He defines it as "necessarily Italian", he recalls it in his greeting to the Lampedusans, champions of hospitality. Sergio Mattarella, on the largest of the Pelagie islands to inaugurate the Museum of Trust and Dialogue for the Mediterranean, a sign of a "culture that unites", has not forgotten little Favour, the 9-month-old girl who arrived in Lampedusa alone: her mother , a young woman from Mali, died while crossing the Sicilian Channel. Her daughter did it.
“But how many children have died in the Mediterranean? How many men and women do we not know the fate of?” asked the head of state, who recognized Lampedusa, the gateway to Europe, as the primacy of hospitality. "Italy and Europe are indebted to Lampedusa for the lives saved, for the assistance, for the initial hospitality given to migrants," he said after visiting the museum. “This island – he added – is a bridge between the continents and has offered those who have arrived, and feel it as a second homeland, the best face of Europe”.
Words welcomed with gratitude by Mayor Giusi Nicolini who welcomed Mattarella and the Ministers of the Interior and Cultural Heritage Angelino Alfano and Dario Franceschini. And Prime Minister Matteo Renzi also spoke today of the importance of welcoming and helping those who cross the sea in search of a better destiny. "When a child risks drowning in the Mediterranean we do everything to go and save him: we can lose votes, but we don't face it", said the prime minister. Matteo Salvini's remote response was dry, who returned to talking about the risk of an invasion. "The green shirt is better than the red shirt, stained with blood", said the leader of the League who is not new to comparing those responsible for human trafficking with the politicians who support rescue and reception.
“When they were in government – Renzi retorted – they cut everything on international cooperation and now they say they are helping them at home. We want to bring to Europe an Italy that brings her values, those of culture, of education”. Mattarella's visit started from a symbolic place, the Porta D'Europa by the artist Mimmo Paladino, emblem of an island, an outpost of the Old Continent that welcomes those who arrive. Then the visit to the museum which, for its first exhibition, boasts works such as the Eros Dormiente by Caravaggio. "It reminds us - said Mattarella - of little Aylan, the Syrian child who died on a Turkish beach". The painting was lent to the island by the Uffizi. “It is a tribute to the dead children, but also a message of hope for those who made it,” explained the director of the Florence museum, Eike Schimdt. In the rooms of the small building there are also works by the Bard of Tunis, the Muceum of Marseilles and the personal effects of some of the thousands of victims of the voyages of hope.
Then the head of state visited the Lampedusa hotspot where 214 men, women and children are currently being hosted. Mattarella stopped to talk to some of them before reaching Molo Favaloro, the first strip of land on the island where those coming from the sea dock. Waiting for him are dozens of policemen, financiers, carabinieri and volunteers who do their utmost to provide assistance and hospitality. "They are heroes of everyday life - said the head of state - It is thanks to them that the Mediterranean has not turned into a great tomb".
