What could probably be the first statue in Italy dedicated to judo was installed this morning in Fornaci di Barga in the piazza del Tricolore (piazza della stazione) just outside the railway station.
As you can hear in the interview (in Italiano) at the end of this article with the director of the Judo Club Fornaci di Barga, dott Ivano Carlesi, the life-size bronze statue by Stefano Pierotti cast at the Da Prato foundry in Pietrasanta is there to honour the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Judo Club Fornaci di Barga and the four generations of students who have since passed through their doors.
Also present this morning as the statue was being craned in and manoeuvered into position was Dott. Oscar Bartol, a freelance journalist now living in Washington DC USA who was one of the founder members of the Judo Club Fornaci di Barga back in 1963 (he too talks at length (in Italiano) in the interview about the position and need for judo in society in the past and its importance in modern life today.
Tomorrow 16 November will be the official unveiling for the statue and also the presentation of dott Ivano Carlesi new book “Judo Club Fornaci 50 anni di vita, 50 anni di amore per lo sport”
dott Ivano Carlesi and dott. Oscar Bartoli talking about the statue in Fornaci di Barga