Page 143 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 11(2) (2023)

could only be carried out after the opening cer- ras from Sardinia. Piras had been a crew mem-
emony. The available sources also show that the ber on the submarine Giacinto Pullino when it
restoration of public property in Koper did take ran aground and subsequently became a prison-
place, as on 18 January 1935 the Milanese compa- er of war (Derin 2002). The main statue, which
ny Imprese Generali began landscaping the area was placed on top of the tower, symbolised the
around the monument. On this occasion, the ar- winged goddess of victory with a sword and
chitect and conservator Ferdinando Forlati, the shield. The bronze sculpture, weighing a total of
new podestà of Koper Nino Derin, the engineers 5 tonnes, measured 6.8 m in height, which meant
Maier and Madonizza, and representatives of that the entire monument measured a full 17 m
the construction companies tasked with the ad- from the ground. The base of the monument
11
ditional work were present to see the works be- was adorned by an exedra of evergreens forming
gin (Cherini 1990, 248). two lateral grassy patches. Six lights placed in
The monument’s shape resembled a sub- the flowerbeds themselves illuminated the mon- 143
marine, consisting of an elongated oval base on ument in all its grandeur. On 9 June 1935, the
12
ti which a staircase and a pillar in the form of a monument to Nazario Sauro was inaugurated in
conning tower were erected. The monument was
Koper in the presence of King Vittorio Emanue-
constructed mainly from roughly hewn granu-
le III, Corrado Ricci, Armando Diaz and more
ta lar cubes of Istrian stone. The height of the mon- than 50,000 people. On this occasion, the Savoy
ument measured from the walkway to the top
dynasty awarded the architect Enrico Del Deb-
of the tower was 10 m. At the rear of the mon-
bio and the sculptor Attilio Selva the Knight-
ument, on the first terrace, there were two 2.3 m
13
hood of St. Maurice (Neri 2006).
di high bronze statues representing Nazario Sauro The Urban Interventions in Koper
and his mother. The visual representation of this
encounter was based on a real event that hap-
as a Reflection of Fascist Ideology
pened on 6 August 1916, when the gendarme-
rie of Koper received a telegram demanding that Less than two years after the signing of the con-
tract, on 16 January 1935, the Royal Monument
here spite the fact that Anna Depangher Sauro, Naz- praintendenze alle opere antiche e di arte) took the historical background to the erection of the monument to nazario sauro in koper ...
Nazario Sauro’s mother and sister appear before
Conservation Department of Trieste (R. So-
the court of the Austrian Admiralty in Pola. De-
part in a wide range of restoration works in Ko-
ario’s mother, firmly denied knowing the cap-
14
per. In addition to the many proposals for fin-
tured Italian sailor before the military court in
ishing works around the monument, they also
the hope of saving him, the court sentenced Naz-
began renovating St. Mark’s salt warehouse (the
ario Sauro to death. The event had a strong prop-
aganda connotation under fascism, as such an
molish the warehouse was rejected, its use was
extreme act embodied the virtues that Italian
studiauniversitatis
changed to that of ‘a folkloristic social facility
mothers were supposed to possess in the time of present-day Taverna). After the proposal to de-
15
10
fascism (Sauro 2017, 249–259). with catering services’. Saint Justina’s column
The front of the monument, facing the sea, (Colonna di S. Giustina), dedicated to the Battle
had a 2.5 m high bronze statue of a helmsman of Lepanto, was relocated to Carpaccio Square,
holding a ship’s rudder. The sculptor Silva mod- 11 Note: In the surviving archival material on the monu-
elled the helmsman on the sailor Gianni Pi- ment, the main statue is also referred to as naval glory.
12 PAK, 7, 510, Fond Mestne občine Koper.
10 The extant archival material shows that the judicial au- 13 PAK, 7, 110 Spomenik Nazario Sauro, Fond Mestne
thorities verified Sauro’s identity through a request made občine Koper.
to the municipality of Koper on 3 August 1916. In the let-
ter, the municipality was asked to confirm that Nazario 14 PAK, 7, 510, Fond Mestne občine Koper.
Sauro was the son of Giacomo/Beretta and Anna Depang- 15 Letter from F. Forlati from the R. Sopraintendenze alle
her (PAK, 7, 510 Spomenik Nazario Sauro, Fond Mestne opere antiche e di arte from Trieste to the prefect of Koper,
občine Koper). 16 January 1935 (PAK, 7, 510, Fond Mestne občine Koper).