Bronze wolf links Vilnius and Rome on Gediminas Hill

A life-sized bronze wolf by Italian sculptor Davide Rivalta was unveiled Tuesday on the viewing platform of Gediminas Hill in Vilnius, a tribute to the animal at the center of the founding legends of both the Lithuanian capital and Rome.

The piece, titled Wolf, commemorates the 35th anniversary of the restoration of diplomatic relations between Lithuania and Italy, the city's tourism agency, Go Vilnius, said.

Those ties were severed during the Soviet occupation and reinstated after Lithuania regained independence in 1990.

Both cities place a wolf at their origins. In Roman legend, the Capitoline Wolf nursed Romulus and Remus. Vilnius traces its founding to Grand Duke Gediminas, who dreamed of an iron wolf whose howl foretold the rise of a great city and then built his castle on the hill he had seen in the dream.

That hill now anchors the Gediminas Castle Tower, which the agency described as the most-visited branch of the National Museum of Lithuania.

"The installation of Davide Rivalta's Wolf on Gediminas Hill offers a contemporary interpretation of the founding legends of Vilnius and Rome while highlighting centuries of cultural exchange between Italy and Lithuania," said Emanuele de Maigret, Italy's ambassador to Lithuania, at the unveiling.

Vilnius has long absorbed Italian influence. Many of its most distinctive Baroque landmarks were created by Italian architects, sculptors and painters invited to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania beginning in the 16th century.

Bona Sforza, the Italian-born grand duchess of Lithuania and queen of Poland, shaped the Grand Duchy's political, cultural and economic life in that same century.

"This is where the story of Vilnius begins and where the city's founding legend comes to life. It is fitting that a work connecting two European capitals will now welcome residents and visitors alike," said Vilnius Mayor Valdas Benkunskas.

Rivalta, who was born in Bologna and often sculpts animals for public spaces, has shown work in Italy, Dublin and Oslo, the agency said. It characterized him as one of Italy's leading contemporary sculptors.

The project was initiated by the Italian Embassy in Vilnius and the National Museum of Lithuania.

It was carried out with the Vilnius city government, the Italian Ministry of Culture's contemporary-creativity directorate, the Italian foreign ministry and the Italian Cultural Institute in Vilnius. The Vilnius Club served as patron.

Stories like this take time, documents and a commitment to public transparency. Please support independent arts journalism by subscribing to Urgent Matter and supporting our work directly.