The group, created by the Palermo sculptor Cosimo Sorgi using bronze from enemy cannons, depicts a female figure at whose feet lies a fallen soldier embracing the tricolor flag.
The female figure, symbolizing a grateful Italy, holds in one hand the book of history and the palm of victory, while with her outstretched right hand she “points out to the people the magnificent sacrifice of her finest sons and immortalizes their glory.” The sculpture, placed on a pedestal of white stone along Viale Regina Margherita, in front of the entrance to Villa Amedeo, was intended to be surrounded by a portico that was never built.
Instead, the following year, four rows of trees were planted—289 in total, one for each fallen soldier—along Viale Margherita, which in that section was renamed Viale della Rimembranza (Remembrance Avenue). Each sapling was supported by a kind of tricolor tripod and bore a plaque with the name of the soldier who had died in the war, but over time the trees grew, the supports and plaques were removed, and eventually the trees themselves were taken down.
Finally, in the 1960s, the monument was permanently moved and placed on the belvedere at the end of Viale Regina Margherita, which the locals call “La Rotonda.”