June 25th a delegation of the Rotary Club of Rome he donated to the Anzio Landing Museum the newspaper Timpul (The Weather) published in Romania on 16 May 1944.
The editorial was devoted to the progress of the war in Italy and, in particular, to the attack on Nettuno and Anzio, a precautionary measure against the Allied offensive. “The attack was also started simultaneously by the 5th Army which attacked from the Nettuno bridgehead. The Gustav Line extends in front of the 5th Army on the main sector from the mouth of the Garigliano River to the Apennine ridge. A few days ago it was said that the Germans had evacuated the civilians behind the line and it was considered that this measure, together with the flooding of the Pontine Marshes, on the right flank of the Anzio bridgehead, was a precautionary measure against an Allied offensive, the aim of which would have been to reunite the two armies. The Liri Valley and the upper valley of the Garigliano River form a bottleneck which the Allies would have to pass before reaching the main road to Rome and before joining up with General Clark’s troops at Anzio. The fighting is in full swing. It is too early at the moment to predict further developments. It could even be a diversionary maneuver to hide the location of the invasion and keep German troops in Italy who could intervene at the real point of the invasion. (the Allied landing, D day, June 6, 1944)”
Il President of the Museum, Patrizio Colantuono, warmly thanked the President of the RC of Rome, Marisa Piras and, in particular, Simona Coles who, on the occasion of her trip to Romania, specifically purchased this “piece of history” with the intention of donating it through her Club to the Museum of Anzio.
The Rotary Club of Rome has shown an interest in our territory on several occasions. Last year, in collaboration with the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Faculty of Engineering, Chair of Restoration, it promoted a competition entitled “H-BIM in the Era of Restoration”. The competition was attended by undergraduates from the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture who had the task of taking care of the area of the Military Sanatorium of Anzio. The university students produced a series of tables which were evaluated during the exam and presented by three engineering graduates from Sapienza at the Landing Museum.
The Rotary Club of Rome is the first club founded in the capital and in 2025 it will turn 100 years old. On 6 January 1925 in the halls of Palazzo Saviati he received the Constitution in the presence of representatives of the Rotary of Paris, Madrid and Amsterdam, ministers of the Italian government, the ambassadors of the United States, Great Britain and France. Guest of honor was Senator Guglielmo Marconi alongside other illustrious names in science and culture.
The fascist regime viewed Rotary’s international connections with doubt and suspicion. Thus it was that the Rotary Club of Rome, after years of growing political hostility and in an international context marked by disturbing omens, decided to disband even though many of its members continued to meet in a small restaurant in via degli Uffici del Vicario. We had to wait until February 24, 1948 to see it reborn: the Prime Minister De Gasperi, the Ministers Corbellino and Merzagora (Rotarians), the Undersecretaries Brusasca and Andreotti, the mayor Rebecchini were present at the historic event.
A historic Club, therefore, which is linked to Anzio by esteem and sincere friendship.
