Miss Italy finalist reveals scars after 'ex-boyfriend threw acid on her face'

A beauty queen who was scarred after her ex-boyfriend allegedly threw acid in her face has shown her injuries for the first time.

Gessica Notaro, 27, who was a finalist in the Miss Italy competition in 2007, appeared on a talk show in the country today.

‘I want you to see what he did to me. This isn’t love,’ she said after removing a scarf from her face.

The host of the show Maurizio Costanzo told her she didn’t have to reveal her scars but she was adamant she wanted to.

Ms Notaro’s face was severely disfigured in the attack on January 10 and she has undergone surgery to save the sight in her left eye.

She blamed her ex-boyfriend Jorge Edson Tavares for the attack, who has since been detained by police.

They split up last August and she had got a restraining order against him after telling authorities he was stalking her.

Ms Notaro, a sea-lion trainer, claimed he had threatened to throw acid on her.

‘While the acid ate away at my face I was on my knees praying,’ she added in the interview.

‘I prayed to God: take away my beauty but at least leave me with my sight.’

Ms Notaro is not letting the incident stop her from her dreams and plans to release a music album.

‘My face is ruined but my facial features are still there. My mouth is intact. So is my nose. I still recognise myself in the mirror. This eye should have been blind but it isn’t,’ she told MailOnline last week.

‘And the most important thing I found out that night is that my voice is still there. I risked losing it as the acid ended up in my mouth, but I was alert enough to spit it out.’

Tavares, from Cape Verde, denied the allegations and will face a trial.