Restoring Milan's Duomo, one statue at a time

Ornamentalist Antonino Cagnina chisels a replica of the gargoyle (left) it will replace on the cathedral's exterior.

Sun, 22 Dec 2024

By Brigitte Hagemann,with photography by Piero Cruciatti In a workshop in the Milan suburbs, sculptor Giovanni Calderino completes his latest project – a battered statue from the top of the Italian city's gothic cathedral, and its gleaming white replacement.Depicting a bearded man wearing a tunic, the marble statue has adorned one of the Duomo's 135 spires for two centuries. But decades of harsh weather, pollution and the bombings of the Second World War have taken their toll, leaving it discoloured and missing its right hand...

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