Forgotten Bust of General Graziani Restored and Reclaimed in Bardolino

The bronze bust of General Andrea Graziani has been forgotten for years in the municipal storerooms. Graziani was an alpine commander born in Bardolino on July 15, 1864, and died in Prato on February 27, 1931.

The sculpture, produced in two copies by sculptor Albino Loro, was placed in May 1937 on the lakeside of Bardolino in front of Villa Carrara Bottagisio, on the same base where, in the early 1950s, the bust of poet Cesare Betteloni was later installed.

Symbolism and Postwar Events

Indeed, because the bold leader who in war and peace dedicated his entire devotion to the Homeland and Fascism (as read in the inscription with a Fasces incised at the base) was dethroned immediately after the Second World War.

The bust was found in the lake and, once recovered, was placed in the vestibule of the elementary schools. The building now houses the local health district on the ground floor.