Mayor Sboarina: “Only by joining forces we can respect the commitment to Arena”

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“67 Colonne per l’Arena di Verona” (67 Columns for the Verona Arena), the fundraising-and-corporate-membership project has already collected over 1.5 million euros just one month after its official launch.

The project is led by the Arena Foundation Superintendency and by patrons Sandro Veronesi, Calzedonia Group President and Gian Luca Rana, Pastificio Rana CEO, in partnership with the Athesis publishing group.

The goal is to symbolically return 67 columns of the outermost circle of the Arena’s arches, which collapsed in 1117, with the support of 67 companies.

Mayor of Verona Federico Sboarina said: “Thank you because what you are doing shows that, in order to emerge from such a terrible pandemic, only by joining forces can we respect the double commitment we have with respect to the Arena: to preserve it as a monument and we are doing that thanks to the Art Bonus, the Cariverona Foundation and Unicredit, with a restoration that will give the amphitheatre its ancient splendour back”.

President Veronesi stated: “The Calzedonia group has supported the Foundation for 15 years and the ’67 Columns’ initiative is a message to other entrepreneurs: it is necessary to tell your story, not to make an exhibition of yourself, but to support the community, culture and the country. By talking about the contributions and investments for the Foundation, you stress how important it is and how awareness of it in Italy and around the world is an advantage for everyone”.

A symbol of Italy around the world, the economic driving force of one of Europe’s richest provinces, with the ‘living’ monument’s ancient stones, the Arena Foundation has had an educational vocation since it was founded in 1913 and it has shown itself capable of riding the wave of the new digital era: it was the first Italian foundation on social media, the fourth worldwide, and today it is involved in new technological set-ups, reports ANSA.
It has been embraced since June 9 by the new ’67 Columns’ – the leaders of the Veronese economy who responded to the appeal made by the amphitheatre, embodied by a concrete gesture to defend Verona’s cultural masterpiece and one that has an even greater symbolic importance.

Photo Danique Dohmen/Unsplash