Sancarlone
The San Carlone or Sancarlone or the Colossus of San Carlo Borromeo is a massive copper statue, erected between 1614 and 1698, near Arona, Italy. It represents Charles Borromeo, Catholic saint and former archbishop of Milan.
It is built on a hill overlooking Lago Maggiore near the ancestral castle of the Borromeo family. A series of chapels was planned documenting the life of the saint, forming a Sacro Monte for religious meditation and veneration. Only three were eventually built.
The statue was designed by Giovan Battista Crespi, (known as Il Cerano), and erected by Siro Zanella of Pavia and Bernardo Falconi of Lugano. It was begun in 1614, soon after St Charles Borromeo's canonization. The 23.5 metre statue is finished with sheets of hammered copper, and joined with bolts. It stands on a granite pedestal, 11.5 metres high. The interior can be accessed by narrow stairs and ladders, allowing visitors to peer through the eyes and ears.
Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the French artist who designed the Statue of Liberty, visited Arona in 1869 on his way back from Egypt to study the statue’s structure. The colossus of Arona is mentioned on the plaque posed at the feet of the Statue of Liberty.
