A work created by the sculptor and senator Giulio Monteverde in 1902, made under the strong desire of a Citizens' Committee and the municipal administration to remember and celebrate the memory of the man who initiated industrialization in the area and brought the Rossi Wool Mill to become the largest Italian industry in the second half of the nineteenth century.
The Rossi stands proudly on a cylindrical base with a cogwheel at the end; he holds one hand along his side while the left rests on books placed on a table, symbols of the core values to which the industrialist always aspired: work and study.
Lower down, a child kneels on the lap of a young woman to offer a flower to the senator; the woman likely represents the City of Schio, intending to propose to future generations (the child) the ideal of Rossi's life based on the duality of culture and work.
On the base there is also a plaque that commemorates the anniversary of the foundation of the “Rossi” Industrial Technical Institute in Vicenza, financed and established by the will of the industrialist himself. The educational issue passionately engaged Alessandro Rossi throughout his life, confirming his deep desire for improving the educational system and school politics of the time.
The statue is located in a significant and central position relative to the church of Sant'Antonio Abate, the former Elementary Schools, the Working-Class neighborhood la Nuova Schio, and the railway, all works realized thanks to the will and financial support of Senator Rossi.
The work is made of bronze and stone.
Photo: archive of the Municipality of Schio.
