The Klizia boat concluded its long journey which lasted over two months, as part of the "Return to the Land of the Fathers" project: a navigation of over 800 miles through the lands of Ferrarese, Veneto, Venezia Giulia and Istria , from which the main communities that constituted Fertilia arrived together with the Sardinians and the people of Alghero.
Now the boat, with its crew, is moored on the Istria pier, in Trieste, waiting for the big party that will take place on Sunday 8 October on the occasion of the 55th Barcolana. «After a long journey that touched the Italian and French coasts, during which we met many people to whom we were able to tell our project», says Federico Marongiu , one of the organizers of the project and son of Giulio, owner and commander of the boat left on 30 July from Fertilia, in Sardinia, «we arrived in the Adriatic, to reunite our community with the Lands of the Fathers, now abandoned over seventy years ago».
Klizia's journey was inspired by the desire to symbolically reunite these threads, which represent the roots of many families who were capable, with hard work and respect, the dignity and the profound values that were at the basis of them, to build a a true example of inclusion and resilience, as the ability to rebuild a life from scratch is called today, starting from the ashes of a war and a dramatic exodus.
«The stages of Ferrara and Venice were a tribute to the community of settlers who arrived in the Alghero Nurra, then marshy and unhealthy, which they transformed into a fertile and lush plain», says Giuseppe Bellu, of a Sardinian father and a Venetian mother, «they worked a lot and thanks to their experience and great determination, they managed to turn the hope behind the name Fertilia into reality."
However, Klizia's journey was also the intimate journey of Giulio Marongiu , an exile from Pula, a city he abandoned at the age of 8, to which he has never returned until now.
Giulio, who on this journey represented all the exiles scattered around the world who have never seen the land where they were born again, has closed a circle, at the age of 85, arriving in Pula. «I was overwhelmed by emotion», reports the commander, «especially when I hugged my grandchildren, who wanted to accompany me through the streets of the historic center in search of the house in which I lived my childhood».