Description
The Monument to the Masotto Sicilian Battery is a bronze group on Messina's seafront promenade: three larger-than-life artillerymen, in a battle scene, honor the Sicilian soldiers who fell at Adwa, fighting the Ethiopian army, on March 1, 1896.
One of the three soldiers is already on the ground, another, wounded, grips his pistol and leans on a cannon, and the third holds up his head while aiming his rifle at the enemy. On the sides of the base, in Baveno marble, are two cannons.
The battery was made up of Sicilian officers and soldiers, most of them from Messina and its province, but its captain, Umberto Masotto, came from Noventa Vicentina. At Adwa the batteries were ordered to fire to the last round to cover the retreat, and Masotto fell on a cannon, pistol in hand.
The monument, by Salvatore Buemi, was cast in Turin and paid for with two public fundraising drives. It was unveiled on September 20, 1899; the plaques bear the names of the Masotto battery and of Captain Bianchini's.
One of the three soldiers is already on the ground, another, wounded, grips his pistol and leans on a cannon, and the third holds up his head while aiming his rifle at the enemy. On the sides of the base, in Baveno marble, are two cannons.
The battery was made up of Sicilian officers and soldiers, most of them from Messina and its province, but its captain, Umberto Masotto, came from Noventa Vicentina. At Adwa the batteries were ordered to fire to the last round to cover the retreat, and Masotto fell on a cannon, pistol in hand.
The monument, by Salvatore Buemi, was cast in Turin and paid for with two public fundraising drives. It was unveiled on September 20, 1899; the plaques bear the names of the Masotto battery and of Captain Bianchini's.