Monument to the fallen in the Great War - Alcamo

This monument to the fallen in the Great War (1915-1918) and the dedication of the residents of Alcamo who emigrated to Brooklyn was inaugurated in 1929.

What is typical of the monument is that the sculptor had to take into account the hyperclassical program of Mussolini's regime. A few years after 1924, the fascist regime encouraged the erection – in all towns and villages of Italy – of monuments to celebrate the memory of the soldiers who died in the First World War. And in order to thus encourage an enrichment of the ornamental heritage of all the country's municipalities, Mussolini certainly recommended not skimping on rhetorical symbolism.

This is reflected in this monument: the pedestal is not an altar as in most cases, but a small temple with a blind colonnade. At the base there is another typical motif: an eagle whose body - torso and face - is engraved in a victory wreath and forms a large bronze medallion. Moreover , Victory does not crown the soldier, but places a helmet on his head; not a bowl helmet, typical of soldiers from the Great War, but rather a helmet more typical of ancient (Roman) warriors.

During the First World War , four hundred citizens of Alcamo died .

Willem Vandenameele