Gio Pomodoro and Jannis Kounellis

The New Courtyard also features more recent works of art. In 1992, Giò Pomodoro created the

Spirale per Galileo Galilei (Spiral for Galileo), which currently occupies a corner of the courtyard,

in honor of the 400th anniversary from the year that marked Galileo’s arrival to Padua. A few years

later, in 1995, in occasion of the 50th anniversary marking Italy’s liberation from Nazi-fascism,

Jannis Kounellis, as a representative of the Arte Povera (literally, ‘Poor Art’) movement, conceived

the installation Resistenza e Liberazione (Resistance and Liberation), dedicated to the memory of

Concetto Marchesi, Egidio Meneghetti, and Ezio Franceschini: university members who acted

heroically against the fascist regime. Many students and others fought on the frontlines for freedom,

and for their sacrifice, the University of Padua was awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valour and

remains the only Italian university with that status today.