Salerno
The traditional ceremony to celebrate the 79th anniversary of the “Liberation” took place this morning in Salerno.
In the first part of the morning, the Holy Mass in memory of the fallen was officiated in the Church of the Sacred Heart by Father Raffaele Bufano and Don Giuseppe Greco, provincial chaplain of the State Police.
At the end of the function, the civil, military and religious authorities, the mayors of the municipalities of the province, the representatives of the trade unions and the combat and weapons associations, the students of the “Gennaro Barra e Vicinanza” comprehensive schools and the hotel institute of State “Roberto Virtuoso” of Salerno and the citizens who had gathered in Piazza Vittorio Veneto, where honors were paid to the fallen and laurel wreaths were placed on the “Monument to the Fallen” and on the tombstone of the Partisan Lieutenant Ugo Stanzione.
Subsequently, the Prefect of Salerno, Francesco Esposito addressed a greeting to those present.
Following the institutional messages of the Mayor of Salerno, Vincenzo Napoli and the President of the Province, Francesco Alfieri, ample space was given to the interventions of the General Secretary of the CISL of Salerno, Maria Carmela Cortazzi, of the President of the National Association of Families of Fallen and Missing in War of Salerno, Antonio Landi, and of the provincial Vice President of the National Association of Italian Partisans of Salerno, Michela Masullo.
The second part of the ceremony was held at the Sailor’s Monument where the solemn flag-raising and laying of the laurel wreath of the National Sailors’ Association of Italy took place.
The procession then continued its route to Piazza XXV Aprile, where a wreath of flowers was laid by the ANPI, and then ended at the Provincial Palace where the laurel wreath was placed at the foot of the plaque of the Medals of ‘Gold of the Resistance.
The commemoration, widely attended by the citizens, was enlivened by the “Lorenzo Rinaldi” Instrumental Complex Musical Association – City of Giffoni Valle Piana, directed by maestro Francesco Guida, who performed the Italian Hymn, the Hymn to Joy and other traditional songs.
The students of the “Gennaro Barra” and “Vicinanza” comprehensive schools and of the “Roberto Virtuoso” State Hotel Institute of Salerno, with their participation, provided the backdrop to the ceremony, as a testimony to the young people of the time who in those crucial days of the liberation they were able to valorise what united them, not what divided them, because they understood that only by making the reasons for being together prevail, in that moment, could they fully grasp the richness and beauty of the differences, writing a fundamental page in the history of our country.
The Prefect – recalling the 20 months from 8 September 1943 to 25 April 1945, which saw Salerno as a protagonist in Italy, where the foundations for the future of our Republic and the Constitution were laid – highlighted: “On 25 April 1945 freedom, peace and independence were regained and the country was reunited. Right here, in Salerno, the foundations on which the Republican Constitution would then be founded were laid, deciding to elect the Constituent Assembly by universal suffrage. Italy has been rebuilt on the values of our Constitutional Charter, first and foremost respect for human dignity, equality and peace. Today, more than ever, while unfortunately the winds of war are blowing around us, we are all called upon to forcefully affirm those ideals of peace and solidarity that united our Founding Fathers.”
