Monument to Alfredo Oriani

The bronze statue depicts the severe figure of Alfredo Oriani (Faenza 1852 - Casola Valsenio 1909), a man of letters and historiographer active from the 1870s until 1909, the author of an extensive production of works of narrative and essay-writing literature.

A gift from the city of Ravenna to Rome, it was inaugurated in the garden of the Colle Oppio in 1935 as part of the celebrations for the 25th anniversary of the writer's death, culminating with various events throughout Italy on 18 October 1934.

The sculpture, the work of Ercole Drei (Faenza 1886 - Rome 1973), a prolific Faentine sculptor who had already proven himself by working for numerous public commissions, is characterised by an official style and is inspired by the principles of realism, with the tendency towards eclecticism typical of Italian figuration in the 1930s.

Oriani's stern face features an intense expressiveness; his figure is wrapped in a large and short cloak, enclosing it in a compact form. Behind his left leg, decorative support - consisting of several overlapping volumes on which the short branches of a laurel stump bend over - evokes his literary activity. Behind the statue's right foot is the artist's signature, engraved in capital letters.

The sculpture stands on a high base made up of three superimposed parallelepipeds, covered with slabs of red Baveno granite, with the writer's name engraved on the front and the family motto NULLI CEDIT and the dedication of the work to Roma madre by the city of Ravenna with the execution date on the sides.

The monument underwent a restoration conducted by the Sovrintendenza Capitolina, which was completed in December 2020.