The Monumento a Sandro Pertini is a work by the Milanese architect Aldo Rossi, inaugurated in Milan in 1990. Designed in 1988 and dedicated to the seventh president of the Italian Republic, Sandro Pertini, the structure is located at the end of the pedestrian area of via Croce Rossa at the intersection of via Monte Napoleone and via Alessandro Manzoni.
The structure is a monumental fountain featuring a podium closed on three sides by stone walls. A triangular duct on the back wall allows water to flow into a basin located in the center of the wall. The cube measures eight meters on each side and is based on a strict module of fifty centimeters. It is composed of pinkish-grey Candoglia marble blocks, the same stone used for the Duomo di Milano, measuring 50x25x25 centimeters. Other elements of the monument are made of a copper alloy.
Aldo Rossi used archetypal architectural forms to express the collective will, a theme he explored in previous projects: the monument to the Resistance in Cuneo (1962) and the monument to the Partisans in Segrate (1965). These works share the same constitutive elements as the Pertini monument, characterized by defined volumes and symbolic forms like the podium and the triangular duct.
The monument was a gift to the city of Milan from the Milan Metro on the occasion of the opening of Line 3. Since its inauguration, it has been a subject of controversy among politicians, local administrations, and citizens. In 2010, a proposal was made to remove the monument, leading to a division of public opinion and a petition signed by a hundred artists and architects. Starting in April 2012, the Municipality of Milan carried out a conservative restoration, which included renewing the fountain system, consolidating and renewing the seals, cleaning, protecting, and finishing the architectural elements.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nicolo Ciampini
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