“It is everyone’s celebration, to share universal values that we must not take for granted, if we think of the dictatorships that still exist in the world today”. Thus the mayor of Foligno, Stefano Zuccarini, greeted Piazza della Repubblica on the occasion of the 79th celebration of liberation from Nazi-fascism.
Looking at the temperatures it wouldn’t even seem like the end of April, if it weren’t for the warmth of the square singing – amidst applause – “Bella ciao” during the institutional ceremony. A square that saw the presence of many more people than in recent years. “We owe a debt of gratitude – the mayor said in a passage of his speech – towards those who came to sacrifice themselves for our homeland. Without their heroic sacrifice, we know well that the commitment of many Italians would have been useless.”
The words of the mayor Stefano Zuccarini were anticipated by those of the president of the city council, Lorenzo Schiarea: “In those days a new Italy was born. We don’t want to forget the sacrifice that thousands of Italians have made to guarantee our future and that of the new generations: freedom and democracy are never guaranteed forever, we must remain vigilant to protect them.” The celebrations of the Municipality opened at 9am at the Cancelli shrine, and then continued in the cathedral of the Madonna del Pianto, where the stele dedicated to the fallen of all wars and to the mutilated and war invalids of Foligno is located.
Before the institutional moment in the square, the visit to the war cemetery of Rivotorto di Assisi. In the presence of the honor guard of the Army’s National Selection and Recruitment Center and with the greeting of the Diocese brought by Don Simone Marchi, the ceremony in Piazza della Repubblica ended with the performance of the Italian anthem written by Goffredo Mameli, played as always by the Belfiore Philharmonic.
