Friday 26 April 2024 – The 79th anniversary of Italy’s liberation from Nazi-fascism was celebrated in a serene atmosphere in Potenza, Matera and other centers in Basilicata.
In Potenza the celebration was held in front of the Monument to the Fallen in the First World War in the Montereale park.
The student representatives, Simone Carcuro and Fabrizio Manna, focused on the meaning of the anniversary, reading a passage from a speech to young people given by Piero Calamandrei (1889-1956) to remember the Italians’ fight “against the worst dictatorship in history ”.
This was followed by speeches from the President of the Province, Christian Giordano, the Mayor of the capital, Mario Guarente, the regional councilor Cosimo Latronico and the prefect, Michele Campanaro.
“The Resistance – said Campanaro – was first and foremost a moral revolt of patriots against fascism to affirm national redemption. A popular movement that involved the older generation of anti-fascists. He summoned the soldiers sent to fight at the front and who refused to place themselves under the command of the German occupying power.
He called together the young people of the generation traveling through fascism, who discovered its nature and developed the choice to oppose it.
It was a movement that mobilized the factories. It involved the farmers and mountain dwellers who, for their solidarity with the fighting partisans, suffered the harshest reprisals”.
The Prefect recalled the episodes of popular revolt also recorded in Basilicata.
Addressing the girls and boys present, he concluded: “I address you as Prefect of Lucania to tell you that the stories of the Italians who died for the Resistance and the Liberation, even in our beloved Basilicata, continue to speak to us today and tell us that there are great ideals and dreams to be realized that are worth fighting for and that there are good causes to triumph, but they also shout to us, today more than ever, that we must always say no to the violence of war and conflict”.
In Matera, the first appointment is at the memorial stone in Via Lucana for the laying of the laurel wreath in memory of the people from Matera who died following the explosion of the militia by the Germans.
Following this, the Holy Mass was held in the church of Santa Chiara, officiated by Monsignor Pino Caiazzo, archbishop of Matera-Irsina and bishop of Tricarico.
Then the transfer to Piazzetta Pascoli for the gathering of authorities and combat and military associations and the departure of the procession towards Piazza Vittorio Veneto, where the honors were performed to the Prefect of Matera, Cristina Favillii, the flag raising, the honors to the Fallen , the laying of the laurel wreath at the war memorial and then the speeches of Sanya Bonelli, president of the Student Council of the province of Matera; of Professor Franco Lisanti, a war orphan; by Carmela La Padula, president of the Provincial Committee of the National Association of Partisans of Italy; of the president of the Province, Piero Marrese and the mayor of Matera, Domenico Bennardi. The armed picket organized by the military and the “Nunzio Vincenzo Paolicelli” musical group of the city of Matera attended the ceremony.
Cover photo (Sassilive.it): ceremony in Potenza
