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The Colossus of San Carlo Borromeo
The Statue of San Carlo stands on a hill at about 310 meters above sea level, on the road that connects Arona with Dagnente. At about 35 meters in height you can also see it from the lake, as it peeps out among the centuries-old trees that surround it.
The work, completed in 1698, was created on a project by Giovan Battista Crespi called “il Cerano”. The sculptors Siro Zanella and Bernardo Falconi slightly modified the design of the Cerano, increasing the proportions of the statue.
Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, who designed the Statue of Liberty, stayed in the city of Arona to study the structure of the colossus. At the foot of the statue of New York, a plaque recalls that it was built on the model of the Colossus of Arona, from which it took away the primacy of the tallest statue in the world.
