Monument to Niccolò Fortiguerra, Piazza di Santo Spirito, Pistoia
The Monument to Niccolò Fortiguerra is a marble statue of the Cardinal Fortiguerra, a prominent 15th-century benefactor of Pistoia, who endowed the city with a school for the indigent and a library (Biblioteca Forteguerriana). The latter still exists in the city. The statue stands atop a simple high marble pedestal in the piazza of Santo Spirito, in Pistoia, region of Tuscany, Italy.
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History and description
Construction was patronized by a posthumous endowment in the 19th century by Niccolò Puccini, who was likely endeared to his fellow Pistoian, with whom he shares first name, for also being a philanthropist in causes for indigent children. He engaged the sculptor Cesare Sighinolfi to complete the larger-than-life statue which shows the Cardinal offering a document. The statue was originally placed in August 1863 in the Piazza of the Duomo.[1][2][3]
References
- Storia degli istituti di beneficenza, d'istruzione ed educazione in Pistoia e suo circondario dalle respettive origini a tutto l'anno 1880, Volume 2, by Luigi Bargiacchi, page 224.
- Via ai lavori di restauro del Forteguerri L'intervento sulla statua finanziato dall'ente Cassa di risparmio, by Cinzia Lotti, Il tirreno, 12 October 1999.
- Vivi Pistoia, entry on piazza.