PESCARA. The Pescara lawyer Luigi Di Corcia, regional president of the ACU consumer association, asks mayor Masci, via a certified e-mail, to give explanations on the move and future relocation of the “Nativity” sculptural group in Piazza Sacro Cuore. Before the work underway on the square, the work was positioned in front of the Sanctuary in the city center. Now it is instead on one side of the entrance.
“The sculpture – evidenced by Di Corcia – was created by the teacher Petronio Del Ponte in collaboration with the students of the MIBE and was positioned in the square in 2018 with a resolution of the Municipal Council. Professor Del Ponte reports that, following surveys carried out on site, taking into account the architectural presence of the Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart, at the request of the Templars of Italy association, he was given the task of creating a sculptural group representing the Nativity. To make the work in continuity with the “. place”, materials and execution techniques similar to those of the Sanctuary were used. It should not be forgotten that at the end of the 1940s the sculptor Malorgio created the portal, the rose window and the windows in Romanesque-Gothic style in “straw stone” of the aforementioned Sanctuary. Maiella, coming from the Lettomanoppello quarries, it was decided to position the new work in front of the façade of the religious building”.
“Professor Del Ponte – reminds the mayor Masci, Luigi Di Corcia – also involved the students of the Art School in some steps of the executive path of the plastic and sculptural group”.
Di Corcia also reveals some damage suffered by the work during the move: “With the start of the works in Piazza Sacro Cuore, the work was illegitimately moved (breaking some parts of the base) and repositioned, in a completely irregular way , as it is not accompanied by any council resolution to this effect, on public land next to the Church without even a delimitation of the place. To date, it is not known what fate the said artistic artefact will suffer and what intentions the current governance has about its relocation”. The consumers’ association has not ruled out sensational media actions in the short term to turn the spotlight on the artistic nativity scene.
