The monument is in the square in front of the Casa di Riposo which Verdi himself had built for retired musicians. A competition was opened in 1904 to erect a memorial to Verdi without giving specifics of style, shape or size. When the adjudicating Commission met no design was considered worthy as none represented adequately the greatness or humanity of the composer. A second competition was opened but unfortunately the same thing happened and so the Commission, proceeding by elimination, decided to entrust the project to Antonio Carminati. The sudden death of the sculptor in 1908 left the work half finished with only two of the allegorical figures and the statue of Verdi hardly begun. At this point the Commission, aware that time was pressing avoided yet another public competition and entrusted the work to Enrico Butti who had been Carminati’s maestro.. After 5 years the work was completed and was unveiled on the day of the Maestro’s centenary, 10th October 1913. On that occasion Arturo Toscanini conducted the Messa da Requiem by Verdi at La Scala. The bronze statue shows the Maestro standing in a very natural position with his hands crossed behind his back looking thoughtful yet affable. On the statue’s plinth are gilded bronze panels with allegorical figures in the art nouveau style. To the front is Melody, a young woman walking through a meadow of flowers between two groups of female figures. To the right the peace of a simple pastoral life: a man and a woman holding hands next to naked children playing in a ring and an ox all in an alpine setting. To the left a Poem of patriotic love showing a group of survivors on a battle field. To the back, the figure of Tragedy, the tragedy of hatred and pain where can be seen the personification of evil together with other gloomy images of men and women. The work is in the middle of a circular flower bed.
