An anti-racism poster has been causing outrage after showing three monkeys with the caption "no to racism".

The picture, unveiled on Monday, depicts three monkeys with vibrant paint drawn around their faces.

Simone Fugazzotto, the artist commissioned by football league ​Serie A, told the league website the artwork was meant to illustrate that there is no difference between humans and monkeys. He said the art was meant to prevent fans from chanting like monkeys at players.

"Everyone was making the sound of monkeys at Koulibaly, a player I respect," Fugazzotto said.

"I've always been painting monkeys for five to six years, so I thought I'd make this work to teach that we're all apes."

Fugazzotto said his paintings fully reflect the values of fair play and tolerance.

"I use monkeys as a metaphor for human beings because the colour of our skin is not important."

But despite the artist's good intentions, many have been left outraged by the poster. 

Former English footballer Stan Collymore shared his disbelief on Twitter.

"Fantastic to see Serie A anti-racism campaign posters (yes, it's really real)," he wrote.

"Maybe get the mascots to Black up as a finishing touch."

Serie A CEO Luigi De Siervo said racism is a very complex problem.

"We will tackle on three different levels; the cultural one, through works like that of Simone; the sporting one, with a series of initiatives together with clubs and players, and the repressive one, thanks to collaboration with the police."

This is not the first time racism has caused problems in Italian football.

During 2018, Italian footballer Kalidou Koulibaly was allegedly the victim of racist abuse from fans of A.C Milan, an opposing team.

Recently, in November, footballer Mario Balotelli walked off a Verona match after monkey chants were directed at the player.

And on Black Friday, Italian sports newspaper Corriere dello Sport received criticism for publishing a photo of two dark-skinned football players with the caption "Black Friday".