Switzerland. Canton Ticino. Lugano. Ciani Park. Hot summer day. An advertising for a shop selling ice-cream cones. A sculpture by Vincenzo Vella representing the death of Socrate after drinking a poisonous beverage of hemlock. Vincenzo Vela (May 3, 1820 - October 3, 1891) was a Swiss-Italian sculptor, active mainly in northern Italy. The death sentence of Socrates was the legal consequence of asking politico-philosophic questions of his students, which resulted in the two accusations of moral corruption and impiety. At trial, the majority of the dikasts (male-citizen jurors chosen by lot) voted to convict him of the two charges; then, consistent with common legal practice, voted to determine his punishment, and agreed to a sentence of death to be executed by Socrates’s drinking a poisonous beverage of hemlock. Parco Ciani is a green area on the lake near the town center. Built in 1845, when the Ciani brothers purchased the property, it became in 1912 the property of Lugano municipality. It covers an area of about 63,000 (sq m). 30.07.2020 © 2020 Didier Ruef