Fido (1941-9 June 1958[1]) was an Italian dog famous for his great loyalty to his master, a simple factory workman named Charles Soria Soriani from Borgo San Lorenzo, Tuscany, for whom Fido continued to wait at the busstop every day as he had since he was puppy, for fourteen years after his Soriani death. Fido's story was reported in major newspapers and magazines, and was memorialized in a public monument in erected in his honor by the government of Borgo San Lorenzo.
Story edit
One evening in the winter of 1941, a Brunori furnace workman furnace workman, Charles Soria Soriani,[2] , found Fido, an injured puppy, in a ditch in Borgo San Lorenzo. Ignoring others who wanted to take him in, Fido followed Soriani home. Soriani decided to adopt him, giving the dog the name of "Fido", a common Italian dog name meaning "faithful one".
Once he recovered from his injury, the dog reported to his master each morning to accompany him from home to the central square of Luco, where Soria Soriani would board the bus and Fido would then returned home. Each evening Fido returned to the station to, awaiting the arrival of the master, who he greeted and then followed home.
This was during the Second World War, and on December 30, 1943, Borgo San Lorenzo was the subject of a violent ally bombardment: the furnace factories were hit and many Brunori workers, including Charles Soria uplands, perished. The same evening, Fido showed up as usual at the bus stop, but obviously did not see his beloved master get off. The faithful animal did not lose heart and for fourteen years (more than 5,000 times)[3], until the day of his death, he went daily to the stop watching in vain, for Soria Soriani to get off the bus.
Fido began to arouse media interest: Italian magazines Gente and Grand Hotel published the story of the dog [3], which also appeared in several newsreels of the Istituto Luce. [4][5][6]. Struck by the extraordinary faithfulness of Fido, the Mayor of Borgo San Lorenzo, on November 9, 1957 awarded him a gold medal, in the presence of many citizens and the Widdow Soria Soriani.
When Fido died still waiting for his master on June 9, 1958, the news was disseminated to the public by the newspaper on a four-column front page story in La Nazione.[7] On 22 June, La Domenica del Corriere commemorated Fido with a poignant cover signed by Walter Molino, who portrayed the dog dying on the roadside, with the bus waiting in the background. To allow him to rejoin with the master, Fido was buried outside the cemetery of Luco where rested the remains of his master, Soriani.
Other very similar stories have captured the collective imagination: the Japanese dog Hachikō, and the American Dog Shep (dog), and the Scottish dog Greyfriars Bobby.
The Monument edit
Shortly after the Fido's death, the commune of Borgo San Lorenzo commissioned the sculptor Salvatore Cipolla to create a bronze monument of the dog as a testimony of that exemplary story of love and fidelity.
The work, known as the "Monument to the dog Fido"{{picture?}}, was placed in Piazza Dante in Borgo San Lorenzo, next to the Palazzo comunale, where it stands today. Under the bronze statue depicting the dog is the dedication: "To FIDO, EXAMPLE of LOYALTY"[8].
Bibliography edit
Notes edit
- ^ "Canzoni contro la guerra - La storia del cane Fido". Antiwarsongs.org. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
- ^ http://www.inmugello.it/2006%20pdf/agosto/p06%20agosto.pdf%7C
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ "Archivio Storico Istituto Luce - home". Archivioluce.com. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
- ^ "Archivio Storico Istituto Luce - scheda". Archivioluce.com. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
- ^ "Archivio Storico Istituto Luce - scheda". Archivioluce.com. 1957-12-13. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
- ^ "La storia di Fido: le foto e una canzone d'epoca". Okmugello.it. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
- ^ "Informatore - La fede di Fido - Unicoop Firenze". Coopfirenze.it. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
External Links edit
[[Category::Individual dogs]]