An Italian city’s clumsy attempt to incorporate a life-size bronze statue of Pavarotti into a Christmas ice-skating rink has struck the wrong note with the famous singer’s family and fans.
The statue – which features a smiling Luciano Pavarotti wearing a concert tux and with his arms outstretched – was unveiled only last year in front of the Rossina Theatre in Pesaro’s Piazzale Lazzarini.
But when the coastal city decided to install a 23-metre x 12-metre ice rink in the square for the Christmas season, it found the smiling tenor was in the way.
The solution? Embed the maestro in the ice and “cage” him within a balustrade to protect both the skaters and statue.
In the process, poor Pavarotti was essentially cut off at the knees, with local newspaper Il Resto del Carlino suggesting he seemed to be throwing up his arms in resignation, as if to say: “What can I do? They’ve reduced me to this …”
The ice rink opened on November 29, but by then the treatment of Pavarotti’s statue had already gone viral – helped along by Pesaro Mayor Andrea Biancini encouraging people to give it a high-five with the hashtag #daiuncinqueapavarotti.
Digitally altered social media posts showed the bronze maestro wearing ice skates, playing ice hockey and dancing, as well as with one leg raised as if trying to escape from the ice. While some users thought the statue’s treatment was disrespectful, others saw a funny side to the frozen fiasco.
“The immortalisation of the very famous moment when Pavarotti became a dwarf and went up on a children’s snowboard,” quipped one.
“If they play hockey they can always use him as goalie,” wrote another.
However, Pavarotti’s widow Nicoletta Mantovani – who had attended the statue’s unveiling in 2024 with the couple’s two daughters – was not amused.
She told Il Resto del Carlino she was shocked when she saw photos of the statue within the rink, saying it seemed like a “poorly executed, absurd decision”.
“On the one hand, they want to pay homage to him, on the other, they’re ridiculing him. It’s not right.”
Her comments prompted an apology from Biancini and an acknowledgement that the local council had made a mistake.
The mayor said there had been no intention to disrespect Pavarotti, who died in 2007 and had long had a significant connection to Pesaro, where he kept a villa and was an honorary citizen.
Nonetheless, in explaining his own earlier social media posts, Biancini added that the tenor “wasn’t a sullen man; he loved life”.
Biancini explained to the local newspaper that when the skating rink was originally proposed for Piazzale Lazzarini, he had been assured the statue wouldn’t be touched. That changed when the technicians went to assemble it and realised the required dimensions meant Pavarotti would end up inside the rink.
The skate rink was installed around the statue. Photo: Il Resto del Carlino.
The statue couldn’t be temporarily moved because it is fixed to a reinforced concrete plinth. The rink couldn’t be shuffled along because space was required in front of it to give ambulances access to an adjacent hospital.
However, Biancini promised Pavarotti won’t end up in the same position if the rink returns next Christmas, insisting he never meant to offend anyone.
“The bond between Pesaro and Pavarotti is a source of pride … we didn’t do anything intentionally to create controversy or visibility,” he said.
The statue, by Albano Poli, was originally unveiled amid much fanfare.
@corriereadriatico.it A Pesaro è stata inaugurata una statua a grandezza naturale dedicata al grande tenore Luciano Pavarotti. La statua si trova davanti al teatro Rossini e all’evento ha presenziato la moglie del Maestro Nicoletta Mantovani.#corriereadriatico #lucianopavarotti #gioachinorossini #pesaro #marche ♬ suono originale – Corriere Adriatico
It was described by Pesaro’s former mayor and deputy mayor as “a gift to the city” and a tribute to Pavarotti – “an extraordinary artist who has never been forgotten, [and an] honorary citizen of Pesaro”.
They said at the time: “It will be located in Piazzale Lazzarini, at the intersection with Via Curiel, in a position in perspective of the fountain so that it can greet and welcome with its presence the people of Pesaro and visitors who enter the square coming from Via Branca, almost as if to invite them to the theatre.”
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