A giant wooden sculpture of a dragon has emerged from a north Italian forest devastated by Storm Vaia three years ago. The winged dragon, described as the largest of its kind in Europe, was created by Venetian sculptor Marco Martalar and has taken social media by storm.

The majestic sculpture, located in the Lavarone in the Trento region, is a tribute to the terrible storm that flattened centuries-old forests across north Italy in October 2018.  Martalar used around 2,000 branches and remains of trees felled by the ferocious storm. It took the artist more than a month to create the dragon which is six metres high and seven metres long.