The Monument to Francesco Petrarca is a sculpture in Arezzo, located in the beautiful park of the city, Prato, on top of the San Pietro Hill. Francesco Petrarca, anglicized as Petrarch, was an Italian poet of early Renaissance, born in Arezzo on July 20, 1304. SHORT HISTORY In 1902, a group of people formed the Committee for Honors of Francesco Petrarca, and decided to build a monument dedicated to the poet of Arezzo, on the occasion of the sixth centenary of his birth. In 1904, a competition was launched, and a Royal Decree provided the funds for the construction of the monument. However, the result was not satisfactory, and a second competition was held two years later, and a third one in 1907, when the design of Alessandro Lazzerini was chosen as the winner. On July 31, 1909, the contract was signed, but due to a series of delays the first stone was laid only on December 12, 1914. Then, the works were stopped during the First World War. In 1924, Benito Mussolini, head of the government, allocated the necessary funds to start the work. Thus, began the extraction of the marble blocks and their processing in the artist’s Read more [...]