Unknown to many, the statue of Christ the Redeemer of Maratea is the tallest sculpture in Italy. With a height of over 70 feet (21 meters), it’s one of the tallest statues of Jesus in the world. Before the statue, a memorial iron cross had stood atop the mountain since 1907. But it was often hit by lightning and subsequently damaged, so it was replaced in 1941 by a concrete cross.

The idea to create this statue came to Italian entrepreneur Count Stefano Rivetti di Val Cervo after a trip to Brazil. The project was realized by Florentine sculptor Bruno Innocenti and was built in the early 1960s near the Basilica di San Biagio.