L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 4 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS I n truth, it isn't really t h e i r b i r t h d a y w e c e l e b r a t e t h i s August, but the 50th anniversary of their discovery. Since that day – it was the 16th of August 1 9 7 2 – t h e B r o n z i d i R i a c e , perhaps the most famous classical statues in Italy, have entered the coun- try's collective imagination and language: their perfect proportions embody classi- c a l b e a u t y a t i t s h i g h e s t ; t h e i r p r o u d s t a n c e , t h e courage of warriors; their f l a w l e s s m a k i n g , t h e unmatchable talent of Greek artists who lived five cen- t u r i e s b e f o r e C h r i s t . They are classical beauty and even their name is syn- onym with it in our everyday language. T o c e l e b r a t e t h e 5 0 t h anniversary of their discov- e r y , p l e n t y o f e v e n t s w i l l take place throughout 2022 and 2023 in the whole coun- try, but especially in their hometown, Reggio Calabria. But before taking a look at how the Belpaese will cele- brate its most famous war- riors, it may be interesting t o k n o w s o m e t h i n g m o r e about them and their some- how mysterious history. A great discovery I t w a s t h e s u m m e r o f 1 9 7 2 w h e n R o m a n s c u b a diver Stefano Mariottini informed the authorities of P o r t o F o r i c c h i o d i R i a c e Marina (Reggio Calabria) about the presence of two statues on the sea floor, not far from the port. A team of a r c h a e o l o g i s t s l e d b y Dr. Giuseppe Foti brought them back up to the surface, a n d i m m e d i a t e l y n o t i c e d something odd: there was no sign of other antique arti- facts, which made the pres- ence of the Bronzi in that particular segment of sea quite strange. This was the beginning of the mystery surrounding the two war- riors, a mystery that still s t a n d s t o d a y , m o r e t h a n 2000 years after their cre- ation and 50 since they've b e e n r e d i s c o v e r e d . W e know that Porto Foricchio had been in use in antiquity and also during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, b u t t h e r e i s a p a u c i t y o f archaeological and histori- cal information about its role: for instance, we don't know to which city of the South it was related, nor w h e t h e r t h e r e i s a l i n k b e t w e e n t h e p o r t a n d the Bronzi. Immediately after their discovery, Warrior A and Warrior B – as they were christened – got some TLC at the Archaeological Muse- um of Reggio Calabria, but t h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t a n d e x t e n s i v e c o n s e r v a t i o n work on them was carried out in Florence, where they were transferred in January 1 9 7 5 . R e s t o r e r s R e n z o Giachetti and Edilberto Formigli worked in unison to return the statues to their original beauty, thanks to a thorough cleaning and an important hands-on study that enabled them to find o u t h o w t h e y h a d b e e n made. The whole process, which was carried out at the internationally renowned O p i f i c i o d e l l e P i e t r e Dure in Florence, lasted five years. From the 15th of Decem- b e r 1 9 8 0 t o t h e 2 4 t h o f June 1981, the Bronzi were a t t h e h e a r t o f a s p e c i a l exhibit at the Museo Arche- ologico di Firenze, which was an incredible success: so much so that then-Presi- dent of the Republic Sandro Pertini asked for the two statues to stop at the Quiri- n a l e , i n R o m e , f o r a f e w d a y s , w h i l e o n t h e i r w a y back home, to Reggio Cal- abria. The Roman exhibi- tion (29th of June- 12th of July 1981), was just as suc- cessful as the one in Flo- rence. B e a u t y a n d h i s t o r y a t risk Despite the accurate and perfectly executed conserva- tion work carried out in the 1 9 7 0 s , t h e h e a l t h o f the Bronzi remained at risk: both statues were filled with s e d i m e n t s w h i c h , d u r i n g centuries and centuries of permanence under the sea, soaked up water and salt that were now seeping into the bronze and corroding it. A first intervention to empty the statues from the danger- ous sediments took place in R e g g i o C a l a b r i a b e t w e e n 1 9 9 2 a n d 1 9 9 5 ; a s e c o n d was carried out always in Reggio some 20 years later, b e t w e e n 2 0 1 0 a n d 2 0 1 3 . After the two interventions, Continued to page 6 Happy Birthday to the Bronzi di Riace! The face of Warrior A, also known as "The Young" (Photo: s.pellicciotti/Shutterstock) FRANCESCA BEZZONE

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