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Beniamino Gigli at Montecorona

Monument to a Successful Businessman

[image ALT: A statue of a man in a business suit, on a base of rough-hewn marble. About 3 meters to his right, a jagged piece of marble with an inscription. It is a monument to Beniamino Gigli at the abbey of Montecorona, near Umbertide, Umbria (central Italy).]

This monument to Beniamino Gigli stands just east of the abbey of S. Salvatore di Montecorona.

Preparing to visit the beautiful medieval abbey of Montecorona for the first time, I was surprised to see, without any explanation, this monument to the operatic tenor Beniamino Gigli.

The explanation is a simple one: the singer once owned the nearby hermitage, one of his more transient real estate investments in 1938‑1939 — which probably also explains the business suit. Still, it is as a singer of course that he is memorialized. And no, you mustn't get the idea he was born around here, or even in Umbria: rather, at Recanati, on the coast of the Marche, many miles from Montecorona.

[image ALT: A jagged piece of marble with an inscription, transcribed on this page. It is part of a monument to Beniamino Gigli at the abbey of Montecorona, near Umbertide, Umbria (central Italy).]]
"Cantó come nessuno mai . . ."
Beniamino Gigli
cantante lirico
1890‑1957
Queste colline armoniose, queste fertili valli . . .
La verde Umbria e', da sempre, nel mio cuore . . .

( Dalle "Memorie" di B. Gigli )

"He sang like no one ever did . . ."
Beniamino Gigli
lyric singer
1890‑1957
These harmonious hills, these fertile valleys . . .
Green Umbria has always been in my heart . . .

( From the "Memorie" of B. Gigli )

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Site updated: 26 Mar 09