Darkside: greed: materialism; stubborness.
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This is a statue in Livorno on the west coast of Italy, not far from Pizza. I was with a friend just driving through the town when I saw it and asked her to stop so that I could take some pictures of it. There is a center column with four slaves chained at the base and an aristocratic looking gent at the top. There was no plaque or inscription. Livorno was previously known as Leghorn and was a free port and an important center of the slave trade. I have tried to get some information about the statue but it is not mentioned in any of the guides or on the official civic web site. Nor is Livorno's involvement in the slave trade. Livorno is also a naval base and maritime military academy and an Anerican naval base. The statue is well preserved and has obviously been well looked after. It is located on the waterfront as shown in the small photo which I picked up from the civic web site, although it is not mentioned or named. The quality of the sculpted figures of the slaves is impressive. They force you to confront the fact that these are real individual people who have retained their dignity in an adverse situation. I have asked my friend in Italy to try to find out more about it, and if there is any one out there who has some information please let me know. gus@cerbernet.co.uk Gus Coral gus@cerbernet.co.uk. |