Industrial Archeology and Alessandro Rossi

Monumento Alessandro Rossi

Crocevia via P. Maraschin, viale Trento e Trieste, via A. Baccarini, via F.lli Pasini, , Schio

Description

In the quadrivium in front of the Church of Sant’Antonio stands the monument dedicated to Alessandro Rossi, a bronze statue made by sculptor and senator Giulio Monteverde in 1902 and unveiled on October 12th of the same year. The Citizens’ Committee, together with the municipal administration, after Rossi’s death on February the 28th 1898, strongly wanted to erect a memorial monument to celebrate the man who started the industrialization of the territory and led the Rossi Wool Mill to become the greatest Italian factory in the second half on the 19th century. Rossi’s statue stands on a cylindrical base that has a cogged wheel on the end; he has one hand down his side while the left rests on a pile of books on the table, symbols of the true values the industrialist had always promoted: labour and education. Below, a boy sits on a woman’s lap while handing a bunch of flowers to the senator; the woman probably represents the city of Schio, who wants to give future generations (the child) that love for work and study he believed in. On the basement a plaque commemorates the anniversary of the foundation of the Rossi Tecnhical-Industrial Institute of Vicenza founded by Alessandro Rossi, confirming his strong will to improve the educational-political system of the time. The statue is in a significant and central position with respect to the Sant’Antonio Abate Church, to the former Elementary Shool, the Workers’ Quarter of Nuova Schio and the railway, all works which were promoted and funded by Senator Rossi.