Francesco Petrarca

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Monument to Francesco Petrarca by Alessandro Lazzerini, 1928
Passeggio del Prato
Arezzo, February 2021

“Four metre tall, marble statue of Francesco Petrarca high atop a massive sculptural group, including a busy and eclectic collection of elements drawn from Petrarch's life and poetry. The group right on the front of the base portrays the sentiment of Peace: a mother pulls away her son from fraticidal warfare (on the shield is the text ‘agitans discordia fratres’), clinging to herself. The muscular male youth with arms outstretched, is meant to be crying out for peace, ‘pace, pace, pace’ (the closing of Petrarch's poem ‘Italia mia’). As an allusion to the Triumph of Fame, the main group on the back of the monument shows the poet's coronation with a laurel wreath by Senator Orso dell'Anguillara in 1341. The figures present at the ceremony show the various social classes. Among these are a warrior with the appearance of the Duke of the Abruzzi, a poet with that of Gabriele d'Annunzio and a female figure, where Lazzerini's wife was the model.” (Petrarch, Statues - Hither & Thither)