The monument dedicated to General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, created for the Municipality of San Benedetto del Tronto by the artist Marcello Sgattoni, is located in the square of the same name, which overlooked the Palace of Justice, now home to a secondary school. The memorial is in memory of the tragic murder of Dalla Chiesa and his wife, killed on September 3, 1982 by Cosa Nostra.
The symbolic work of the Carabinieri
2 metres high, 2,85 metres wide and weighing 13,5 quintals, the sculpture depicts the flame, symbol of the ArmyIt is composed of a steel amphora covered in molten bronze on which they fit well 600 river stones, chosen one by one by the author who then cut them to give them the shape of screaming mouths, and tongues of fire together with the smooth and worked stones. “…and the stone cried out" is in fact the title given by the artist who was inspired by a phrase from Gospel of Luke"If you don't tell the truth the stones will cry out".
Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa and the fight against the Mafia
Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, General of the Carabinieri, he spent his life fighting the Northern underworld, the Red Brigades and the Mafia, of which he would be a victim. The government of the country entrusted him with special powers: he was appointed Coordinator of the Police Forces and Intelligence Agents for the fight against terrorism. A sort of special department of the Ministry of the Interior, created precisely to counter the phenomenon of Red Brigades which was raging in those years. Appointed Prefect of PalermoThe general begins his operations against the Mafia. And Cosa Nostra reacts. It was September 3, 1982, when his car was approached by a BMW, which opened fire with a barrage of Kalashnikovs.
The sculpture on the monument to Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa (photo by: Patrizia Cicconi)
His wife also lost her life in the attack. Emanuela Setti Carraro. And also the escort agent Dominic Russo, who was following the couple in a second car. At the scene of the ambush, someone placed a sign: “Here the hope of honest Sicilians died".
Marcello Sgattoni, the master against today's society
The author of the significant work is Marcello Sgattoni who, since he was a child, felt the call towards art having as experiences the road and natureHis stay in Milan, at the age of twenty-five, arouses in him the desire to seek new means of expression and to experiment new materialsHe himself had declared, regarding his excursus artistic: “In the seventies I started to model poor materials such as clay, clods of earth, bundles of wood that cost nothingThe monument to Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa wants to remain in the collective memory, as a symbol of loyalty of the Carabinieri to the Institutions. But also as praise to the man who never gave up in the fight against crime.
Thanks for the cover image: Patrizia Cicconi
