Just a few more days and the wait will be over. The statue of Sant'Oronzo will return to stand at the top of the Roman column, in the center of the square of the same name named after the city's patron saint, from Saturday 13 April.

During a public ceremony that will begin at 12, in the presence of the mayor Carlo Salvemini and the authorities, after the blessing of the Metropolitan Archbishop Michele Seccia, the work of art, commissioned by the municipal administration to the Fonderia Nolana Del Giudice, will be hoisted and placed on the column.

Completed in the Campania Foundry atelier, will be transferred to Lecce on the afternoon of Thursday 11 April, escorted by the City of Lecce Band at the entrance to the square. The copy will remain temporarily housed in front of the Seat, for the benefit of all those who want to see it up close, from the moment of its arrival in the square until the morning of Saturday 13 April, when it will be hoisted and fixed on the column. The Banda Città di Lecce will musically accompany this moment.

Guests of honor at the placement ceremony on Saturday will be all the donors who, through the Art Bonus tool, contributed to raising the sum of 240.630 euros, necessary for the creation of the copy of the original statue, kept in Palazzo Carafa. A goal that could not have been achieved without the generosity of the Banca Popolare Pugliese which donated 100 thousand euros, of the Ediltunnel company of Lecce which contributed 70 thousand euros and of all those who donated small amounts and larger sums which will be listed (subject having given consent) in a totem installed next to the copy in the two days in which it will be exhibited in the square.

On the afternoon of Friday 12 April, in the Open Space room of Palazzo Carafa, at 18.30 pm, the conference "The Patron, the statue and the copy" by the art historian Raffaele Casciaro, scientific consultant of the municipal administration on behalf of of the University of Salento who followed all the phases from the definition of the technique with which to make the copy up to its creation and placement.

Similar, almost identical in shape, different in execution technique, the new simulacrum of Saint Oronzo takes the place of the original which, fragile and worn by time, was put away. Citizens and visitors will see the silhouette of the Patron Saint dominating his square, while they will continue to enjoy up close, for now in the nearby entrance hall of Palazzo Carafa, the statue from 1739, admiring the details and grasping the technical aspects (and defects).
The conference will talk about the history of the original, its conservation vicissitudes, the reasons why it could not return to its column and the process that led to the creation of the copy.

The Curia of Lecce has also prepared a religious program to celebrate the return of the Patron Saint to the square. On Thursday 11 April, at 9.30 am, the silver half-bust of the saint preserved in the diocesan museum of sacred art will be displayed in the cathedral and the votive lamp will be lit, as a sign of thanks and veneration. Saturday morning, at 11.45am in the cathedral, the archbishop with all the priests of the city and the faithful who wish, during a short moment of prayer, will entrust the city and the diocese to the patron saint before reaching Piazza Sant'Oronzo in procession for the public ceremony. At 12.30 all the bells of the city churches will ring to celebrate the copy returned to the column.

The creation of the copy was a collective operation that involved the Municipality and the Curia together with the scientific consultancy of Department of Cultural Heritage and the Department of Engineering of the University of Salento and the support of the Superintendency. In addition to the physical creation of the copy, its transport and installation, with the proceeds of the Art Bonus, the production of a video-documentary and a printed notebook-volume on the entire process of the project was also financed by the studio preliminary to the placement of the copy on the column, by Emiliano Carico of the Department of Cultural Heritage of UniSalento, and the valorization of the original statue.