Cagliari, here is the Lego bust for birthday wishes to Gigi Riva

Created with 12 thousand bricks by the artist Maurizio Lampis. The work will be visible at the Karalisbrick Brick Museum, but as a preview it will be presented to Gigi Riva himself who has already decided to autograph the pedestal of the bust

On Tuesday 7 November Gigi Riva turns 79 and on that day the world of football, and beyond, will pay him its homage, as always. In 2014, on the occasion of his 70th anniversary, one of the most iconic images of Rombo di Tuono, a photo with the shirt used in the year of Cagliari’s historic scudetto in the 1969-70 season, arms folded and a proud look, appeared on all national sports newspapers on the initiative of the rossoblù club. Now that photo has been used as a model from which to create a bust of the greatest Cagliari footballer of all time, with his 207 goals, and still the national team’s best scorer thanks to the 35 goals scored in 42 appearances with the blue shirt .

A particular bust, however, because it was created in over a month of work, with 12 thousand Lego bricks by the Sardinian brickbuilder Maurizio Lampis, already known throughout the world for having reproduced the entire Piazza San Marco in Venice and the Trevi Fountain in Rome. This diorama, 140 centimeters high, thus represents a tribute to the champion of Leggiuno who chose Cagliari as his second homeland. A complicated job as the author himself explains to ANSA. «The idea was born a few months ago while browsing the internet and discovering two other Lego creations of footballers like Totti and Lewandowski – recalls Lampis – from that precise moment I said to myself: Gigi Riva is a legend, why not try to reproduce him? In recent years I have created everything but I had never tried to try my hand at a diorama that reproduced a physical person. The technique used is obviously different from the creation of various monuments or medieval castles since we are talking about a shape that involves well-defined curves and features. Obviously it is impossible to make a perfect copy of the original as they are square bricks but I am satisfied.”

The work will be visible from the next few days at the Karalisbrick Brick Museum in Cagliari, but as a preview it will be presented to Gigi Riva himself who has already decided to autograph the pedestal of the bust.

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