The volume constitutes a reflection by scholars, architects, critics and sculptors of different generations on the theme of the memorial monument through the re-proposition of certain structural constants of civil commitment, critical content but also of the indissoluble bond between architectural figuration and sculptural element, present in some emblematic cases of the second half of the Italian 20th century. In a fruitful comparison of authors and points of view, in the pages of the volume, studies on themes of great moral tension - from the ‘memorial’, whether secular or religious, to a sort of civil celebration fulfilled by integrated functions of ‘monuments to the periphery’ - are flanked by considerations on the relationship between architecture and sculpture, even when the latter is realised in a dimension, yes three-dimensional, but of figural freedom. But also on the meaning and value that one still wishes to recognise in the intentions and militant commitment of certain protagonists of Italian architecture.