Italy has reacted with horror at the prospect of hit American TV series Jersey Shore being filmed at some of the country's most famous locations.
Producers have confirmed that the fourth series of the show - which focuses on a group of Italian-American youngsters - will be shot in Italy later this year.
Despite a daily diet of the 'bunga bunga' exploits of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and television viewing which includes the scantily-clad hostesses who star on some of its more downmarket television output, the news has been greeted with outrage.
We have a situation: The cast of Jersey Shore. The hit MTV show has finally hit the airwaves in Italy and is being greeted with outrage
In a recent episode of WWE's Monday Night Raw fighting show, Snooki got into the ring with three wrestlers. At one point she landed a full-face slap on wrestling star Vickie Guerrero who at 42 is nearly double Snooki's age
Tough girl: Snooki yanked another female opponent by her legs off the ropes as she tried to get into the ring
There is growing concern at just how ‘trashy’ the show is and how ‘offensive’ it is to native Italians but also thousands of Italian-Americans who live in the United States.
The outrage is focused on just how muscle-bound the male stars of the show are and the amount of make-up the women wear, as well as the huge amount of fake tan and bling jewellery.
But far from giving a Latin shrug of the shoulders at the escapades of the tanned and toned stars, commentators have lambasted it as 'noisy and superficial', 'blundering and frivolous' and - possibly most hurtful for the cast who seem inordinately proud of their Latin background - the 'worst stereotypes of Italians'.
One commentator on the MTV Italia website viewer even went so far as to write: 'When I see this, I wonder whether Bin Laden had a point.'
Commentator Beppe Severgnini, who has a column in Corriere Della Sera, said of the show:’The characters are low lives, trash, common and ignorant buffoons.
‘They are vulgar, bronzed, tattooed and muscle bound - and that's just the men while the girls are all breasts to the wind.’
Critics: A columnist in Corriere della Sera, one of Italy's biggest newspapers, sneeringly described the cast as having 'slicked hair, exaggerated narcissism, boundless love for the family and outlandish eccentricity'
The antics of (clockwise from left) Snooki, The Situation, Pauly D, JWoww and the rest of the cast of - in some cases - dubious Italian heritage have attracted a growing fanbase in the U.S.
ORRORE! ITALY REACTION TO JERSEY SHORE
'When I see this, I wonder whether Bin Laden had a point.' MTV Italia website comment
The show's stars 'embody the worst stereotypes of Italians, multiplied by thousands and Americanized'. New Notzie newspaper
The cast have 'slicked hair, exaggerated narcissism, boundless love for the family and outlandish eccentricity'. Corriere della Sera
'Fact: the stars of the programme speak bad English... they are perpetually drunk, they are vulgar, rude and only discuss cars, sex, tanning, waxing, make-up, tattoos and muscles.' Corriere della Sera
'Blundering and frivolous.' LaNostraTV.it
'Pay attention, the contagion is coming.' DavideMaggio.it
'Noisy and superficial.' ilGiornale.it
It has 'clouded the minds of millions and millions of young people.' worldpaytv blog
'These young people do nothing but feed the stereotypes that harm the Italian-American community.' Notizie2000
One Italian TV review said:’If you thought Italy couldn't get any worse than be prepared for the arrival of eight low lifes from Jersey Shore who will be filming the next series here.’
Corriere della Sera also compared the show to the infamous ‘bunga bunga’ sex parties held by controversial Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi who is facing a charge of having sex with an underage prostitute.
It said: 'The villa at Arcore (Berlusconi's home) and the beaches of New Jersey: so far and yet so near, two very audacious locations that confirm even on an international level, certain homegrown attitudes.
‘In his home Berlusconi has the bunga bunga room - well the kids from Jersey Shore have the smash/smoosh room.’
Columnist Roberto Del Bove wrote in Rome newspaper New Notzie that the show's stars 'embody the worst stereotypes of Italians, multiplied by thousands and Americanised'.
Details of where the show is to be filmed are being kept closely guarded but locations being looked at include Venice, Rome, Milan and Sicily where many of the cast's grandparents emigrated to the United States from.
Sources say that genealogists have already been instructed to try and trace relatives of Vinny Guadagnini in Sicily who describes himself as one of ‘the orangest, most muscley, spiky-haired people’.
In an interview with Corriere, Vinny said: 'I'm looking forward to coming to Italy, I've never been but I still have a lot of relatives who live there, so I hope to meet up with them.
‘My family is from Sicily but I have relatives all over the place, Rome, Milan and I'm not sure where we will be filming but I'm sure it will be all over the country.
‘I'm sure it will be just like the shows in the United States, nightclubs, gyms, beaches, parties - the only problem will be the language.
'I get contacted by people from Italy all the time so it will be great to meet them.’
The fist-pumping, hard-partying cast overcame heavy criticism when the show was first launched in the U.S. in 2009.
Then it was slammed by national Italian-American organisation UNICO as 'trash television'.
In January, the group stated: 'People used to go to the circus to see the freak show - that is what this will be...
'It will not only hurt Italians but all Americans... Their outrageous, reprehensible behaviour will make us look like buffoons and bimbos.'
But the finale of its third season on MTV drew the channel's highest ratings ever for an original show, with the stars now among the highest paid in reality television.
The first and third seasons were set in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, and the second sent the pals to Miami.
The third season, filmed last summer, featured the ongoing feud between Jenni 'J-Woww' Farley and Sammi 'Sweetheart' Giancola, as well as the introduction of new cast member Deena Nicole Cortese who has the hots for Mike 'The Situation' Sorrentino.
How the hot-headed group - who live by the philosophy of 'GTL' (Gym, Tan, Laundry, for the uninitiated) - will react to their welcome in Italy is sure to boost ratings for the show.
