La Statua di San Benedetto

Located at the northern entrance to the city, it is an imposing bronze work by Roman sculptor Giuseppe Ducrot. About three and a half metres high and standing on a huge stone base, it was placed in the city in 2009 on the occasion of Pope Benedict XVI's visit.

Its inclusion in an open space and the fact that it has as its background "that mountain to which Casino is on the coast" (Dante, Divine Comedy) makes the sculpture an unavoidable focal point of reference, towards which wide-ranging perspective lines outline a vigorous centripetal force.

The posture of the sculpture as a whole is subject to a half-twist, with the right hand pointing the index finger to indicate the way: this is St Benedict elevated to Patron Saint of Europe, he who in the darkness always manages to see a fusam lucem desuper cunctas noctis tenebras exfugasse.

Ducrot is an eclectic sculptor, a member of the anachronistic movement and one of the most significant interpreters of contemporary art.

Over the years he has produced bronzes of extraordinary workmanship using the lost wax casting technique. He made mythological figures and saints in the Baroque style and according to Bernini's teachings, but with modern techniques.