps in the Holy City went on display at a Pizza Express near Park Square, Leeds, yesterday.

They are the work of food artist Prudence Emma Staite who was commissioned by the restaurant chain to create the mouthwatering monuments.

She used a third of a tonne of dough – enough to cook 500 pizzas – to sculpt the statues which she cemented together using cheese before they were baked.

Prudence is one of only a handful of food artists worldwide and the only one whose studio is in the middle of a working farm in Gloucester.
She said: "Everyone thought I'd gone utterly bonkers – even the animals were giving me dodgy looks.

"One minute I was enjoying a meal at my local Pizza Express, the next, I was asking the manager to pack up my pizza so I could take it home to play with.

"Maybe it's too much country air, but from nowhere I'd acquired a true taste for all things Rome – so what better way to feed my new found addiction by combining the two things l love most, art and food."

The statues, which took 300 hours to make, have already been on show at the Museum of London.

The sculpture of The Pope stands three feet high while The Colosseum includes the exact number of arches as the original and the Spanish Steps reproduces each of the landmark's 138 steps.

They were made to mark the launch of the Roman-inspired Pizza Express menu and will be on show in Pizza Express in Park House, Park Square West, until Monday.

Mum Karen Stone, from Pontefract, stopped for lunch with daughters Charlotte, nine, Jessica, seven, and four-year-old Georgia.

She said: "My children will eat anything but these sculptures are fabulous and should be in an art gallery."