2023-10-07 14:42:29
The farewell ceremony for the Colombian painter and sculptor Fernando Botero which took place this morning in Pietrasanta (Lucca), of which the artist was an honorary citizen, was packed and full of people, affection and emotion, in the presence of authorities, family, friends, artists and media from all over the world. Botero, famous for his female subjects depicted with voluminous forms, died on Friday 15 September at the age of 91 in his home in Monte Carlo, in the Principality of Monaco, after being hospitalized for suspected pneumonia.
From the chapel of rest, set up at the church of Sant’Antonio Abate in via Mazzini, the small urn arrived at the Cathedral of San Martino accompanied by the musicians of the Capezzano Monte Philharmonic, the insignia of the Municipality and the city’s voluntary associations and many tributes flowers, arrived in the “Little Athens” of Versilia from the entire international community, where Botero lived for long periods from the early 1980s.
“We salute a great artist but, first of all, one of our fellow citizens – recalled the mayor Alberto Stefano Giovannetti, who proclaimed citizen mourning for today – who was already part of Pietrasanta well before receiving its honorary citizenship in 2001. Many times we met him walking in the square with Sophia Vari, his wife, like any other person. We equally admired him and made the whole world admire him, in his greatness: for the majestic and unmistakable works born in our foundries and with which he brought fame and prestige to Pietrasanta”.
“We also admired Botero for the generosity he showed by remaining close to us even in the hardest moments, such as during the health emergency, when he donated one of his works for the solidarity auction that we organized in favor of the Versilia hospital – added the mayor – And for the exclusivity he has always reserved for Pietrasanta, proposing new or even unique initiatives here. The last, great honor he has done us is asking to be able to rest in our land, together with his beloved wife who left us last May. We welcome him with open arms, today as forty years ago: welcome back Maestro. And thank you”.
“Pietrasanta, which knew you at the height of your fruitful and vigorous career – declared the Colombian ambassador to Italy, Ligia Margarita Quessep Bitar, addressing the Maestro – will soon welcome you to the glorious eternity that you so deserve. Here, in Tuscany, cradle of beauty that also cradled your dreams, Colombia, your Colombia will be the first to bathe this blessed land with sweet tears”.
“The first time I met you by chance, together with Sophia – recalled Alessandro De Santi, a long-time friend of the family, also addressing the artist – while you were going up to the Rocca, looking for a house. I want to tell our fellow citizens how you arrived on tiptoe, you who were already Botero in the world of art and how, from that day, something struck you. I never understood what but the fact is that, since then, you have done nothing but talk about Pietrasanta, about this place that you both immediately loved and chose to work and live together”.
“In the mid-70s – recalled Adolfo Agolini, owner of Fonderia Artistica Mariani – you and Sophia arrived at the foundry to see about a small job for her. You returned a few months later and, from there, our collaboration began One thing struck me immediately about both of you: the extreme kindness and respect you always had for people and, in particular, for the artisans who worked with us. You loved their simplicity and intelligence, watching them work, living alongside them And the craftsmen were always at ease with you.”
The artist’s daughter, Lina Botero, also spoke at the funeral ceremony. “My father chose Pietrasanta, his Pietrasanta, our Pietrasanta – he said in a voice moved and overwhelmed by emotion amidst the applause – as the place of his eternal rest. In this city of immense artisans, where he has always found fundamental support in the talented hands of those who have had the profession in their blood and have been able to pass it on through generations, together with Sophia they have built the fulcrum around which our large family, so geographically dispersed, has always reunited for forty years. his grandchildren and where, without a shadow of a doubt, we will continue to come. We are moved and profoundly grateful for the infinite demonstrations of affection and gratitude expressed throughout the world and we thank the mayor and the Municipality of Pietrasanta again for having paid this heartfelt tribute to our father and we thank all of you, who have come from near and far, to this wonderful place. From today onwards, those who visit the Pietrasanta cemetery will be able to caress the white marble tombstone which simply reads: Fernando Botero painter, sculptor. That’s how he wanted them to remember him.”
After the readings by Cinzia Macchitella, the deputy mayor of Pietrasanta Francesca Bresciani and the municipal councilor Luca Mori, the words of Monsignor Stefano D’Atri: “Seeing this urn, among the flowers, perhaps gives us an even greater sense of the smallness of man before God. But in this being small, we always remember that every man is rich in all those things that the Lord is capable of providing and is precious in the eyes of the Father. Because a child is always great in the eyes of his own parents”.
The president of the Tuscany Region, Eugenio Giani, also sent his greetings to the ceremony, marked by the songs of the Schola Cantorum San Martino, and was attended, among others, by the consul general of Colombia in Rome, Carlos Ivan Castro Sabbagh, former mayors and administrators of Pietrasanta, the municipal council, the president of the municipal council, Paola Brizzolari, a representative of the city assembly and numerous exponents of the art world.
Once the ceremony concluded with the blessing of the ashes, the urn undertook its final journey towards the urban cemetery where it was buried next to that of Sophia Vari, who has been resting here since last spring.
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