The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, awarded 33 medals of Merit of the Italian Republic to Italian citizens who distinguished themselves, during 2018, "for acts of heroism, for their commitment to solidarity, for rescue, for activities in favor of social inclusion, in international cooperation, in the protection of minors, in the promotion of culture and legality". Normal people, women and men who have linked their name to some significant cases of civil commitment, dedication to the common good and testimony to republican values.
Among the 33 awarded people there is also Riccardo Muci, the traffic police officer that last August 6 began to help the people involved in the accident on the A14 during which a tanker exploded causing the death of one person and the wounding of another 140. During the operations he too was overwhelmed by the explosion reporting first and second degree burns. At the Bufalini hospital in Cesena he underwent surgery on both arms.
Next to him is Irma Dall'Armellina who at 93 years old last February, in fact, the elderly woman from Vicenza, a widow with three children, decided to leave Italy for three weeks, despite the walking stick and leg problems, to follow an orphanage that has always helped remotely with economic offers. Also awarded was Marco Ranieri, a 38-year-old from Bari, legal representative of Farina 080 (founded with friends Antonio Scotti, Marco Costantino and Antonio Spera) who carried out a work of recovering and redistributing food and created a platform that serves to share with those food that would otherwise be wasted needs it. The association, which also has the Bari football team and the Municipality among its sponsors, currently boasts over 620 members and has been able to recover 11.000 kg of food, which otherwise would have been thrown away.
There are many stories that President Mattarella has sifted through to decide who to reward. There is also Antonio La Cava and his “bibliomotocarro” among the 33 personalities awarded with the honor of Merit. The retired maestro from Matera was recognized as Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic "for his commitment, throughout his life, in promoting the value of culture". For almost twenty years, in fact, La Cava, aboard a special three-wheeled traveling library, has been bringing books to elementary school children in the smallest and most isolated villages of Basilicata, where there are often no libraries or bookshops. An idea born in 1999 to draw attention to the growing disaffection towards the book by, above all, the new generations.
