Arturo Dazzi’s Bigio Bianco remains in check black stele by Mimmo Paladino. Despite the advantageous position on the board, it will be the “black piece” that will make the next move will have to abandon the podium in Piazza Vittoria to settle in the area of the Borsoni Theater in Via Milano. Although the inauguration of the new building is expected before the summer, the Paladin stele — whose concession to occupy the space in the historic center has expired five years now — is expected to be placed in its new home by the autumn. The move, however, still requires the author’s approval.
Instead, the “white piece” has been imprisoned in the municipal warehouse in via Rose di Sotto for 79 years nowchanged air only a decade ago due to restoration.
The recovery operation of the monument was commissioned by the Paroli council in 2011 which at the same time had started work on the new base and the fountain. However, with the change in political line, resulting from the electoral success of the center-left in 2013, the restoration of the “Fascist Era” in its original location was also aborted. The superintendency expressed itself clearly by indicating two solutions: the first provides that the statue returns to Piazza Vittoria, the second that if the monument were placed in another location, the base and the fountain must be removed.
In light of the political context, the statue of Dazzi, exhibited in Piazza Vittoria from 1932 to 13 October 1945, it does not seem destined to return to the city center as long as the center-left governs in the Loggia. The council has no intention of relocating the Bigio in the square designed by Piacentini, however it is confident that it will be able to find mediation with the superintendency and still preserve the existing artefacts (basement and fountain) «also to avoid possible damage to the treasury» comments the majority.
The relocation in Piazza Vittoria has been set aside, the “Fascist Era” is looking for a home. The center-left is pondering the opportunistic choice of placing Bigio in the nascent one Musil, confident of shelving the debate for the next twenty years. With equal political astuteness, those who drive in the Loggia are thinking of plan B: a sort of “urban Daspo” for the statue created by Arturo Dazzi, imagining a long-term loan to the Civic Marble Museum of Carrara since «inside the structure there is an exhibition space dedicated to Dazzi» they explain from the Lodge.
Further hypotheses to be examined would concern the location in Campo Marte or on Colle Cidneo however, for this last place – considering the presence of the bust of the Duce inside the Risorgimento Museum – there are those who express concerns: “We must avoid the transformation of Brescia into a new Predappio”.
In short, Paladino’s “black pawn” has its own identity on the chessboard, whereas – due to its ideological connotation – Dazzi’s Bigio is at the same time both in check and locked up in his “box”, waiting to complete the first move. The possible future of Bigio is the subject of a question in the city council on Monday.
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