The wrought iron rooster is the symbol of Grazzano Visconti, designed by the craftsman Cesare Leonardi, who worked at the Savi Workshop.
The inspiration
According to the creator himself, this symbol was inspired by the Gospel, in particular the episode in which the apostle Peter is said to have denied Christ three times before the rooster crowed.
The first wrought-iron rooster
Leonardi, moreover, would have decided to make the rooster with a height of 33 cm to symbolize precisely the years of Christ at the moment of death.
Giuseppe Visconti di Modrone, the duke who conceived and owned the village of Grazzano, loved another product of the craft workshop inside the village: a stork that he would have liked to choose as the symbol of the place.
What made the duke capitulate was none other than the Queen Elena of Savoy, a frequent guest of the Visconti family. Indeed, the story says that upon entering Leonardi’s workshop, the queen was dazzled by the rooster and she exclaimed: “It seems to be singing!”
Thanks to this important recognition, Leonardi’s work became the symbol of Grazzano Visconti.
For those who visit the village, it is possible to admire an exemplary “wind marker” placed on the roof of a building inside the Cortevecchia.
