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On the site of the prehistoric cetacean's remains, a great white whale sculpture now stands.
What would you say if going up the ridge of a hill, 80 kilometers from the sea, you encountered a giant whale sculpture? It's less unlikely than you think, and a nine-meter sculpture of a whale is exactly what hikers can encounter in the vicinity of Gorgognano, in the Zena Valley, about 30 kilometers from Bologna. The sculpture is a monument to an ancient whale whose remains were discovered in this unlikely spot. Between three and five million years ago, a Balaenoptera aucutorostrata rested for its last time on what was then a seabed. The large cetacean was covered by layers of sand, shells, debris, soil, and a mantle of grass on which small flowers grow in spring.
