Sure Wilson
The mayor of the Italian city of Pesaro has apologized to the family of Luciano Pavarotti after a Christmas ice rink was built around a statue erected in honor of the opera star.
Nicoletta Mantonvani, Pavarotti's widow, told local media that she was "angry and upset" because it was "mocking" her husband, who died in 2007.
A temporary ice rink was set up in the central city square, leaving Pavarotti's statue "trapped" in the ice.
Pavarotti's statue is knee-deep in ice and surrounded by plexiglass.
Mayor Andrea Bianchi said he did not intend to offend anyone, admitting that "a mistake was made."
Before the rink opened, Bianchi posted a photoshopped photo of a statue of Pavarotti playing ice hockey with the hashtag "High-five Pavarotti."
"I didn't expect the city to allow this kind of treatment of the memory and image of a man who made Italy famous all over the world," Mantonvani told the newspaper. Rest of the Carlino.
She accused the municipality of "bad and absurd decisions."
A life-size bronze statue was unveiled in April 2024 in Pesaro.
Mantonvani and Alisa, her and Pavarotti's daughter, were present at the time.
The couple often spent their summers in Pesaro, where the opera singer had a villa and was an honorary citizen.
"When I was presented with the plans for the ice rink, I was convinced that the ice would not touch the Pavarotti statue, and only later did I learn that the designers had to change the construction," Bianchini told Rest of the Carlino.
The newspaper called the whole case "Pavarotti on Ice".
The mayor of Pesaro added that it is now not possible to dismantle the ice rink or move the statue, but also that something like this "will not happen again."
Pavarotti was an Italian tenor and one of the most famous opera stars of all time.
For decades, he performed solo all over the world, but also as a member of the famous trio - The Three Tenors - with Spaniards Plácido Domingo and José Carreras.
They performed between 1990 and 2003.
Paravoti's interpretation was also remembered. Nessun Dorma, from Puccini's opera Turandot, which he sang at the opening of the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
He last performed at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin, in February 2006.
He died in September 2007, at the age of 71, after being previously diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
He left behind four daughters from two marriages.
Mantonvani was his second wife.
In 2020, she married financial advisor Alberto Tinarelli.
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