It is the work, depicting two specimens of Monk Seal, created by the master Giulio Cosimi Bagada based on an idea by Marco De Salvo and donated to the city by the Circolo per l’ambiente IBIS ODV of Crotone and Gruppo Foca Monaca APS of Rome and accepted with resolution , on the proposal of the Councilor for the Environment Angela Maria De Renzo, by the municipal administration.
Symbol which was placed on the popular “walkway” of the city seafront and inaugurated this afternoon with the joyful participation of the members of the Municipal Council of girls and boys and of the girls and boys of the Municipality of Crotone.
Present were the Environment Councilor Angela Maria De Renzo, the president of the CC.BB.RR. municipal councilor Dalila Venneri, the director of the Environment sector Elisabetta Dominijanni, Girolamo Parretta for the Circolo Ibis, Emanuele Coppola of the Foca Monaca APS Group of Rome, Antonio Tata secretary of the Circolo Ibis and Tommaso Tedesco vice president of the Circolo Ibis, the TV (CP) Giancarlo Castellana of the Port Authority of Crotone and Giada Sangiovanni for the WWF
The sculpture represents one of the rarest animals in the world which, according to studies and sightings in recent years, has returned to repopulate the Crotone coast.
Crotone, with the installation of the statue, depicting a mother seal with her pup, is among the cities that have “adopted” this symbol of brotherhood among all the people living on the shores of the Mediterranean.
The communities that installed this statue, in fact, have long chosen to live in harmony with nature, committing themselves to respect and protect it and at the same time to open up to others with a feeling of welcome and solidarity.
As has been illustrated, solidarity and hospitality are founding values of communities and are an example to pass on to future generations.
The first statue, depicting a mother seal with her pup, was donated to Marettimo in 2009. Subsequently, similar statues were donated to the community of Komiza on the island of Vis in Croatia in 2012, to the community of Othoni, a small Greek island north of Corfu in 2015. In Gibraltar a life-size version was installed in 2016, while in 2022 the last statue was installed on the island of Caprera in Sardinia.
The statue is also intended to be a stimulus to encourage the protection and safeguarding of protected species, the sea and the environment more generally.
“I thank the Circolo Ibis and Gruppo Foca Monaca APS of Rome for the sensitivity they have shown towards the city by donating a work that has multiple meanings and expresses values that we also wanted to share with the young members of the children’s City Council. It remains a symbol not only of environmental protection but wants to represent the feeling of welcome that distinguishes the Crotone community” declares councilor De Renzo
