The statue of Maradona it no longer interests the Municipality of Naples. After receiving it as a gift from the artist Dominic Sepe, and having accepted it in official form, Giunta Manfredi sent it back to the sender without even notifying the artist: we communicated the news to him in Il Mattino.
The inauguration took place, with an emotional and nostalgic party on November 25, 2021 on the first anniversary of Diego’s death, in front of the stadium. Everyone was there that day, from the councilors Cosenza, Ferrante and De Iesu, to the president Of Lawrence, by the former blues Bruscolotti and Giordano to Corrado Ferlaino, there were above all thousands of Neapolitans who wept and applauded in front of the gigantic bronze of Diego. That bronze then, pending official permits, was parked in the artist’s studio. The permits have arrived, the return to the stadium has not.
On the day of the donation, on the day of the inauguration, on the day of the official acceptance of the statue, no member of the City Council expressed doubts about the value of the work. It took nearly two years for the Administration to question whether i 30 thousand euros value of the material used alone, declared by the artist, were congruous. Then an investigation was triggered at the end of which the Municipality established that the statue is worth much more, and for this reason it must be returned. The resolution of “acknowledgement of the nullity of the deed of donation” was proposed by the mayor Manfredi himself and by the councilor for sport Emanuela Ferrante, signed last week but which became public only a few days ago, and focuses precisely on the value of the work.
The Administration appeals to the civil code according to which a donation must be commensurate with the donor’s spending possibilities. Since the artist Sepe, according to the investigation by the Municipality, does not have huge economic possibilities, and since the statue would be worth much more than the 30 thousand euros communicated, that donation cannot be accepted. But there’s more. The Municipality also clarifies that «the installation of the work at the stadium seems capable of returning to the donor a significant benefit in terms of prestige and visibility; this utility, in addition to clashing with the typical gratuitousness of the donation, can be attractive and contestable by other artists and, consequently, requires respect for the principle of impartiality and the consequent recourse to procedures of public evidence». In short, the artist would have obtained too much glory and fame for that statue of him in front of the stadium, so it must be returned to him.
Domenico Sepe, who next week will see a statue dedicated to him inaugurated in Vicenza Paolo Rossi, announces that on the question of the return of the donation he will convene a press conference in which he will tell all his truth. For now, he limits himself to conveying, in a hushed voice, his “profound bitterness for this situation. I also feel offended by the part where I’m supposed to get fame from the play, as if I’m the latest arrival…».
However, the story also hovers over thehypothesis of an investigation by the judiciary. The question is clearly explained by councilor Ferrante who writes verbatim “there are investigations … there is the investigating judiciary which believes that crimes have been committed and, therefore, violations of the rules, which the judging judiciary will evaluate” . The story of the investigations makes the artist Sepe jump on his seat: «This is new to me, if there were investigations I would be aware of it, they would have summoned me, listened to me. None of this happened. If deficiencies have been found, they certainly do not concern me or my work”. Also on the theme of participation in the inauguration of the statue, Ferrante has an answer, also sent in writing: «At the time of the inaugural ceremony, unfortunately, these implications had not yet emerged. Through the insights requested from the lawyers, following the news on the ongoing investigations, also learned from your newspaper, the circumstances listed in the resolution emerged and which led the Giunta to the decisions contained therein”.
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on Il Mattino