The event began with the usual cutting of the ribbon by the Army military commander, Brigadier General Antonio Pennino in the presence of the highest military and civil authorities, including the prefect of Milan, dr. Francesco Paolo Tronca, the commissioner of Milan, dr. Luigi Savina, the Councilor for Education, Training and Work of the Lombardy Region, Dr. Valentina Aprea, and the Councilor for Security, for the Municipality of Milan, Dr. Marco Granelli who thus expressed the feeling of closeness of the institutions to the Army.
In the course of his speech, General Pennino recalled that the initiative "The Marciava Army" wants to commemorate the centenary of Italy's entry into the Great War which, after a century, offers one of the main food for thought to evoke the importance of peace among peoples. Furthermore, he continued, "the initiative represents an opportunity to share with the Italian population the values, sentiments and ideals of our ancestors, which are still those of today's Army.
Finally, the general concluded by highlighting the role played by the Army today, which thanks to the "dual-use" capacity of the Ward of the Genius, in addition to its operational use in international missions, is able to intervene at all times, in synergy with the Civil Protection bodies and the Prefectures, throughout the national territory in support of the community, in activities of public utility, as evidenced by the recent intervention on the occasion of the floods that hit the country.
Topical moment of the event was the arrival of the relay from Turin, with the head of the major caporal Federica Dal Rì, a leading middle-distance runner of the Olympic Sports Center of the Army, escorted by students of the Teulié Military School, led to the 'Arco della Pace is a large tricolor flag, then giving the baton to the other staff, the commander of the Teuliè Military School, Colonel Gioacchino Violante. The passage under the Arch was punctuated by the sound of the "Drum Drums" of the Teuliè Military School students. The substitute torch broke out, instead, to the sound of the bersaglieresco musical piece of "Flick and flock" that gave the "emotional charge" for the next stretch of the route that will lead the relay in the evening to Brescia.
During the event, the civil and military authorities handed over to the heirs of the soldiers who took part in the Great War, a copy of that document which constitutes the synthesis of the military history of the individual: the state of service. On the same occasion was also awarded the Class III C of the "GB Rubini" State Secondary School of Romano di Lombardia, one of the winners of the photo contest "La via della Grande Guerra", promoted by the Army and aimed at students with the aim to involve them in the actualized memory of the Great War.
The event was enlivened by the presence of schoolchildren and by the numerous public, composed, in large part, by members of the Combattentist and Weapon Associations who were able to admire, in the exhibition stands organized by the Military Command Army Lombardia, the modern means of Army, including the LINCE, armored vehicle used mainly in international missions, along with weapons and uniforms of the Great War of the Historical Office of the Army General Staff.
Last May 11 along the whole of the peninsula a relay of soldiers, starting from five different locations (Trapani, Lecce, Cagliari, Aosta and Bolzano), and running uninterruptedly through streets, villages, towns, shrines and cities to reach, the evening of 24 May, in Trieste where the musical event, conducted by Professor Umberto Broccoli, in Piazza Unità d'Italia, will officially close the whole event.
Source: Army Majority Staff
