Statue of Freak Antoni – Bologna, Italy - Atlas Obscura
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Statue of Freak Antoni

Bologna, Italy

A beloved local artist has been honored with this statue of a man emerging from a toilet. 

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Statue of Freak Antoni wpb (Atlas Obscura User)
Left: Statue of Freak Antoni wpb (Atlas Obscura User)
Right: 'Freak' Antoni on a warm fall day. krisxine (Atlas Obscura User)
'Freak' Antoni on a warm fall day. krisxine (Atlas Obscura User)
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How to express a city’s love for one of its own, a figure who embodied its spirit of rebellion and irony? Bologna immortalized Roberto “Freak” Antoni, a hero of the absurd, with a ton of Carrara marble in a popular park. Freak is dressed in a rumpled tuxedo, almost shyly rising from a toilet, assisted by a rocket-powered jetpack strapped to his back. The statue exudes both humor and gravitas. Appropriate for a country that takes its culture seriously.

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The statue is in a lovely urban park laid out for small concerts and adjacent to a popular cinema and modern art museum.

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June 29, 2019
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Nearby
Bologna Centrale Station Clock
0.46 miles
Finestrella di Via Piella
0.54 miles
Monument to Fallen Partisans
0.64 miles
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