CINCINNATI — The Capitoline Wolf statue, hacked off at the paws and stolen in June 2022, already stands once more in Eden Park, though it's currently covered with a tarp.
Friday morning, city and park officials plan held an unveiling ceremony for the new statue.
Cincinnati Parks said they plan to implement extra security enhancements for the new statue, to discourage future thefts.
In November 2022, Cincinnati Parks announced it would partner with the Order of the Sons & Daughters of Italy's Cincinnati chapter to replace the Capitoline Wolf. The Sons & Daughters of Italy, an organization that's been in Cincinnati for more than 100 years, helped to oversee the installation of the original statue, a spokesperson with Cincinnati Parks said.
The she-wolf was a gift from Rome and Benito Mussolini in 1931. It was a replica of the Capitoline Wolf found in the Capitoline Museum in Rome.
Cincinnati Parks called the replacement project a "tremendous effort."
Despite a $50,000 reward offered for any information that could have led to the safe recovery of the stolen statue, no one came forward and the thieves remain unidentified.
The statue was at the center of some controversy in 2020 when then-Cincinnati council member Chris Seelbach tweeted that he wanted the she-wolf and her mythological sons removed because of the statue's connection to Mussolini. The statue was given before the U.S. became involved in World War II and was gifted to Cincinnati specifically because the city is named after Roman dictator Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus.
Seelbach later changed his mind, tweeting he would not introduce legislation to have the statue removed and it was ultimately left in its place until its theft.
