Francesco Messina

Francesco Messina was one of the most important Italian figurative sculptors of the twentieth century, born in Linguaglossa, Catania, in 1900. He grew up in Genoa, where he moved with his family at a young age, beginning his artistic training as an apprentice in a marble workshop and attending drawing courses. From 1922, he regularly exhibited at the Venice Biennale and participated in exhibitions with the "Novecento Italiano" group in Milan between 1926 and 1929. In 1932, he moved to Milan, where in 1934 he obtained the sculpture chair at the Brera Academy, becoming its director in 1936.

Throughout his career, he took part in numerous international exhibitions in cities such as Barcelona, Berlin, Paris, and São Paulo, establishing himself as a leading figure in Italian sculpture. Among his most famous works are the monument to Christopher Columbus in Chiavari, the equestrian monument in Pavia, the monument to Pius XII in St. Peter's Basilica, and the renowned "Dying Horse" located at the entrance of RAI in Rome. In 1942, he won the Sculpture Prize at the Venice Biennale and was named Academician of Italy in 1943.

After World War II, despite a temporary removal from the Brera Academy, he resumed his teaching and artistic activities, continuing to exhibit and create significant works until his death in Milan in 1995. In 1974, the Civic Museum-Studio Francesco Messina was inaugurated in Milan, housing a large collection of his works and highlighting his fundamental contribution to twentieth-century Italian sculpture.