A terracotta sculpture depicting the entire Napoli team together with the coach Luciano Spalletti and, as the team’s guardian angel, the “eternal captain” Diego Armando Maradona. It is the creation of the crib master craftsman Christian Carpi of the Bottega Carpi in via San Gregorio Armeno, street of cribs in the heart of the ancient center of Naples, who thus wanted to pay homage to the team that is preparing to win the third championship in the history of the blue club . It took over 20 days of full-time work to create the complex work, consisting of a single block of terracotta sculpted and worked to represent the 11 starting players of Napoli, portrayed as if they were posing for a celebratory photo. “I wanted to combine my two great passions, sculpture and football”, tells Adnkronos Christian Carpi, representative of the third generation of the Bottega Carpi founded in San Gregorio Armeno in 1946.
“Driven by passion – he explains – I thought of creating a single sculpture in which the entire team was represented, rather than the statuettes of individual players”. Everyone is in the family photo: there is Kim Min-Jae, striker Victor Osimhen who has the honor of lifting the Italian Champions Cup, a trophy awarded to the club that wins the Serie A championship, then the coach Luciano Spalletti in overalls embracing his pupil Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, revelation of the championship; and again Zambo Anguissa, captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Amir Rrahmani, Matteo Politano, Stanislav Lobotka, Piotr Zielinski, goalkeeper Alex Meret and Mario Rui, a veteran of the team, in the front row with the Scudetto in his left hand. “I wanted him to keep it because I believe he is among those who deserve this championship most of all, for his stubbornness, his tenacity and his strength”, says Carpi, who wanted to add a touch of romanticism to his work .
In fact, together with the team that is preparing to become champion of Italy 2022-23 there is also Diego Armando Maradona, captain of the first two championships. The Pibe de Oro is portrayed with two wings, to play the role of guardian angel of Napoli. “I imagined it as if it had come down from the sky to celebrate with us – explains Christian Carpi – and I included it because I believe that this triumph also has a hand in it. After all, the San Paolo stadium has been renamed the Diego Armando stadium Maradona and here comes the third championship. Could it be a coincidence?”. The work will remain a unique piece, explains Carpi, despite the many requests that have reached him since it was exhibited in his workshop in San Gregorio Armeno: “My dream – he confesses – is to be able to donate it so that it can be displayed inside of the Maradona stadium, as a reminder of this unforgettable scudetto”.
Source-www.adnkronos.com