Libero Gozzini, THE SOW

«Some strangely claim that it took its name Mediolanum from a pig that was found there with its back covered in wool». 

The legend of the half-mouthed sow is attested from the 4th century AD: the name Mediolanum is said to derive from this animal, seen in a dream by the one who, according to Livy, was the mythical founder of the city, the cock prince Belloveso. It would have been a wild boar sow with the peculiarity of having very long hair on the front part of its body.
The half-mouthed sow is depicted on a capital in the Palazzo della Ragione.
In his interpretation of such an ancient symbol, Libero Gozzini has combined the traditional technique of plaster bas-relief with a much more pop style, given by the colours of Milan’s metropolitan lines and the call of the needle and thread, a reference both to the “city of fashion” and to the sculpture Needle, Thread and Knotby Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen in Piazza Cadorna.