Cinque Terre, in Monterosso finishes restoration of Neptune, Arrigo Minerbi's giant

In Monterosso al Mare, in the Cinque Terre region of Liguria, the restoration of Neptune, the concrete and iron giant sculpted in 1910 by Arrigo Minerbi (Ferrara, 1881 - Padua, 1960), on the Fegina rock, a short distance from the center of the coastal town, has been completed. Lasting four years, the restoration of the large work, 14 meters high and weighing 1,700 quintals, was financed by the owners of the area where the sculpture is located (Maurizio, Nicola and Mattia Marino) and was carried out by the Decorart company, under the direction of architect Angela Zattera and with the coordination of the Superintendency of Liguria. For Minerbi’s Neptune, this is the second restoration in its history (the first was in the 1960s).

The intervention had been necessary to preserve the work, which was very fragile and damaged over time by weather events and also by some detachments that occurred on the cliff (one of which, in the summer of 2017, had forced the municipality to close the free beach of Fegina for safety reasons: once the safety work was finished, the restoration began). Some particularly exposed parts of the Neptune (the nose, head, shell, and foot) were in danger of disappearing altogether as they were eroded by wind, rain, and brackish. Moreover, the work also included the replacement of the iron structure that supported the work.

“We did everything we could and more with our own strength,” says the property. “Now we are relying on posterity to ensure the utmost care and attention to ensure the survival of the admirable work.”

“It has been an honor and a source of pride for me to put my work in the service of recovering a piece of history,” says architect Zattera. “I hope with all my heart that this first fundamental intervention will pave the way for continued care and attention for which the collaboration of public bodies but also of those who love and frequent the Cinque Terre is necessary.”

“Monterosso,” stresses Mayor Emanuele Moggia, “is happy to see its Giant back in good health. And he gives thanks. That statue is an emblem and a symbol of the man of the Cinque Terre: a Prometheus with his feet firmly planted in the rock and in the sea who moves toward the horizon carrying on his shoulders and in his face the fatigue of the weight of his rocky land.”

Cinque Terre, in Monterosso finishes restoration of Neptune, Arrigo Minerbi's giant

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