In the years in which the church of S. Domenico was elected pantheon of illustrious Sicilians defining a new and modern city identity in the historical-cultural context, numerous sculptural monuments were created located in public spaces. They contributed to building a shared memory of the struggles of the Risorgimento in the city, and also reflected the economic well-being linked to the success of entrepreneurship which became a promoter of art and culture, as evidenced by the events of the Florio family.
And so a vast celebratory program of united Italy was entrusted to a sculptural decorative apparatus scattered in the symbolic places of the new expansion of the city, such as the Massimo theater and the Politeama Garibaldi theater, and in the public gardens. An extraordinary repertoire of public, monumental and decorative sculpture that changes the face of the city in parallel with its urban development and historical and social events: an ideal route that leads from the old city to the new one through the axis of via Libertà – urban reality and symbol of an era – an open-air sculpture workshop.
