Pavarotti on Ice: The Strange Story of the Tenor Statue Trapped in a Pesaro Skating Rink
Since 2013, one of the oddest sights in Italian public art has greeted visitors to the coastal city of Pesaro: a larger-than-life bronze statue of Luciano Pavarotti, arms outstretched in mid-aria, permanently encased inside a year-round ice-skating rink. What was meant as a triumphant hometown tribute to the city’s most famous son has become a surreal symbol of bureaucratic absurdity, bad planning, and the tenor’s own oversized legacy.
How Did a Pavarotti Statue End Up in an Ice Rink?
The saga began innocently enough. In 2007, on the 50th anniversary of Pavarotti’s professional debut (which took place in nearby Reggio Emilia), Pesaro commissioned sculptor Stefano Pierotti to create a monumental bronze of the Maestro for the seaside promenade. The 3.2-metre, 800 kg statue was unveiled in October 2013 at a ceremony attended by the tenor’s widow Nicoletta Mantovani and local dignitaries.
The original plan: place it on the Piazzale della Libertà, facing the Adriatic Sea, where Pavarotti loved to stroll.
Reality: the city had already granted that exact spot to a private company for a temporary winter skating rink in 2011. When the concession was quietly extended into a 10-year contract, the statue was left… literally inside the rink.
City officials promised the rink would be “seasonal” and the statue would be visible in summer. Instead, the operator turned it into a permanent year-round facility called “Pavarotti on Ice.” The bronze tenor now spends 365 days a year surrounded by coloured lights, plastic penguins, and children doing figure-eights around his ankles.
The Statue’s Current Fate (November 2025)
- Location: Piazzale della Libertà, Pesaro – dead centre of the ice surface
- Accessibility: You can only see it up close by paying €9 to rent skates
- Condition: Remarkably well preserved (the cold helps), though the base is often hidden under artificial snow
- Public reaction: A mix of amusement and outrage. Locals call it “Il Prigioniero” (The Prisoner); tourists take selfies with captions like “Nessun dorma… on ice!”
Attempts to Free Pavarotti
Over the years there have been multiple rescue campaigns:
2016 – Nicoletta Mantovani publicly asked for the statue to be moved
2019 – A petition with 12,000 signatures demanded relocation to the new Rossini Opera Festival plaza
2023 – Pesaro’s designation as Italian Capital of Culture renewed calls for a more dignified setting
2024 – The rink operator offered to “share” the square if the city paid €400,000 to relocate the statue themselves
As of November 2025, the contract runs until 2028. The city says it cannot break the agreement without paying massive penalties. The operator insists the statue is “the rink’s biggest attraction.”
A Fittingly Operatic End?
In a twist that feels straight out of a comic opera, the man who sang “Vincerò!” is condemned to eternal encores inside a disco-lit ice oval while skaters whirl around him to remix versions of “Nessun Dorma.” Tourists laugh, Pesaro natives sigh, and Pavarotti – frozen in triumphant bronze pose – remains exactly where bureaucratic Italy put him: centre stage, yet utterly trapped.
If you visit Pesaro this winter, bring skates. The only way to shake the Maestro’s hand is to glide right up to him on the ice that refuses to melt until at least 2028.
For the latest (and photos of the surreal scene), check the local coverage at Il Resto del Carlino: https://www.ilrestodelcarlino.it/pesaro/cronaca/pavarotti-statua-pattinaggio-ghiacchio
The rink’s own Instagram (yes, really): https://instagram.com/pavarottionice_pesaro