The Moai of Vitorchiano was sculpted in the 90s, in just four weeks, by 11 Easter Island’s natives, invited by the Italian TV program “Alla ricerca dell’Arca” to carry out a program of cultural “twinning”, in order to revive interest in the original moai that are deteriorating.
The intent was to find a volcanic stone similar to the one they usually use in order to build a new moai.
They found it right in Vitorchiano and the enormous block of peperino, weighing 4 tons, was exclusively carved by hand with the typical Maori axes and with sharp stones following the ancient Kuranto ceremony, enriched with songs in the original language.
According to the tradition, they say that if the visitor “rubs” the moai’s belly button he will be lucky.