Monuments in the Public Gardens (Giardini Pubblici)

Once you reach the Public Gardens, you can park your car and start a walking tour to visit three monuments dedicated to the Great War.

In Piazza Cesare Battisti (opposite the Gardens), you can admire a statue dedicated to marksman Enrico Toti, who died on 06th August 1916 during the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo. The monument dates back to 1958 and was created by sculptor and veteran marksman Mario Montemurro. Enrico Toti is represented without his left leg, wearing the typical marksman hat with feathers and holding his legendary crutch, which he threw against enemy lines moments before he was shot. The base under the statue bears just the following wording, "In memory of marksman Enrico Toti national hero fallen on 06th August 1916".

In Via Cadorna, one of the streets running parallel to the Gardens, you can see the Infantryman Statue. Inaugurated in 1966 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the taking of Gorizia during the First World War, it is an identical copy of a piece installed in Turin five years earlier for the centenary of the Unification of Italy. The original monument was created by sculptor Angelo Balzardi upon request of the National Infantrymen Association, which intended to commemorate this corp. It consists of a base in stone supporting a bronze statue representing an infantryman holding a rifle. On the sides of the base, two memorial stones commemorate the infantrymen who fell in battle in all wars fought for Italy.

Inside the Public Gardens, near Corso Giuseppe Verdi, you can also see a bust dedicated to Giorgio Bombi, a politician from Friuli and first mayor of Gorizia after the end of the Great War. A staunch supporter of liberal nationalism and the Italian cause, he first became Head of town under the Habsburg Empire and then mayor from 1918 to 1934.
It is a very simple monument consisting of a bronze bust supported by a marble column. On the latter, the following wording is engraved: "Giorgio Bombi / senator and mayor / prepared and lived / the redemption / of the land where the Isonzo river flows / 1852 - 1939".