The monument was realized in the foundries of Rome on 24 December and moved to Bagnoregio on 26 June 1896. The two-and-half meter high bronze statue stands on a granite pedestal and represents the saint while holding out one hand as to protect the town. In the other hand, the effigy bears a scroll with the inscription “In omnibus Deum videas et laudes.”
The citizens of Bagnoregio constituted a committee in 1892 with the aim of building a monument dedicated to their most illustrious and beloved fellow citizen, St. Bonaventure. The inauguration of the statue, placed in Piazza S. Agostino, occurred in 1897. Sculptor Cesare Aureli was in charge of the project from 1893. The structure was conceived as a summary of the friar’s life, doctrine, and virtue. The artist represented three episodes on the plinth supporting the statue. The first is the miraculous healing through the intercession of St. Francis. Then, there’s the anecdote about the visit of St. Thomas, who asked the saint from where he had obtained his unparalleled knowledge, and Bonaventure answered, “From the love for the crucifix.” The last describes the Council of Lyon, where Bonaventure made use of his eloquence to perorate the reunion of the Greek and Latin Churches.
