Contents:
Indeed, not far from here, in the terrible stony area of Carso, as well as in all the areas of the front, unforgettable pages of history were written narrating valour, courage, suffering, death and desolation. Thousands and thousands of people died every day, especially young people, in the darkness of the trenches, in the mud, in the intense cold, victims of lethal and increasingly perfected weaponry, of hunger and terrible epidemics.
Among the Italian soldiers, one out of ten died in battle or in the hospital. The same percentages, if not higher, were calculated in the armies of both allies and enemies.
Not to mention the impossibility to count the mutilated, the disabled, the missing, the prisoners. Men of all ages, from all over Italy, with different social backgrounds and cultural levels, found themselves joined — voluntarily or out of obedience — in trenches, terrible assaults, behind the lines, under the threat of bombings, gases, snipers. The Italian soldiers, each in their own way, found an inner strength to resist with courage and devotion, and to face extremely difficult trials, often way beyond human endurance. Mention must also be made to the large number of Italians, living in the irredent territories, who were sent to the distant region of Galicia, where they fought and died wearing an Austro-Hungarian uniform.
We must pay tribute today to all the soldiers and seamen. Indeed, to all and each one of them: Soldiers are all united and burdened by the suffering produced from the cost of war, which is death and sacrifice. As written immediately after the Great War for the awarding of the Medal of Honour to the Unknown Soldier, today we want to pay tribute to "The Unknown Soldier, the fighter that fought all battles, the hero at all times that, before dying, combined valour and mercy wherever he went or stopped.
The soldier without a name and a story. He himself being the story: I therefore wish to pay tribute to a simple soldier, Vittorio Calderoni. He was born in Argentina, in , after his parents emigrated from Italy. When he was only 17 years old he sailed to Italy, to enlist and fight in the Italian Army.
He died from his wounds just after the war ended, one hundred years ago in November. I consider it my duty to honour his memory in this piazza, as this is where eighty years ago Mussolini delivered his speech that ushered the Country in the dark and tragic period of racial persecution, and Vittorio Calderoni was Jewish, the youngest of some Italians of Jewish origin who died in the Great War. The battle of Vittorio Veneto was the final act of a war fought with courage and determination by an army that was strong and tenacious, to the point of overcoming the terrible defeat of Caporetto, caused by the serious mistakes in the chain of command, and not certainly by the cowardice of our soldiers.
Indeed, in that crucial moment, what prevailed in those soldiers was their desire for freedom and unity, the love for their Country. The contribution of the valiant Italian Army was decisive for the victorious outcomes of the allied coalition. The Eastern Front was the first to fall under the Italian pressure, inducing the Central Powers to sign the Armistice.
Then, a week later, the Western Front fell as well.
English Choose a language for shopping. Explore the Home Gift Guide. Amazon Music Stream millions of songs.
Amazon Advertising Find, attract, and engage customers. Amazon Drive Cloud storage from Amazon. Alexa Actionable Analytics for the Web. AmazonGlobal Ship Orders Internationally. Amazon Inspire Digital Educational Resources. Amazon Rapids Fun stories for kids on the go.
So no medicines or healthcare either. The stress of this situation alone is making people ill. Gareth, another committee member of British in Italy, a British national with long term residence, lives here with his Italian wife and young son. He is a self-employed professional able to work here because of his EU rights.
How am I to feed my family? Some British citizens with long term residence here have applied over the past 2 years for Italian citizenship. But unless their applications were granted prior to 4 th October , that lifeline has also been swept away by the Decreto Sicurezza which extended the period for processing applications from 2 years to 4 and made it retrospective to apply to all on going applications. Devi essere registrato per postare un commento.