The sandstone statue of Andrea Memmo an Italian scholar, politician and diplomat at the service of the Republic of Venice is one of the 78 statues located around a huge elliptical channel on a largest square in Italy and one of the largest ones in the Europe, Prato della Valle in Padova. It was just thanks to Andrea Memmo that the square became a world-renowned site. In 1775 Andrea Memmo, whose statue is in the square, decided to reclaim and restructure the entire area. After digging up of the eliptical channel, 78 marble statues by various artists that turned Prato della Valle into a sculpture garden were added successively on the shores of the channel over the next 100 years.The statues represent the most illustrious sons of the city by birth or adoption. Most of them are professors and students who have worked and studied at Padua University. Statue number 44 represents Andrea Memmo and was erected shortly after his death in 1793.
A work by the sculptor Felice Chiereghin, erected by Angelo Diedo and the Presidents of Prato della Valle in 1794. He was an Italian scholar, politician and diplomat at the service of the Republic of Venice. Formulated a project for the rehabilitation and transformation of Prato della Valle in a multifunctional park. He is responsible for the current structure of the so-called "Memmia Island" built in 1775 that led to the restoration of a swampy area of ??Padua, creating an architectural context of great beauty. It belonged to one of the so-called Apostolic families, that is, those of the most ancient nobility in Venice.
Andrea Memmo is depicted in Venetian toga with a squat cap on his head. The right hand is posed to indicate the noble and new project of the island of Prato. The left hand rests on an older woman who represents the ancient city of Padua.
Biography:
Andrea Memmo (Venice, 29 March 1729 - Venice, 27 January 1793) was the son of Pietro and Lucia Pisani and belonged to one of the so-called apostolic families, that is, those of the most ancient nobility in Venice.
He was ambassador of the Republic in Rome, Bailo (ambassador at the Ottoman Door) in Constantinople, senator and Procurator of San Marco (1785). He also tried to be elected Doge after the death of Paolo Renier, which took place in February 1789. The reformers' party, who supported him, was defeated and elected the candidate of the conservative party Ludovico Manin who was the last Doge of Venice.
Together with the brothers Bernardo and Lorenzo he was passionate follower of new ideas, both in art and in politics. Openly endorsed the theatrical reform of Goldoni who dedicated to Bernardo and Andrea the comedy The Man of the World (1750) originally represented (1738) with the title Momolo Cortesan not in the final written draft but for the most part all of a sudden as Goldoni specified same.
It was in long-standing relationships with people like Melchiorre Cesarotti and Giacomo Casanova who, for the latter, persisted far beyond their imprisonment and subsequent escape.
He entertained a relationship with Giustiniana Wynne, of which an interesting epistolary remains.
He was a preceptor of the Franciscan friar Carlo Lodoli who gave him the interest in architecture. The thoughts of the master were collected in a book that Memmo published in Rome, many years after the death of Lodoli, which took place in 1761. The interest was not only cultural as Memmo directed in 1775 the intervention that led to the rehabilitation of an area swampy of Padua, creating a remarkable architectural context: the Prato della Valle.
After his death in 1793, following a long and very painful illness, he was buried in the church of Santa Maria dei Servi. When it had to be torn down, because it was unsafe, the remains were moved to the Church of Saints Ermagora and Fortunato (San Marcuola) which is adjacent to the family palace, in a simple burial on the ground and a small tombstone with only a laconic inscription: ANDREÆ MEMO PATR. VEN. "
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