A drone photographer faced an internet backlash after his stunning photographs of a man-shaped Italian town led some users to claim it was a hoax.

Pio Andrea Peri, 32 who lives in Giardini Naxos, Sicily, came up with the idea for the drone project after spotting the human-shaped town on Google Earth during the pandemic.

He studied the history of the area, and found that there are a number of theories for the town's shape. Some believe that it is supposed to resemble a starfish, or a Vitruvian man as depicted by Leonardo Da Vinci.

But when Pio posted the images to his Instagram page some users could not believe their eyes, and even accused the photographer of doctoring the pictures.

"The whole world was incredulous at the bizarre shape of this town, many did not believe it was true, and they thought that I had drawn the photo on the PC.

"But when they realised the truth by searching on Google Earth many of them personally apologised for what they said to me.

"I'm proud of the pictures and I'm happy with my results, being a self-taught person I believe a lot in what I do."

Before creating the photographs Pio studied the detail of the area, to ensure that high winds would not put him off getting the perfect shot.

The ancient town of Centuripe only has around 5,000 inhabitants and nestles on a hill, in the province of Enna close to the Etna volcano.

And now the town's mayor has invited photographer Pio to stage an exhibition of his amazing photographs after the images left internet users stunned and disbelieving.

Pio added: "It was a hard shot to create, and I had to use multiple shots because of the height limit of the drone.

"I overlaid about 18 shots manually in post-production and it took two hours of editing, I'm very happy with the result."

A drone photographer faced an internet backlash after his stunning photographs of a man-shaped Italian town led some users to claim it was a hoax.

Pio Andrea Peri, 32 who lives in Giardini Naxos, Sicily, came up with the idea for the drone project after spotting the human-shaped town on Google Earth during the pandemic.

He studied the history of the area, and found that there are a number of theories for the town's shape. Some believe that it is supposed to resemble a starfish, or a Vitruvian man as depicted by Leonardo Da Vinci.

But when Pio posted the images to his Instagram page some users could not believe their eyes, and even accused the photographer of doctoring the pictures.

"The whole world was incredulous at the bizarre shape of this town, many did not believe it was true, and they thought that I had drawn the photo on the PC.

"But when they realised the truth by searching on Google Earth many of them personally apologised for what they said to me.

"I'm proud of the pictures and I'm happy with my results, being a self-taught person I believe a lot in what I do."

Before creating the photographs Pio studied the detail of the area, to ensure that high winds would not put him off getting the perfect shot.

The ancient town of Centuripe only has around 5,000 inhabitants and nestles on a hill, in the province of Enna close to the Etna volcano.

And now the town's mayor has invited photographer Pio to stage an exhibition of his amazing photographs, after the images left internet users stunned and disbelieving.

Pio added: "It was a hard shot to create, and I had to use multiple shots because of the height limit of the drone.

"I overlaid about 18 shots manually in post production and it took two hours of editing, I'm very happy with the result."