A few days ago, more than 70 years after his death, a statue of Angelo Dall’Oca Bianca arrived in ‘his’ district: Borgo Nuovo, also known as ‘Villaggio’ by all the Veronese. Dall’Oca Bianca (Verona 1858 – 1942), a painter, is considered the founder and benefactor of this part of the city. The bronze sculpture installed portraying the artist intent on painting a view of Piazza delle Erbe at his easel has been placed in Borgo Nuovo, in the playground between Via Selinunte, Via Gela and Via Enna, at that crossroads that marks the meeting point between the various souls of the district, the suburb and the residential part.
The inauguration was cheered by the presence of a delegation of pupils from the Dall’Oca Bianca primary class, who recalled the story of the painter whose name their school bears. A painter of international renown, in the 1930s Angelo Dall’Oca Bianca helped build the ‘Village’ by donating the sum of 80.000 lire, equal to the proceeds from the sale of a painting, to the City of Verona for the construction of a neighbourhood for those living on the margins. The effigy was deliberately placed in the direction of the ‘little houses’ that still represent the artist’s estate legacy and a few steps away from the garden-tomb where his remains rest.
