Enio Gnudi was appointed the Mayor of Bologna in 1920, but his elected post lasted only minutes due to a violent Fascist attack (The Massacre of Palazzo d' Accursio). He was subsequently forced into exile. Gnudi spent his life defending the working class and being occasionally arrested and imprisoned for his actions. For many years he lived in exile in France, Switzerland and Canada, among other countries, before returning to Italy in 1945. In 1946 he was elected General Secretary of the Italian Railroad Union.
His sarcophagus was commissioned to the sculptor Farpi Vignoli. It depicts Gnudi's sarcophagus being carried by the working people whom he had defended all of his life - the elderly, young working-class men, and unusually for the time, a woman. The figures are wearing and bearing the instruments of their trades - railway working, blacksmith, etc.
Enio Gnudi was appointed the Mayor of Bologna in 1920, but his elected post lasted only minutes due to a violent Fascist attack (The Massacre of Palazzo d' Accursio). He was subsequently forced into exile. Gnudi spent his life defending the working class and being occasionally arrested and imprisoned for his actions. For many years he lived in exile in France, Switzerland and Canada, among other countries, before returning to Italy in 1945. In 1946 he was elected General Secretary of the Italian Railroad Union.
His sarcophagus was commissioned to the sculptor Farpi Vignoli. It depicts Gnudi's sarcophagus being carried by the working people whom he had defended all of his life - the elderly, young working-class men, and unusually for the time, a woman. The figures are wearing and bearing the instruments of their trades - railway working, blacksmith, etc.
Bio by: Suzanne Hye
Inscription
"To Ennio Gnudi / the Italian railway workers / which he led in their / labour struggles".
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