The Garden of Memory: a place of collective memory of the deportees from Montemurlo
In the garden of Bagnolo already dedicated to the deportee Erasmo Meoni.
A place and a monument dedicated to the people who were arrested by Nazis and Fascists during the period of the Italian Social Republic and the German occupation from the autumn of 1943 to the spring of 1944 and deported into the Nazi concentration camp system managed by the SS WVHA.
Montemurlo was for them a place of birth, residence or arrest.
The list was compiled thanks to the work of historical research and documentation by the Foundation Museum and Documentation Center of Deportation and Resistance of Prato, on the initiative of the Municipality of Montemurlo. The works installed in the garden will be donated to the Municipality of Montemurlo by the artist Ignazio Fresu. The central contemporary work of the place of memory will be characterized by the installation of columns that recall exposed raw concrete. The choice of “brutal” materials in the architectural sense of the term — exposed concrete, rough surfaces, essential forms — is not accidental when it comes to commemorating tragic events. Architectural literature in fact tells us that these materials speak a language of truth, hardness, and permanence that symbolically opposes the fragility of human life and the historical brutality that is intended to be commemorated.
Raw concrete offers that combination of formal rigor, visual impact and symbolic depth that characterizes the best examples of contemporary commemorative art. Its aesthetic precisely recalls the established tradition of places of memory that use this language to convey seriousness, permanence and respect for the victims.
In an era in which we are witnessing the re-emergence of phenomena of intolerance and discrimination, we believe that this place can assume a fundamental educational value. Through knowledge of our local history, we want to offer citizens — and in particular the new generations — concrete tools to recognize and counter every form of fanaticism, racism and discrimination.
A path of memory for the community
The Garden of Memory is part of a broader project that includes the commemorative stone of Marcello Martini at the Quercione del Mulino and the roundabout dedicated to Anna Pardini and the Martyrs of Sant’Anna di Stazzema. The objective is to create a true path of memory that crosses the town, connecting the symbolic places of our history.
This path will be experienced by schools, by the Municipal Youth Council, and by all citizens as a tool of permanent civic education. Memory is not only the commemoration of the past, but a key for interpreting the present and a responsibility toward the future.
A commitment for future generations
The Garden of Memory represents the concrete commitment of the Municipal Administration in the formation of aware citizens. As demonstrated by the projects of the Municipal Youth Council and the upcoming Journey of Memory 2026, we invest in the construction of an active citizenship capable of safeguarding the democratic values of peace and solidarity expressed in our Constitution.
The inauguration, scheduled for March 7, 2026 in the presence of family members and citizens, will mark not an end point, but the beginning of a permanent path of reflection and civic commitment that will involve the entire community of Montemurlo.
So that memory may continue to be a collective heritage also in the future.
The work
The installation “The Garden of Memory” of Montemurlo is composed partly of the work “Death Will Come and It Will Have Your Eyes” by Ignazio Fresu and, in the new installation, reflects on the relationship between memory, time and public space. The stelae-menhirs that compose it present themselves as essential presences: vertical, sober and silent forms that evoke the most ancient architectures of memory and invite the visitor to a slow and conscious crossing of the space.
The title of the work, taken from a poem by Cesare Pavese, introduces the theme of finitude not as an image of closure, but as an opportunity for awareness. The work does not propose itself as a celebratory or figurative monument, but as a place of meditation in which individual and collective memory can emerge freely.
In the context of Montemurlo the installation enters into dialogue with the memory of the strike of March 7, 1944 and the Nazi-fascist repression that struck the local community. The stelae do not represent individual names, but allude to the collective dimension of that historical event, restoring to the public space a place of shared memory and civic reflection.
