With the last commander, with his men and with the common people, in a choral remembrance that is memory but also a commitment not to surrender, to fight for legality. It is important to participate and be in many the 3 September 2017, at 18 at the family home Last Captain, at the Tenuta della Mistica on via Prenestina in Rome, where the sacrifice of the prefect of Palermo, General Carlo Alberto dalla Chiesa, killed by the mafia in the Sicilian capital on the evening of 3 September 1982, together with his wife Emanuela Setti Carraro and the agent will be remembered. of the escort Domenico Russo.
"September 3 is an important anniversary, we can say that it is the day of legality for the carabinieri. The synthesis of the memory on legality is precisely this date, when General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa died and it is for all of us, for the "beggar carabinieri". This day is an example, witness and hope of legality: General Dalla Chiesa embodies all of this".
Commander Ultimo, Colonel Sergio De Caprio, a carabiniere by vocation and a proud idealist, is a man out of the ordinary, of that idealism that becomes a concrete act and action, just look at the family home that bears his name, an Onlus officially born on 23 May 2009, the anniversary of the Capaci massacre. An armored life and a face hidden by a scarf or mephisto since in 1993 he arrested the boss Salvatore Riina, because the mafia does not forgive and does not forget. The left hand wrapped in the fingerless glove like someone who, in general, has no voice and sometimes not even a home, let alone hope. And the choice to be with the poor, to give them a voice, redemption and dignity, according to the message of Jesus of Nazareth and St. Francis. And to defend the weak, through a path of legality, through being a carabiniere.
The family home Last Captain it is itself a free port of legality, it is enough to cross the gate to realize it, even the air you breathe seems better. Here refugees, ex-homeless and former prisoners who work in the bakery, pastry shop or in small restaurants have found refuge where everything is self-sponsored and self-managed, here they are hosted difficult boys who learn to trust and hope through falconry, here father Rovo and father Max they make us understand what it means to be priests, the beauty of their choice. Everything is run by volunteers, including many carabinieri on leave as in activity.
Since the family home was founded Last Captain, every year we meet in front of the monument dedicated to Dalla Chiesa, donated by an auxiliary carabiniere on leave on which the tricolor, which is the heart of the place, his axis beat.
The Carabinieri of the Last Captain they are the social and militant militia that embodies and protects legality, yesterday as today. The arrest of Salvatore Riina by the Crimor (an acronym for organized crime and a group founded by the same Last, who had his fallen as Volpe, Mago and Ram, ed) must be remembered every day, made current. This is the only way to honor the memory of those who gave everything to the state, starting with life.
Legality is not a gift that comes down from the sky, but the result of a choice, carried out at all costs. With General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa he is honored and all those who for the supreme good, for honesty, have fought and fought, who pay the consequences every day. Choosing to stay on this side, without ifs or buts, does not make your life easy, because if it goes well they tell you that you are a pain in the ass, carabiniere, policeman, citizen or journalist that you are. And when you meet men like Ultimo and his boys, an honor and a privilege to exchange some opinions, you understand the fatigue of that choice but also the beauty of being a "warrior of light". Because there is an adamantine cleanliness in being on this side of the barricade, in the company of martyrs and heroes. And thank them, because they are a concrete example for honest citizens, especially for boys.
At the place where the general was killed, a citizen of Palermo left a sign, "Here the hope of honest Sicilians died". Remembering Carlo Alberto from the Church, according to the side of Ultimo, of the "carabinieri straccioni", of those who every day choose to fight for honesty and legality, we all simply make sure that that sign remains only an inscription in a moment of ache. In a battle that belongs to everyone, everyone in their own role and that is continuous because in front of the mafia one can never and must lower one's guard, it is fundamental that everyone does his part.
At the family home Last Captain the monument to General Dalla Chiesa is right in the center, surmounted by the Italian flag. It is also a concrete symbol of that same legality ...
It is a reminder in doing, a reminder that opens up to the future and does not remain fixed on a tragedy but transforms it into an action, a praxis and a struggle that never dies. And the general is in front of us and with us, Dalla Chiesa and the people who fought with him.
A message that is still valid today, at a time when the police are attacked and vilified, while we should remember the sacrifice of those killed for legality, men of the state but also ordinary citizens who have chosen which side to stay…
Yes, it is representing a humble and poor struggle made by equally humble and poor people. It is an important commitment, carried out with humility, against the usual jackals, against those who attack the beautiful, who attack the good. Therefore, it is an important day, which we always remember, that lives daily inside us and that pushes us never to give up.
Is the memory of 3 September therefore a choral sharing of legality?
Our memories, our way of doing things are always two words, a prayer and a pasta dish shared all together, among young people, old people, ordinary people who meet with joy, who dream, who hope to overcome difficulties. And all this happens on the principles of brotherhood and equality that represent our law.
And all this, as he always says Last, means being a carabinieri ...
Yes, the carabinieri did this: the fight against bullying and always remaining humble, returning to being nothing after having done great things. It is the characteristic of the carabiniere and therefore it is also our honor and our greatest pride. As the example of that carabiniere who fought and commanded the Centocroci partisan brigade, Richetto was his nom de guerre (the Ligurian Federico Salvestri, partisan of Christian inspiration, ed), who had the silver medal for military valor: many wounds in the battlefield, escaped three times from Nazi captivity. And that, in the end, he went back to being a roadster in a small town. And he was a carabiniere. And he is a carabiniere. And it always will be. These things have no price, they are a precious commodity for humanity and we must protect it. For this we must be together with the people, who in turn must protect this asset and its defenders.
How valid is the example of General Dalla Chiesa still today, when we go back to talking about releasing Totò Riina or minimizing the mafias, things that honest and civilized people just don't want to hear?
Look, I believe that in the world of jackals and manipulators of all time, opportunists and superficialists of all time, we must contrast the world of militancy, the world of communities that live and progress on the basis of the principles of equality and brotherhood. And this is our homeland and our flag. And it is the message of our General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa. And it will never end. We are proud to be on this side and it gives us courage to see young people and humble and simple people, wounded people, next to us. It gives us courage and keeps us going with pride.
