In the Kingdom of Italy from the Unification to the Great War, monumental statuary represented one of the most interesting episodes, from both artistic and political point of view. Commissioned by spontaneous committees, associations and local authorities, the statues honoured and illustrated characters and episodes from recent history, and pro-posed historical figures as representatives of national identity. Many statues were explic-itly desired, defended and supported by Freemasonry, in open dispute with the Catholic Church. The essay proposes some exemplary cases.
