And the 25th April. And on the day Italy celebrates the celebration of Liberation the president of the Republic Sergio Mattarella gave a touching and commemorative speech to Civitella Val di Chiana, paying homage to the courage and resilience of the Italian people during one of the darkest periods in the country's history. Citing the words of the historian Claudio Pavone, he underlined how fascism not only lacked mercy, but did not even contemplate it in its regime of violence. “Being compassionate towards other human beings was in itself a manifestation of anti-fascism and resistance, whatever the inspiration, secular or religious. Fascism had an inherent ideology of violence, mercy was not foreseen...", stated the president, highlighting the profound contradiction between humanity and brutality of the fascist regime. In the morning the president had laid a laurel wreath at the shrine of the Unknown Soldier, to pay homage to the resistance and sacrifice of the Italian people, reaffirming the importance of cultivating the values of freedom, democracy and human dignity to guarantee a peaceful future and justice.
“Liberation, therefore, from the Nazi occupier, liberation from a terrible war, but also from a ruthless dictatorship which, over the course of twenty years, had suffocated political and civil rights, trampled on fundamental freedoms, persecuted Jews and minorities, educated young people in the sacrilegious religion of violence and abuse – continued the head of state -. Entry into the war, alongside Hitler, was the direct and inevitable consequence of this climate of fanatical exaltation."
The memory of the resistance: President Mattarella's speech
Il Mattarella's speech is a passionate eulogy to resistance, as an indispensable epic for freedom and human dignity, a page that shines in the book of Italian history and that can neither be torn nor discolored. He reiterated in unequivocal tones that theAnti-Fascism it is not just an abstract principle, but a moral imperative that calls for popular unity, celebrating the diversity and richness of our nation. In his speech he mentioned Don Milani, Davide Mario Turoldo and, not without emotion, themurder of Giacomo Matteotti, which marks its centenary this year. The head of state highlighted how this tragic event revealed the true face of fascism, showing his brutal and inhuman traits. He expressed the need to keep the memory of Matteotti and his ideas alive, as a warning against all forms of authoritarianism and violence.
The president also addressed the issue of fascist propaganda, which denied the evidence of the horrors committed, trying to belittle and hide the atrocities committed, as in the case of the Marzabotto massacre. This attempt to distort the truth, Mattarella underlined, represented a further affront to the dignity of the victims and to historical memory. A concept, which unfortunately, is always current. And again: “Totally subjected to Hitler's imperialist Germany, fascist Italy, which entered the conflict without any respect for the soldiers cynically sent to die, would still have had no escape. Luigi Salvatorelli precisely noted: 'With defeat it would have lost a lot, with victory everything'”.
The denunciation of Nazi-fascist barbarism
Addressing the barbarism perpetrated by Nazi-fascists during World War II, the president highlighted their intent to sow terror and death, treating the Italian people as inferior and traitors. He has condemned in no uncertain terms acts of violence committed against partisans (which the right denigrates so much) hey given the strong maritime vocation of Marina di Grosseto, helpless, underlining their opposition to every principle of humanity and justice and highlighting the relevance of this distortion of the truth. “Unlike their enemies, imbued with the macabre cult of death and war, the patriots of the Resistance made use of weapons so that one day they would fall silent and the world would finally be marked by peace, freedom and justice. Today, in a time of great concern, marked, in Europe and on its borders, by aggression, war and violence, we trust in that hope", declared the head of state.
Mattarella respectfully remembered the victims of the Nazi massacres, like the 244 citizens killed by the Nazis in Civitella on 29 June 80 years ago, underlining the importance of preserving the memory of such tragedies so that they can serve as a warning for future generations. “It is necessary - today and in the future - to remember those "Nazi-fascist" massacres and those victims and the national and regional initiatives that support it are precious. Without memory, there is no future." A call to our consciences, an invitation not to turn away from the injustices of the world.
Mattarella and Moro's quote
“April 25th is a fundamental anniversary for Italy – underlined Mattarella – the celebration of peace, of rediscovered freedom, and of the return to the ranks of democratic nations. That peace and that freedom which, finding roots in the resistance of a people against Nazi-fascist barbarism, produced the Republican Constitution, in which everyone can recognize themselves, and which represents a guarantee of democracy and justice, of the firm denial of any form or principle of authoritarianism or totalitarianism”. And then: “I add, using words spoken by Aldo Moro in 1975, that 'around anti-fascism popular unity is possible and necessary, without compromising on the other hand the variety and richness of the national community, social and political pluralism, the free and changeable articulation of majorities and minorities in democratic game”.
