"High Five, Pavarotti." A skating rink has been built around a monument to the famous tenor in Italy.
A scandal has erupted in Italy after an ice rink was built around a bronze statue of the famous tenor Luciano Pavarotti in the city of Pesaro. As a result, the sculpture ended up as if "knee-deep in ice" and fenced off with plexiglass walls, writes the BBC.
The singer's widow, Nicoletta Mantovani, harshly criticized the local authorities, calling the decision absurd and offensive to the memory of a man who glorified Italy. The mayor of the city, Andrea Biancani, has already publicly apologized and admitted that his team made a mistake.
However, before the opening of the rink, the mayor even posted a humorous edited photo in which the statue seemed to be playing hockey, with the caption "High five, Pavarotti," which caused even more outrage from the family.
The statue in Pesaro was installed in April 2024, and the musician's widow and daughter attended its opening. Pavarotti often visited this city and had a villa there, as well as the status of honorary citizen.
The mayor said that at first he was told that the rink project would not affect the sculpture, but later the builders changed the plan. It is now impossible to move the statue or dismantle the rink, but the authorities promise that this will not happen again.
Luciano Pavarotti is considered one of the greatest opera singers of all time. He became a global star after performances by the "Three Tenors" and the legendary performance of Nessun Dorma. He died in 2007 of pancreatic cancer. He left behind four daughters, and the musician's second wife, Nicoletta Mantovani, remarried in 2020.
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