A natural disaster is a dramatic encounter between our society and nature, destined to leave a permanent scar in the individual and society's memory.

The earthquake that hit Modena and its territory in May 2012 took the lives of innocent victims but has left a traumatic, profound wound to the local community, a wound that appears as a void. A void that manifests itself in each crack, in each wall portion that fell on the ground. A void that fragmented the solidity and serenity of the built environment and collective memory.

I personally owe a great deal to Modena and its inhabitants, and the earthquake has unsettled me profoundly. The quake has hit a territory that I have learnt to discover and respect during the construction years of the Enzo Ferrari Museum. A territory where half of my family was born, of which I am very proud, despite living in another Country.

I wanted to dedicate the design of this monument to the courage and bravery of all those people living in this part of Italy.

This is a monument dedicated to the determination, courage and resilience of the victims, that despite the events are still standing, strong and dignified, like a block stone, scarred but not defeated.

It is a monument not created by one single entity but symbolically formed by each victim and those who survived, that in a physical act are compelled to express that void, now inevitably part of their memory.

A single block of Carrara marble will be the starting point for the monument. A squared, clean block, symbolizing serenity. This block then will be accessible to the community, who will be able through a scalpel and a mullet to carve the mass. Each hit against the stone will express the void, otherwise invisible and mute. Every carve left on the block, multiplied by the number of the participating community will become a positive void removed from the mass.

The scarred stone as a metaphor of the scarred population that is still standing , embodying the moral values and qualities of this region. A monument as testimony of the events but most importantly of the courage, resilience and strength to look ahead.