Double ceremony in Rome and Venice to celebrate the day of the Unity of Italy and the Armed Forces on November 4. The head of state Sergio Mattarella and the Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto attended both events first at the Altar of the Fatherland in Rome, in front of the shrine of the Unknown Soldier and then in Venice, in Piazza San Marco, a short distance from what was the Piave line that in 1918 stopped the Austrian advance, decisive for the fate of the First World War. A bond therefore between the lagoon city and the capital of Italy that aims to highlight the values that the Armed Forces represent after more than a hundred years. Values expressed by that unknown soldier representing all those who sacrificed themselves then and those of the soldiers who today, wearing the uniform, make a specific life choice.
Because the date of November 4th
November 4th is the date chosen for the day celebrated today because in 1918, in Villa Giusti in the province of Padua, the armistice was signed between the Kingdom of Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which decreed the end of the Great War, with the terrible cost of 650.000 victims and over a million and a half wounded.
Three years later, in 1921, November 4th marked another fundamental step for this day: the body of the unknown soldier, who on the train from Aquileia to Rome stopped at many stations in Italy, was buried at the Altar of the Fatherland.
The ceremony in Venice
In Venice, the ceremony began at noon and saw the parade of units of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza to the rhythm of the 75-member inter-force band. Also present was a company of thirty students from the "Francesco Morosini" naval military school in Venice.
President Sergio Mattarella entered the square preceded by 21 cannon shots fired from the offshore patrol vessel Tahon of Revel, moored in the San Marco basin. The president was welcomed by several students and a group of authorities including the undersecretaries of Defense Matteo Perego di Cremnago and Isabella Rauti, Senator Stefania Craxi, the governor of Veneto Luca Zaia and the mayor Luigi Brugnaro.
General Luciano Portolano and the Unifil mission
It was the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Luciano Portolano, who opened the ceremony, speaking of November 4, 1918, “the end of a dramatic event, that of the Great War” and today November 4th “with seven thousand soldiers engaged in 36 missions and operations abroad, respecting the local populations, including a thousand Italian soldiers employed in the Unifil mission in Lebanon”.
A mission generated by UN resolution 1701 of 2006 that General Portolano knows very well, having been head of mission and commander of the UN Forces in the country of the cedars from 2014 to 2016. A delicate mission and today partially successful, in light of the war that broke out in the Middle East between Israel and Lebanon, contested for the limits of the rules of engagement that UN soldiers find themselves having to observe.
Defense Minister Guido Crosetto
“The history of our Armed Forces are the missions in Lebanon, in Kosovo, in the theatres of crisis, where they represent Italy, stubbornly defending peace and not surrendering to war” the minister said. “Because that is what the Armed Forces do today: they defend the institutions, democracy, the country, and they try to build security that cannot be limited to a national level, but is international. Because there is no security if we close ourselves within borders. It is very comfortable to close our eyes and not see what is happening hundreds of kilometers away, believing that it does not concern us and the lives of our children. This instead concerns our life and our future.
Our Armed Forces have built respect in the world over the years. They have become so for how they have moved, for how they have worked and are working now in Lebanon, in Kosovo, in Latvia, in Africa, everywhere. And if a large country like the United States turns to Italy asking that the Carabinieri train the Palestinian Police Force, because it recognizes that Italy has a specificity, an approach that no other country has, we owe it to the work done over the years by all these soldiers of ours".
Honours with six war flags
President Mattarella then awarded the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Italy to six war flags for actions that distinguished themselves in missions and operations: to the Navy and Naval Forces, to the 152nd infantry regiment "Sassari", to the eighth land artillery regiment "Pasubio", to the ship "Antonio Marceglia", to the 14th wing of the Air Force and to the eighth Carabinieri regiment "Lazio".
The event concluded with the launching of paratroopers over St. Mark's Square with the flags of the Armed Forces and a huge Italian flag, followed by three flyovers of the Frecce Tricolori.
Questions from the Press to the Minister of Defense
On the sidelines of the ceremony, Minister Crosetto spoke about how the real current challenges are the internal ones that concern the confrontation of large economies, while the challenges of the Armed Forces are those of every day, of training and preparing to avoid conflicts.
Asked for an opinion on the US elections, the minister mocked himself by saying that “I already have a hard time understanding what is happening in Italy to be able to express an opinion on the US. The Americans have a very strong state and in any case the elections will not change the international balance”.
As regards the request to have our carabinieri in Palestine to guarantee peace, “a follow-up will be given only if the request is made not only by Western forces but by all the actors in the field, because our carabinieri must act in complete safety”.
A clarification was requested regarding the request by the mayor Luigi Brugnaro of Venice to have the operation “Safe Roads” strengthened by Lagunari soldiers in the difficult areas of Mestre and Venice.
"This year, with a huge effort – the minister pointed out – we have increased by eight hundred units the military available to Roads and Safe Stations. I think that from next year it is perhaps more important to increase the police force and let the Armed Forces resume doing what is needed at this time".
Photo: author
