“I am happy to celebrate April 25th which, together with December 25th, is the most important day of the year. It is thanks to many young people, many men and many women that we are here today, democratically speaking and commemorating a date of celebration and mourning, many have died on both sides and almost certainly I would have died on the wrong side but I’m happy to be here today and that someone, at the time, defended what needed to be defended, that someone was more farsighted, that someone understood that that was the wrong path.”
It is the incipit of the official speech held by the mayor of Terni Stefano Bandecchi during the ceremony on April 25th which was held at Palazzo Spada.
“Today we celebrate thanks to the best who shed their blood on the Italian stones that had been dirtied by an enemy and an invader. I admire all those who, for a just ideal, left their lives on a road, on a meadow, in a forest, at 20/25 years old, leaving sisters, wives, husbands for an ideal of freedom that serves us all – he added the mayor again – we wouldn’t be here today if they hadn’t won. I am a liberal – reiterated Mayor Bandecchi – but as a young man, perhaps, I would have been a fascist. Having made this admission, I thank you for having won that war and for being just men”.
Previously, the president of the city council Sara Francescangeli had intervened: “we must recognize the sacrifice of many people – said the president – our thoughts go to those who fought for the value of freedom and if today we are here free to express our ideas it’s thanks to them.”
Councilor Enrico Melasecche spoke on behalf of the Umbria region: “history – said the councilor – cannot be a reason for continuous exploitation, the values of our republican constitution are clear and indisputable, anyone who claims to erase the memory of what has been, those who claim to use those facts from almost a century ago to claim a sort of eternal legitimation, a cultural primacy to manage the country over the centuries, are wrong.”
Vice president Gianni Daniele spoke on behalf of the province of Terni: “it is the celebration of Italians – said Daniele – not of a part but of all Italians who have obtained freedom after this date. There was a civil war – he added – and in the end the right side won, the side that wanted to obtain important results to build the future of our nation”.
In conclusion, President Nicola Zingarelli spoke for the ANPI June 13 section of Terni: “we remember with pride – said Zingarelli – that the Resistance was a trans-national phenomenon that brought all European peoples together in the fight against the Nazi oppressor -fascist. The Nazi-fascist plan was a total aberration.” Referring to today, Zingarelli defined the ruling classes of Europe as “reckless” as they “take for granted a division of our continent into blocs”. “As ANPI – he added – we consider the war unacceptable”. Coming from a city, Terni, “which paid a very high price for the war, which knew the horrors of war and which gave its important contribution to the Liberation”.
The ceremony was attended by the Prefect Giovanni Bruno, the police commissioner Bruno Failla, the public prosecutor Alberto Liguori, the leaders of the police force and the fighting and weapons associations.
