FORMER PRESIDENT ALBERTO ROBOL DONATES 10 WORKS TO THE FOUNDATION BY LUIGI CAPRIOTTI

Over the past few days there have been ten angels at the Bell of the Fallen. In actual fact, for decades, there have been several who have been working for peace every day even when it seems there is no longer any hope. The ten who have just arrived however are sculptures. Before settling in Trentino, the works of Luciano Capriotti, known in the art world as Capri Otti, made a stop in Strasbourg for an exhibition at the Council of Europe, and it was there that Senator Alberto Robol, former president of the Foundation, came across them in 2000.

During the donation ceremony which took place on the Colle di Miravalle hill on April 20th he explained, «It all started with a gesture of courtesy. Giovanni Baiocchi, one of the more intelligent officials, asked me to come in and take a look at the works. I did it as a common courtesy, but I was consequently impressed. I saw one angel but bought them all, on the condition that they be delivered to my cabin in Moietto». It was there, at 930 meters above sea level (as he is keen to emphasize when telling friends), that a few weeks later a van arrived loaded with beauty.

Those who know him well were not surprised by such a gesture as Robol has always been a man of astounding visions, great impulses and marked generosity. The same generosity that led him to donate the works to the Foundation, the ideal place to conserve and show them to as many people as possible.

The ceremony took place on Saturday 20th, in the presence of the artist, Luciano Capriotti, Mayor of Rovereto Giulia Robol, Secretary to the Foundation Paolo Mirandola, who read the official act, and Ambassador of Ukraine to the Holy See Andrii Yurash, great friend of the sculptor, but above all of peace. All under the watchful eye of the host, the foundation president, Ambassador Marco Marsilli, who opened the proceedings by thanking, among others, the European official responsible for the meeting, who in the meantime had moved to the Foreign and Defence Commission of the Senate but didn't wish to miss the event.

After the usual and inspiring introduction by the children’s choir, Minicoro di Rovereto, directed by the tireless Maestro Gianpaolo Daicampi, it was Marsilli himself who opened the proceedings by thanking his predecessor for always providing those who know him with «ideas for cultivating hope». This was followed by an address from the mayor, who did not limit herself to a formal intervention, but also mentioned her personal experience with «Uncle Alberto». It was then the artist's turn to illustrate the significance of a work that has changed its name over time according to the evolution of events. The ten figurines were initially called Angels of the Passion, but this reinterpretation of Bernini's masterpieces that dominate Rome's Ponte Sant'Angelo was recently renamed Wartime Angels. Each of these "lost-wax casting" bronze works, unique, impossible to reproduce, «carries with it a different instrument of the Passion of Christ, a symbol of the pain inflicted on the innocent, which in this contemporary reinterpretation becomes a symbol of the suffering caused in wars that have no borders and have no end».

But there were more gifts to come. In fact, Ambassador Yurash also wished to leave a mark on the Colle di Miravalle hill by giving the Foundation another of Capriotti’s works, created in 2023: Wartime Dove. It is a work in glazed ceramic, a medium chosen for the fact that it is very delicate. In its chest, between its open wings, the fragile symbol of peace shows a deep wound produced by a fragment of a Russian missile launched on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. That small splinter causes great pain. The dove suffers, hurts, endures, but is not dead and above all, the artist highlights, «has within itself the vitality to heal that terrible wound». Perhaps also for this reason the right place to keep it is Colle di Miravalle, a place where, as pointed out by Ambassador Yurash, things happen that «help us find the strength to continue believing in the future».

Luciano Capriotti, Wartime Dove (2023) 

The former president Alberto Robol during a mission in Geneva at the United Nations offices/p>

A moment from the meeting at the Bell that took place on April 20th. From the right, Maestro Luciano Capriotti, Mayor of Rovereto Giulia Robol, Foundation President Marco Marsilli, Ambassador of Ukraine to the Holy See Andrii Yurash and Secretary to the Foundation Paolo Mirandola. In the background the former president Alberto Robol, meeting virtually

Luciano Capriotti, one of 10 Wartime Angels (2000)