Gnudi Sarcophagus, 1951

The tomb in travertine was commissioned by the National Union of Railwaymen to celebrate Ennio Gnudi (1893-1949). Exponent of the Bolognese working class, Gnudi had become mayor after Francesco Zanardi, an appointment that lasted only a few minutes due to the well-known "massacre of Palazzo d'Accursio" by Fascists on November 21, 1920, which forced him into exile.
The deceased is depicted lying on a classical sarcophagus, supported by a procession of six pallbearers who figuratively accompany him into the afterlife and that portray those same workers who Gnudi had defended all his life: the young men and the elderly, but significantly also a woman, all bearing the tools of their trade (railway worker, blacksmith, rice worker...).
The sculptor Farpi Vignoli (1907-1997) therefore takes a classic theme and reinvents it in a modern way, with a monument of great emotional impact that communicates a clear social message, very different from his very first work which had a sport theme.
This is demonstrated by the inscription to one side that reads "To Ennio Gnudi / the Italian railway workers / which he led in their / labour struggles".