Dalla parte delle cittadine. I monumenti al femminile in Italia, alcune riflessioni
Annamaria Ducci
The issue of female monuments in Italy has emerged with extraordinary amplification in recent years
through press and social media debates. The occasion that generated this lively discussion was the erection of a monument to the “Gleaner” on the seafront of Sapri (Salerno), a bronze statue commissioned by the mayor and primarily financed with public funds. It was inaugurated on 25 September 2021. The sexually stereotyped forms and winking expression do not represent the heroine of Mercantini’s poetic composition (La Spigolatrice di Sapri, 1858) that the title intends to celebrate. On the contrary, the statue proposes a traditional, conservative idea of the female body –and women at all – as a pure object of desire. Starting from the case of Sapri and also considering other statues of sexualized female figures erected in the last two decades in Italy, the article opens up to a broad reflection on the ideological and cultural role of monuments concerning women in our society, as well as on the relationship between public space and the rights of female citizens in Italy today.