Piazza Gioberti Obelisk

Address

Piazza Gioberti - 42121 Reggio nell'Emilia

How to get there

Reggio nell'Emilia - Town centre

The obelisk is located in the middle of a stretch of water in Piazza Gioberti, that connects Corso Garibaldi to Via Emilia in the town centre.

Historical notes

In 1842 an entire city-block (called Guaschi) was demolished , and it became an open and airy place: today's Piazza Gioberti. It was then called after a newlywed noblewoman: Adelgonda Square, Princess of Bavaria , who married Crown Prince Francesco V d 'Este that exact year , and the obelisk was built for that occasion. The site was chosen because it was next to the Governor's Palace, the ducal residence of the Este.

From 1859, after the fall of the Este family, the square is dedicated to Vincenzo Gioberti.
In 1882 the obelisk was dedicated to the first martyrs of liberty, the first casualties of the Italian Risorgimento

In 2019, as part of the project to enhance the legacy of the Este Duchy, Piazza Gioberti was the subject of an important redevelopment project.
The crowning of the Obelisk of Piazza Gioberti has been redesigned by an elliptical-shaped basin (which absorbs the geometrical and perspective inhomogeneities of the square), a sort of "mirror" and "water veil" of 3 centimeters, which recalls the taste of the Este for the water games so present not only at the Royal Palace but in many of the Este residences, first of all in the famous Villa d'Este in Tivoli.