A cyclist made a gruesome discovery on Monday when he came across the kneeling body of a naked woman taped to a horizontal bar.

The witness described the woman as having “her arms outstretched as if she had been crucified”.

The woman’s body was discovered under a bridge below the A1 motorway in the Ugnano district, on the western outskirts of Florence on the border with the town of Scandicci, the Florentine edition of Corriere della Sera reported on Monday.

The victim, who has not yet been identified, has been described as around 30 years old with white skin.

She was still wearing her shoes and the rest of her clothes were discovered around one kilometre away on the same road, the paper reported.

An initial coroner’s report found no obvious signs of violence.

Police fear the killing may be linked to a similar case last year.

Last March, a 46-year-old female Italian prostitute reported being raped, robbed and tied to a horizontal bar with tape by a client on the same road after being approached by a customer in the northern outskirts of the city.

Police are now working to establish any links between the two cases.  

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