(The photo of the racist advertisement)

An Italian landlord in the city of Prato who advertised that he would only sell his house to Chinese was accused of being racist, according to Uni-Europe China News.

“Compared to laidback Italians, Chinese are more straightforward,” the landlord said. The house has not been sold for two years, though lots of Italians have contacted him about it.

“I decided to turn to Chinese to save time. Chinese have more interest in buying houses overseas, because of the soaring property prices in China,” he said. “The upstairs apartment was sold in this way.”

The landlord said he was not afraid of being charged with racial discrimination. On the contrary, he said: “I have no scruples about it. In fact, my advertisement is larger than the usual ones to grab attention. I wrote in Italian that I will not sell to Italians, and I believe Chinese will notice.”

According to experts, it is illegal to post such advertisements if someone makes a complaint.

Prato serves as Italy’s textile industry base by producing fashion clothing. Citizens and media of the city used to have deep prejudice against Chinese until China became the largest consumer of designer luxury brands.