Street Art in Florence - Lorenzo Orsetti, Orso, Tekoşer Piling, a Florentine hero

This mural refers to a tragic story of our day. Orso, i.e. Lorenzo Orsetti (1986 - 2019) was a Florentine boy who died on March 18, 2019 in Al-Baghuz Fawqani, in northern Syria (Rojava), where he had gone to fight against ISIS, together with the Kurdish militia Popular Protection Unit YPG, with the battle name of Tekoşer Piling, which coul be translated with something like "fighting tiger".
The YPG, and its YPJ women's brigade, have been joined by many Western fighters, men and women, as had happened in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War, when democrats from all over the Western world had gone to Spain to fight for democracy and republic against Franco and the fascists, supported by Hitler and Mussolini.
In the West, the media have particularly highlighted the role of YPJ female fighters, a rare case in a region where women are heavily discriminated. Their intervention seems to have been very important, also from a military point of view, especially in the battle of Kobane, one of the longest and bloodiest of the entire war.

The Tuscan Regional Council awarded Lorenzo Orsetti, who was buried in the Cemetery Le Porte Sante in San Miniato amidst the Florentine martyrs from World War II, the Gonfalone d’Argento (Silver Banner), the highest Tuscan honor.
For a few months the walls of Florence were covered in writings: "Orso lives", "Orso loves again", "Orso hates again", some more sinister like "Puppies and Kalashnikov", and even his frequent sentences, such as "Better add life to your days than days to your life ".

This large mural to him dedicated, about 5 mt by 3 mt, was made by a collective of 5 artists as shown by their signatures at the bottom.
Against a starry sky background, the bear is charging furiously, his jaws wide open, his eyes on fire, his claws raised, he seems about to fall upon the viewer, roaring. An image far removed from that of the sweet and smiling person we met through the pictures in the newspapers. The authors wanted to underline the strength and anger of Orso, the power of his convictions and ideology.

Unfortunately, the work was badly vandalized and is rapidly degrading. The colors are losing vibrancy, perhaps it will be soon covered by other graffiti, perhaps it will fade, but the story it tells will certainly remain in the collective memory for a long time to come.
Florence, Circolo ricreativo del Lippi, Via Pietro Fanfani.