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.
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.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.
References