Nude models dressed to protest in Italy

ROME (Reuters Life!) - Nude models at Italian art schools and colleges are protesting the best way they know how: by putting their clothes back on.

The models, who complain that posing naked offers skimpy salaries and scant job security, went on strike on Thursday across the country by covering up for 24-hours.

"Our work is not recognized", life model Antonella Migliorini told La Stampa newspaper. "We pose for eight hours a day and still the colleges treat us like teaching tools.

"We do a difficult job, with a great tradition resting on our shoulders which requires both imagination and great physical concentration."

They complain of having a bum deal that includes a monthly pay of less than 900-euros ($1,320) per month, with no fixed contract. They also suffer health risks, Migliorini says, because they work in close contact with paints.

Their demands include annual contracts and more money per month to help them better make ends meet, La Stampa reported.

(Reporting by Liz Rusbridger, editing by Paul Casciato)