«It was a feeling of confusion that accompanied the revelation of a deception, that of the fascist regime , added to the acquired awareness of the breaking of the pact between the monarchy and the people. In those terrible days and from there until the end of the conflict, Italy mourned thousands of deaths, men and women, soldiers and civilians, at home and abroad, united by the desire to live in peace, in a free country, leaving behind the dictatorship and the horrors of war . Many Italians died so that the homeland could resume its authentic and free path in history. From that 9 September 1943 the national redemption, the liberation struggle, began .
The President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella said this in Asinara to remember the sinking of the battleship Roma which occurred 80 years ago, on 9 September 1943.
This morning the commemoration of the eightieth anniversary of the sinking of the ship by Nazi Germany. The relatives of the victims of the Roma arrived in the square of the Port Authority of Porto Torres, a totally armored area with the presence of the police: carabinieri, Guardia di Finanza, firefighters, state police, and the men of the Captaincy.
The Minister of Defense, Guido Crosetto , and his Sardinian predecessor Arturo Parisi were present.
Also on site was the arrival of Maria Bergamini Loedler, niece of Admiral Carlo Bergamini, victim of the sinking of the flagship of the Royal Navy. Also in the company of his daughter was the last of the 622 veterans of the "Roma", Gustavo Bellazzini, 102 years old in a few days .
(Unioneonline/L)