Sydney/Sydney Eye Hospital’s famous ‘Boar’ turns 50

Recently Sydney/Sydney Eye Hospital celebrated the 50th anniversary of the il Porcellino statue that sits on Macquarie Street. Attending the event was about 70 direct descendants of Marchesa Clarissa Torrigiani, who donated the handsome boar to the hospital in 1968 in memory of her father, renowned surgeon Dr Thomas Fiaschi and brother  Dr Piero Fiaschi, also a surgeon.

The celebrations were organised by the great-great grandson of Dr Thomas Fiaschi, Jim Robertson, whose first memories of “The Little Pig” dated back to when he was just three years old in 1989 when the family celebrated il Porcellino’s 21st birthday.

“I put my heart and soul into organising this special celebration, not just in memory of our family members, but also to honour what il Porcellino has meant to Sydney and the hospital here,” Mr Robertson said.

Some family members even made the trek all the way from Florence, the birthplace of il Porcellino and the surgeons he is donated in memory of.

To date, the wild boar of Sydney Hospital has raised more than $500,000 in coins all donated to the hospital.

Sydney-born Marchesa Clarissa Torrigiani paid for the replica to be made, shipped and installed. It is an exact likeness of the wild boar placed in front of the Straw Market in Florence in 1612. The golden snout of both the original and replica will bring good luck to anyone who rubs it, according to legend.