Template:POTD/2024-11-18
.jpg)
The Apennine Colossus is a stone statue, approximately 11 m (36 ft) tall, in the estate of Villa Demidoff (originally Villa di Pratolino) in Vaglia, Tuscany, Italy. Giambologna created the colossal figure, a personification of the Apennine Mountains, in the late 1580s. The statue has the appearance of an elderly man crouched at the shore of a lake, squeezing the head of a sea monster through whose open mouth water originally emanated into the pond in front of the statue. The colossus is depicted naked, with stalactites in the thick beard and long hair to show the metamorphosis of man and mountain, blending his body with the surrounding nature. It is made of stone and plaster and the interior houses a series of chambers and caves on three levels. Initially, the back of the Colossus was protected by a structure resembling a cave, which was demolished around 1690 by the sculptor Giovanni Battista Foggini, who built a statue of a dragon to adorn the back of the colossus. More recently, the Italian sculptor Rinaldo Barbetti renovated the statue in 1876. This photo shows the Apennine Colossus in 2023.Photograph credit: Rhododendrites