The Porta San Pietro is Lucca’s well-regarded southern gateway into the walled city. But have you ever stopped to look at the monumental statue it faces as we did today? For long barricaded off from view and in danger of collapsing the statue of the noble horseman in piazza Risorgimento has been fully restored at a cost of close to 2k euros and is now easily accessible. But what does the statue represent, who sculpted it and when was it inaugurated?

The equestrian monument, representing the Victorious Homeland, is a bronze work placed at the top of a high pedestal in local sandstone, in a scenic position in front of the Porta San Pietro.. The high reliefs on the base depict the Fallen for the Homeland to the east

and a gladiator defending himself to the west.

Work of the sculptor Alfredo Angeloni from Lucca and created by the artistic foundry of Michelacci in Pistoia, it was inaugurated in 1930 in the presence of the then King of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele III.

The monument was placed as part of the greening of the entire square then called Umberto I and today renamed Piazzale Risorgimento. The area remains a peaceful place to have a rest before catching a train from Lucca’s station (now receiving its own restoration). For me the equestrian statue is an impressive memorial to a still undervalued era of Italian art – the interwar period – because so many if its artists are unjustly associated with fascist ideals.