45. Funerary monument to Roberto Fabbri
by Giovanni Pietro Ferrari
Roberto Fabbri was one of the first people to obtain a pilot’s licence in Italy. He died in July of 1913, at the age of 17, during a flight over the moorlands surrounding Malpensa. After the accident, Italo Balbo paid homage to the young aviator, who, in his words, died a hero “in a monumental struggle against the elements.” The commemoration of this story was entrusted to the decadent sculptor Roberto Ferrari: the funerary monument features a female figure in the clutches of an eagle, while Fabbri himself is depicted in the bas-relief below, and the plane’s engine is included in the base.
by Giovanni Pietro Ferrari
Roberto Fabbri was one of the first people to obtain a pilot’s licence in Italy. He died in July of 1913, at the age of 17, during a flight over the moorlands surrounding Malpensa. After the accident, Italo Balbo paid homage to the young aviator, who, in his words, died a hero “in a monumental struggle against the elements.” The commemoration of this story was entrusted to the decadent sculptor Roberto Ferrari: the funerary monument features a female figure in the clutches of an eagle, while Fabbri himself is depicted in the bas-relief below, and the plane’s engine is included in the base.
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