An afternoon that was supposed to be an institutional meeting turned into an unpleasant misadventure for the Industrial Advisor of the Sardinia Region Emanuele Cani. Last Wednesday, around 3 p.m., as he was climbing the grand staircase of the Palazzo Piacentini Vaccaro, headquarters of the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy, Cani slipped from the staircase and ended up at the bottom right of the grand window. Labor Charter From Mario Sironiwhich was destroyed by the impact.“I slipped on the stairs, fell and hit part of the glass”the council members themselves confirmed it. “I’m fine, I just had a little bruise, but I’m sorry for the damage.”. The 118 personnel present at the building immediately treated him for minor injuries. The incident was filmed by several people present and images circulated social media.
Assess damaged work
Monumental stained glass window Labor Chartercreated by Sironi in 1932 on the orders of the Minister of Corporations Giuseppe Bottaiis one of the masterpieces of mural art during the fascist era. Covering 75 square meters, it depicts arts and crafts, industrial symbols, powerful figures, airplanes and smokestacks: a visual story of the modernist rhetoric of work as a founding value of the nation. The work dominates the central staircase of the building designed by Marcello Piacentini And Giuseppe Vaccaroa building that over time houses the Ministry of Corporations, Industry, Economic Development and currently Business and Made in Italy.
Sironi family’s voice: “Recover immediately”
News of the accident also reached the artist’s descendants. Romana Sironithe grandson of the master and curator of the archive dedicated to him, expressed his regret and concern: “I wish councilor Cani a speedy recovery. I hope immediate action is taken to restore one of the most significant works of Sironi monumental art”. The work was the subject of an important restoration in 2014, financed by Acea on the occasion of a major exhibition at the Vittoriano Complex. This intervention has clarified the original color and consolidated the surface with special techniques, from suction to araldite infiltration, to protection with silicates.
Mario Sironi, expert on Italian modernity
Born in Sassari in 1885, Sironi was a painter, sculptor, illustrator and set designer, a key figure of the twentieth-century movement and one of the main interpreters of the return to wall painting in the thirties. Also among his most famous works Italy between Art and Science (1935), which dominates the Aula magna of the Sapienza University of Rome with the same plastic and monumental power that distinguishes it Labor Charter.
What will happen now
After the accident, the damaged glass was secured. The ministry will now evaluate new timing and methods restorative interventionit is inevitable to return the work to its integrity.
Meanwhile, board member Cani – shaken but in good condition – wanted to reaffirm his closeness to curators and artist scholars: “I wish councilor Cani a speedy recovery. I hope immediate action is taken to restore one of the most significant works of Sironi monumental art”.
