From Saturday 13 April 2024, the statue of Sant’Oronzo will return to stand at the top of the Roman column, in the center of the square of the same name named after the patron saint of Lecce. This morning, Thursday 28 March 2024, in the Open Space room of Palazzo Carafa, the details of the timing and methods of the relocation were illustrated. Speakers included the mayor Carlo Salvemini, the metropolitan archbishop Michele Seccia, the superintendent of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape of the provinces of Lecce and Brindisi Francesca Riccio and the scientific consultant of the Administration Raffaele Casciaro (department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Salento) .
«Last Monday – it is explained in a note from the Municipality – the last necessary authorization from the Superintendency arrived on the static report relating to the tightness of the column/capital/pulvino/statue system which allowed us to fix the date of placement of the copy in bronze instead of the original. During a public ceremony, which will begin at 12, in the presence of Mayor Salvemini and the authorities, after the blessing of Archbishop Seccia, the work of art, commissioned by the municipal administration to the Fonderia Nolana Del Giudice, will be hoisted and placed on the column. Completed in the atelier of the Campania Foundry, it will be transferred to Lecce on the morning of Thursday 11 April, escorted by the City of Lecce Band at the entrance to the square. The copy will remain temporarily housed in front of the Seat, for the benefit of all those who want to see it up close, from the moment of its arrival in the square until the morning of Saturday 13 April, when it will be hoisted and fixed on the column. Guests of honor at the ceremony will be all the donors who, through the Art Bonus tool, contributed to raising the sum of 240,630 euros, necessary for the creation of the copy of the original statue, kept in Palazzo Carafa. A goal that could not have been achieved without the generosity of the Banca Popolare Pugliese which donated 100 thousand euros, of the Ediltunnel company of Lecce which contributed 70 thousand euros and of all those who donated small amounts and larger sums which will be listed (subject consent) in a totem installed next to the copy for the two days in which it will be displayed in the square”.
«Those of 11, 12 and 13 April – underlines Mayor Salvemini – will be historic days for the city, of popular celebration, for everyone. The creation of the copy of the statue of the Patron Saint was a collective undertaking: the Curia, the Department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Salento, the Superintendence, which followed step by step the restoration of the original and the creation of the copy, until last Monday, when the last approval on the static nature arrived. The Fonderia Nolana Del Giudice, which physically created this work of art of great value. But above all I thank the donors who, with their contribution, collected through the Mibac Art Bonus, financed the entire operation, the result of collaboration between the institutions and the Curia. But mainly of popular devotion, exactly as happened in 1739 for the creation of the original statue of the Saint”.
«As pastor of this local Church founded by Saint Oronzo – – declares Archbishop Seccia – I am happy for this achievement. It seems like a dream to me after many years of solitude of the column in the ancient square of this city. The return of the copy of the statue to its place makes me think of the return of a lighthouse. For us Christians, the saints are lighthouses who, with their example, illuminate the path of those who choose to follow Christ. This return to his column which for centuries has represented a point of reference, a sign of recognition of a community which in turn gives meaning to the signs. For us believers, the patron saint, in fact, is more than a symbol and is worth more than the flag because faith and devotion overcome space-time barriers and go beyond the succession of historical facts. Thanks to the municipal administration and all the bodies involved for the passion and professionalism they poured into this far from easy operation. And thanks also to those who contributed with donations so that the original statue of Sant’Oronzo was restored to its former glory and its copy finally returned to the square.”
The creation of the copy was, in fact, a collective operation that involved the Municipality and the Curia together with the scientific consultancy of the Department of Cultural Heritage and the Engineering Department of the University of Salento and the support of the Superintendency. In addition to the physical creation of the copy, its transport and installation, the proceeds of the Art Bonus also financed the production of a video-documentary and a printed notebook-volume on the entire process of the project, from the preliminary study to the placement of the copy on the column, by Emiliano Carico of the Department of Cultural Heritage of UniSalento, and the valorization of the original statue.
«In parallel with this work – explains Professor Casciaro – a historical investigation was started on the original which will be contained in the forthcoming volume on the entire intervention and clarity was made on the arrival of the statue from Venice, this is what is always supported. We have reason to believe, however, that the materials arrived from Venice but that the statue was packaged in Lecce. As proof of this, an underwater archaeologist found at the bottom of the sea loads of shipwrecked Venetian ships carrying copper of the same type as that used for Sant’Oronzo.”
Superintendent Francesca Riccio underlines the path that will lead to the museum display of the original: «Now on the table is the fate of the eighteenth-century statue, which will be the subject of a new discussion with the Municipality and the Curia to determine what are the best systems to guarantee at the same time the best conservation and the best use of the asset, transforming what at the beginning might have seemed like a diminutio into the possibility of being able to admire the work up close”.
How it all started
On 30 January 2019, the statue of Sant’Oronzo, created in 1739 to replace a previous work destroyed by a fire, was removed from the column and brought to the ground to continue the restoration operations begun a few months earlier. Based on the analyzes and scientific opinions acquired in that phase, the state of the internal wooden structure and the external copper coating was compromised to the point of excluding its repositioning on the column because further prolonged exposure to atmospheric agents would have caused irreparable damage to the ‘artwork. The Superintendence has therefore given the OK to the creation of a copy and the display of the original in a museum, in a place that will be identified on the basis of the best conservation conditions, by mutual agreement between all the bodies involved (Municipality, Curia and Superintendence ).
Immediately, the Municipality involved the Department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Salento, liaising with professor Raffaele Casciaro, to understand how to make the copy in compliance with the requirements provided by the Superintendence, with which technique and in which material. An in-depth and detailed study, during which several quotes were requested from highly specialized institutes and national companies at the highest levels in the sector. The possibility of a reproduction with latest generation technological materials was explored, but the dimensions of the copy of the statue (5.10 meters high) and its outdoor destination led experts to advise against its use. At the end of this complex research, a fixed point has been made: the copy will be made in bronze with the lost wax casting technique, based on the design proposal presented by Fonderia Nolana Del Giudice, a company of excellence at national and international level who also created the copy of the statue of the Madonnina of the Milan Cathedral in 1:1 scale, preserved inside the Cathedral Museum.
Making the copy
The creation of the copy of the statue of San’Oronzo required a whole year of work, from the assignment of the executive project validated by the Superintendence to delivery, because – by the Del Giudice family’s own admission – it proved to be more laborious and complex than expected due to the decorative richness especially of the Saint’s vestments. Initially the estimated times were thought to be shorter.
These are the phases of the construction work: the silicone rubber cast with acrylic resin matrix, followed by the 3D printing of the non-castable parts, on-site moulding, model and wax retouching up to the bronze casting with the lost wax technique . Finally the finishing and patination plus the steel anchoring structure.
In the photo: a moment from the press conference
