Monument to the Fallen of the Great War

Monument to the Fallen of the Great War: memory sculpted in bronze At the center of Piazza G.

Matteotti, the Monument to the Fallen of the War 1915-1918 is the most solemn public testimony of the city's collective memory. Created by the great Calabrian sculptor Michele Guerrisi (1893-1963), the sculptural group was inaugurated on November 26, 1933 in the presence of King Vittorio Emanuele III, immediately becoming one of the symbolic focal points of civic life in Catanzaro. Structure and meaning The work stands out for its plastic strength and classical rigor that animate its composition: a powerful rectangular granite base supports five bronze figures of intense expressiveness. In the foreground, three infantrymen: one, in a central and dominant position, is depicted in the dramatic gesture of throwing a grenade, a metaphor for resistance, while the two comrades on the sides embody the support and solidarity of the group in the tragic ordeal of battle. On the back of the scene, the drama becomes darker: an infantryman lies lifeless on the ground, a symbol of supreme sacrifice; next to him, another soldier struggles to rise, a gesture that becomes a metaphor for rebirth and hope even in the pain of defeat. Originally, the composition was completed by the figure of a Weeping Mother, removed after the bombings of 1943 that caused its destruction. The artist and his vision Michele Guerrisi, originally from Cittanova and a central figure in Italian sculpture of the twentieth century, addressed the theme of sacrifice and war with measured and respectful realism, in the best European monumental tradition. The choice of bronze gives the work a material power and a timeless monumentality that interacts with the architectural sobriety of the square and the austerity of the granite. A place of living memory The monument to the fallen is not just a commemorative sculpture: it is a place of contemplation and reflection, the setting for the city's main civil and military ceremonies, and an unavoidable point of reference for every citizen of Catanzaro. Guerrisi's sculptural group, despite the rhetoric of the time, preserves a profound humanity, expressing pride, pain, and hope in a single gesture of collective memory. Its presence continues to challenge the new generations, inviting them to historical awareness and respect for the sacrifice of those who, falling in the Great War, contributed to shaping the destinies of Italy and Europe.