“We have to do in Maratea, on Monte San Biagio, a statue like this, I have to talk about it with Cav. Biagio Vitolo “.

Thus, during his trip to Brazil to Rio de Janeiro, the idea of the statue of Christ the Redeemer was born to Stefano Rivetti. 

Back in Florence where he resided with his family, Stefano Rivetti commissioned Prof. Bruno Innocenti the realization of the great statue; Hence the first trips of the sculptor to Maratea to carry out inspections, conceive and study his Christ: “I matured the first ideas of the statue in 1957, through study and sketches performed on the spot and after careful evaluation of all the local characteristics. The inclusion in the landscape (in that typical landscape) of such a gigantic work of size, was the reason on which my preliminary studies were based more “ 

“Count Stefano strongly wanted the statue on that site and in that position to symbolize the rebirth of Maratea and the South”.

The work was entirely financed in all its aspects, by the first sketches of development preparation, and to the definitive realization on site, from the generosity of the count; without any external contribution.