On June 25, a delegation from the Rotary Club of Rome donated the newspaper Timpul (The Time), published in Romania on May 16, 1944, to the Museum of the Landing in Anzio.
The leading article was dedicated 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 initiated simultaneously by the 5th Army which attacked from the Nettuno beachhead. The Gustav Line extends in front of the 5th Army on the main sector of the mouth of the Garigliano river up to the Apennine ridge. A few days ago it was said that the Germans had evacuated the civilians behind the line and it was assessed 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, whose purpose would have been the reunion of the two armies. The Liri valley and the upper valley of the Garigliano river form a bottleneck that the allies would have to overcome before reaching the great road leading to Rome and before joining General Clark’s troops who were 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 site of the invasion and keep the German troops in Italy who could intervene at the actual point of the invasion. (the Allied landing, D day, 6 June 1944)”
The President of the Museum, Patrizio Colantuono, warmly thanked the President of the RC of Rome, Dr. Marisa Piras and, in particular, Eng. 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 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”. Graduates from the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture participated in the competition and were tasked with dealing with the area of the Military Sanatorium of Anzio. The university students produced a series of tables that were evaluated during the exam and presented by three engineering graduates from Sapienza at the Museo dello Sbarco.
The Rotary Club of Rome is the first Club founded in the Capital and in 2025 it will celebrate its 100th anniversary. On January 6, 1925, in the halls of Palazzo Saviati, it received the Charter of Incorporation in the presence of representatives of the Rotary Clubs of Paris, Madrid and Amsterdam, ministers of the Italian government, the ambassadors of the United States, Great Britain and France. The guest of honor was Senator Guglielmo Marconi, along with other illustrious names in science and culture.
The fascist regime looked at Rotary’s international connections with doubt and suspicion. Thus, the Rotary Club of Rome, after years of growing political hostility and in an international context marked by disturbing omens, decided to dissolve even though many of its members continued to meet in a small restaurant in via degli Uffici del Vicario. It was necessary to wait until 24 February 1948 to see it reborn: the historic event was attended by the Prime Minister De Gasperi, the Ministers Corbellino and Merzagora (Rotarians), the Undersecretaries Brusasca and Andreotti, and the mayor Rebecchini.
A historic Club, therefore, which is linked to Anzio by esteem and sincere friendship.
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