The oldest statue of Garibaldi Liguria
Monterosso It is the monument of the hero among the oldest in Italy.
Cinque Terre - Riviera di Levante. The year was 1884, and Mr. Desimoni John the Baptist, who had emigrated enriched in South America, he wanted to donate to his birthplace, in everlasting memory, the statue of Garibaldi, who is now the oldest in Liguria, and, according to some versions, even in Italy.
A couple of years, the Hero of Two Worlds had died on the island of Caprera, but the echo of his popularity and his deeds, not decreasing. Indeed, together with Giuseppe Mazzini, Camillo Benso Conte Vittorio Emanuele di Cavour, was considered one of the Fathers of the Fatherland.
to carve this beautiful statue in white Carrara marble, was the artist Santo Varni, at that time that the peak of his career in Genoa, where among other things one can admire many of his works within the Staglieno Monumental Cemetery.
happened but before delivery of a curious fact: the statue was going to Chiavari commissioned by a local committee is very close to relatives of the Hero of two worlds, the chance would have it after the work appeared much smaller than had to be (And perhaps a little excessive), and place so tiny in the great square, he made a fool of the memory, having regard to the moral greatness of man.
At that time the newspapers were printed at the beginning and the news did not run fast, but that quickly passed from mouth to mouth, reaching the ears of the illustrious immigrant who, having a good disposable income, bought it for give it to his country of origin.
The statue wrapped in a big box arrived with a wagon pulled by a steaming locomotive. Unfortunately, missing the record of who was to welcome it, but it certainly was a great party, and on that occasion the Square main town was named after Giuseppe Garibaldi. "
The statue was moved a couple of times on the old village square, but then found the place in today's public gardens, on the left side of the avenue leading to the stone hall.
A story that, written on the sacrifice of many who in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, left their country to migrate to distant America.
Desimoni John the Baptist, was one of many to leave, but at the same time one of the few to make a fortune by exploiting ideas for that time "very brave".
A Corrientes in Argentina, had a working life interesting, ranging from owners of ships to transport goods and timber, the manufacture of machines for making ice, to preside over the Bank of Commerce (now Chamber of Commerce).
Unless new historical discoveries, the statue of the Hero's Square located on the old country, opened in 1884 can rightly be called the oldest of Liguria, and perhaps Italy, an honor for people hard and the townspeople from Monterosso tenacious, just like the heroic Giuseppe Garibaldi.
