Monday, August 30, 2010

Ciano's Mausoleum

Ciano's Mausoleum, LivornoWhen I was a kid I suspected that this massive structure on the top of “Monte Burrone” (Mount Ravine) was a money bin of sorts, like the one where Scrooge McDuck stored his dollars.Ciano's Mausoleum, LivornoThe huge “cube” was part of the mausoleum of Costanzo Ciano, the powerful local Fascist leader whose son Galeazzo married Edda, the daughter of Mussolini.It was practically intended as a giant plinth for a 12 meter statue honoring him as naval commander and as the base for a 50 meter tall fasces-shaped light.
Ciano's Mausoleum, LivornoThe war and the fall of the Fascist regime stopped the works, then the Germans blew up the light. The building and the surrounding area, not far from Montenero, had been abandoned since.Part of the half-finished statue still lies in a cave on the island of Santo Stefano, in the Maddalena archipelago of northern Sardinia.

(Pictures of the project and of the statue from: Mausoleo di Costanzo Ciano: un pezzo di storia tra i rifiuti)

18 comments:

Luis Gomez said...

Thank you for all of these images and such an interesting post!

Anonymous said...

Shrinking life to its real, its important size.
Please have a good new week.

daily athens

Hilda said...

Dictators and their minions do have some of the biggest egos ever.

That thing is massive and really stands out on the hill. I would have thought it was a fort, but I think I like your childhood interpretation better. :)

Lowell said...

Super post...I knew nothing of this (which is not surprising) so it was great fun to see your photos and read the story behind them.

Why is it that fascists and other totalitarian types love to memorialize themselves with statues and other structures? They must be very insecure about their place in history (which they should be!)

Randy said...

Amazing photos and history.

joo said...

Wow, incredible! They have something in common with dictators from our part of the world - the bigger statue, the better!
Great post VP!

cieldequimper said...

I had forgotten about Ciano until now.

Elettra said...

Punirei con anni di prigione i writers che imbrattano e danneggiano i monumenti, di qualsiasi fazione politica essi fossero

Dina said...

This whole thing is so bizarre!

I see your vivid imagination started already in childhood. :)

Cezar and Léia said...

Thanks one more time for the history lesson.
I like so much your words about the mausoleum, I mean when you were a kid, it's so adorable, I think I would think in the same way! :)
Hugs
Léia

Teuvo Vehkalahti said...

Very nice photo and excellent blog, I like very much.
Pleace also all looking fotoblog Teuvo images.

www.ttvehkalahti.blogspot.com

and your comments pleace

Thank you

Teuvo

FINLAND

brattcat said...

so interesting!

B SQUARED said...

So very, very weird. A strange group of egos. Looks better where it sits, now.

Small City Scenes said...

Very interesting post. I don't know too much about that era. I suppose only what I learn in school and how accurate is that. Thank you. MB

Unknown said...

This is very interesting, VP! Haven't heard of it before. And the money bin made me smile! :-)

Kaori said...

Love that shot from far away, you can really tell how huge it is! I guess nobody wants to finish it ;-)

Halcyon said...

I love the first part of the story, where you thought it was a money bin. Hee!

A very interesting story though. I think it's good the statue never went up. Who wants to remember the bad times?

Francisca said...

The names don't ring a bell, but the story has unfolded many times all over the world. There seems to be some truth to the thought that the more brutal the dictator, the larger the memorial they put up. That graffiti tells me no one much cares about the man now. I like to hear you tell the history, VP. Thanks.

[I don't want you to miss this: http://animalartalongtheway.blogspot.com/2010/08/sea-lion-and-salmon-bench-tacoma.html] :-)