Il Cavatore Statue, Catanzaro

Statua del Cavatore, Catanzaro
"The Cavatore" is the symbol of Catanzaro, the capital of the Calabria region, the man who works with shortness of breath and without breathing space, constantly struggling to survive in a country torn apart by environmental disasters (mainly earthquakes) of a capricious and severe nature that has always put all Calabrians to the test.
"Il Cavatore" (the man who digs the rock) was made in the second half of the twentieth century and is a bronze sculpture on a granite plinth positioned in a niche made of neoclassical brick that is part of the monumental complex of San Giovanni (old Norman Castle) is in Piazza Matteotti. The complex dominates the entire square with the chromatic contrast created between the bronze of the statue and the gray granite of the bas-relief surrounded by the water of the fountain.
The author - sculptor of Il Cavatore is Giuseppe Rito, a self-taught artist who had a rather short life (1907-1963) but nevertheless left many testimonies of the passage on earth and created important sculptures such as the bronze group of the last two goddesses Justice and Freedom guarding the grand staircase of the Palace of Justice in Catanzaro.
The technique used by Giuseppe Rito makes his works very powerful, with the technique of the striped clay he obtained an expressionistic effect in which the aggression against matter could be understood as the marks left in everyone's life by the passing existence. The themes he chooses are the emblem of social awareness, of how tough life is in conditions of constant struggle.
The imposing bronze sculpture of Il Cavatore is just one of the works that surround Piazza Matteotti, in fact there is also a monument to the fallen of the First World War, always in bronze but by the Calabrian sculptor Michele Guerrisi, who was affected by the bombing of 1943 was badly damaged during World War II; the Palace of the Court of Appeal; and the Grande Albergo Moderno (first a luxury hotel, now home to a bank).
Text / source: Eccellenze Meridionali
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