Serbian Villagers Pin Hopes on Rocky Balboa

Feb. 12, 2007 — -- The Village of Zitiste, 40 miles outside of Belgrade, has had more than its fair share of natural disasters as floods and landslides. Now, villagers hope to improve their own rocky fortune by raising the statue to the man who always bounces back -- Rocky Balboa.

After watching the latest Stallone film, "Rocky Balboa," Zitiste local Bojan Marceta came to the idea or raising a monument. With a couple friends from Zitiste, he will register the "Rocky Balboa" Association.

The Local Council of Zitiste already supported the initiative.

"Until couple of days ago it was like a half-joke," Zoran Babic, a local official, told ABC News in a phone interview. "For years, only negative reports on farm diseases, monstrous murders, floods and landslides, have been coming from our village. This is the chance to give a better, more positive image to Zitiste.

"We already contacted the people in Philadelphia and we even e-mailed … the sculptor of the original 1980 statue, to see if he can help us," he added.

Zitiste is a hunting village, often visited by hunters from Italy, and almost all cafes have Italian names. According to this, the monument to the "Italian Stallion" is more than appropriate, this village believes.

A city of Mostar in Bosnia already has a statue of the famous Bruce Lee. Maybe a new trend of raising celebrity monuments will begin in the region.