The statues representing Ludovico Ariosto and Matteo Maria Boiardo are in Carrara marble.

They were made by Riccardo Secchi in 1916.

Naborre Campanili, a historian contemporary with Riccardo Secchi described the monuments saying that the statue representing Ludovico Ariosto portrays him as a refined boy and the statue representing Boiardo while he’s gripping a sword with his left hand and holding his poem to his chest with his right one.

In both of them there was a bronze medal with the inscription of one verse of their works.

The statues are placed on original pedestals with the inscription in Latin :” Made by R.Secchi” on the right side. The lower bases are additions, because the original ones were lost in the changes of position.

Riccardo Secchi was born in Reggio Emilia in 1871 and died in 1938.

He was a locally famous artist.

The statues were promoted by the “Cassa di Risparmio” Savings bank.

The monuments, considered important for the glory of the city, were brought inside the Public Gardens when this place was highly representative of the city. The statues were placed near two other statues donated by Parmiggiani.

The construction of the two statues aimed at glorifying Reggio Emilia. The town, in fact, is the birthplace of these two great writers of the Renaissance.

They lived between the 15^th and 16^th century.

Boiardo’s most famous work is “Orlando Innamorato”, Orlando, one of Carlo Magno’s paladins, falls in love with a beautiful woman, Angelica.

Ariosto’s most important work of is “Orlando Furioso”, which is the continuation of Boiardo’s work. The main plot is that Orlando went mad because Angelica didn’t love him.

At first the statues were made for the lobby of the Cassa di Risparmio saving bank. Then in 1926 these were moved to Cesare Battisti’s square under the porches of the building “Monte di Pieta”, because the original place was too small and there was a lack of proportions between the statues and the building.

In December 1952 the statues were stored when “Palazzo del Monte” was officially re-opened and only after a lot of criticism and discussion in 1953 they were finally brought to the Public Gardens.