This morning in Cagliari, at Viale Sant'Avendrace 122, the city's first stumbling stone was laid in memory of Mario Giovanni Pani , a young man from Cagliari deported to the Nazi concentration camps and who died in 1945 at the age of just twenty-two. The ceremony took place at the Siotto Pintor classical high school , in the presence of students, teachers, the city administration, Mayor Massimo Zedda , and representatives of anti-fascist associations.
Mario Giovanni Pani was born in 1923 in Cagliari, and in January 1942 he was enlisted for a 28-month term. After September 8, 1943, however, he became one of the many soldiers forced to seek refuge in the Ligurian countryside to escape capture by the Fascists and Nazis. He managed to settle in Genoa, where he was arrested in July 1944. From that moment, Pani's story became a mystery , revealed only thanks to Daniela Pani, Mario's niece , and the testimonies of other prisoners of war. "For years, my uncle remained one of the many missing in action. I imagined him alive, with a new family, children, and war-related amnesia, unaware of his past. But my father wanted to know the truth about his older brother, with whom he never truly said goodbye. He was offended that my uncle and I were supposed to go fishing that day, so he decided to go into hiding. This was his greatest regret."
The truth about Pani then emerged thanks to documents and testimonies from survivors, including Pietro Zuddas from Cagliari. After the meeting in the institute's auditorium, the commemoration moved to the avenue to place the stumbling stone, right where Pani's house once stood. " I make an appeal: let this stone be preserved and be a stumbling block. May it make people reflect, so that we can leave this memory as a legacy to the children . It wasn't possible to bring my uncle home, but with this stone, I think I've completed my task."