On June 9, 1889 it was inaugurated in the Field of Fiori la statue to Giordano BrunoItalian astronomer, philosopher and poet, who died in Rome, condemned by the Inquisition and burned at the stake, on February 17, 1600. A man who gained considerable fame during the XNUMXth and early XNUMXth centuries.
The statue was sculpted by Ettore Ferrari, Master Mason and staunch supporter of Italian Unification, with an inscription on the base that reads: "A Bruno, il secolo da lui divinato, qui dove il rogo arse" (To Bruno, a who the century predicted, in the place where he was burned).
On April 20, 1884, Pope Leo XIII published the encyclical Humanum Genus. In response, the Freemasons decided to create a statue of the pantheist Giordano Bruno in precisely the same place where the church ordered his execution. During his inauguration, the radical politician Giovanni Bovio delivered a speech surrounded by more than one hundred Masonic flags. Since then, this square has been the annual meeting point for associations of atheists and freethinkers.
Despite being a simple statue, this one of Giordano Bruno is one of the most representative images of the neighborhood of the Trastevere. A symbol of the fight for the freedom of ideas and the condemnation of religious fanaticism. Precisely today, June 9, marks the 125th anniversary of its placement in the square.
In October 1890, just over a year after the statue was placed, Pope Leo XIII requested in his encyclical Ab Apostolici the dissolution of Freemasonry, warning Italy of its dangers.