This morning, National Unity Day and Armed Forces Day were celebrated in Piazza della Vittoria in Cosenza. The military ceremony took place in the presence of the city’s highest military and civil authorities, and representatives of all the military, combat and military associations, as well as a large representation of primary school students.
Present were the Prefect Rosa Maria Padovano, highest authority and representative of the Government, the Police Commissioner of Cosenza, Dr. Giuseppe Cannizzaro, the Provincial Commander of the Carabinieri, Col. Andrea Mommo, the Provincial Commander of the Guardia di Finanza, Col. Giuseppe Dell’Anna, the Commander of the 1st Bersaglieri Regiment, Col. Massimo Salvemini, as well as all the provincial representatives of the other Armed Forces, of the Fire Brigade of the Fire, the Penitentiary Police and the provincial and local Police.
The ceremony began at 11am with the deployment of an armed joint force formation, composed of soldiers from all the Armed Forces: Army with the Bersaglieri and the Fanfare of the 1st Regiment, Navy of the Port Authority of Corigliano-Rossano, Air Force of the Montescuro detachment, Carabinieri, State Police, Penitentiary Police, Fire Brigade units, Red Cross Italian and the Volunteer Corps. There was also a large presence of representatives of the Army Associations, as well as the Province and Municipality of Cosenza who attended with their respective banners and banners.
Following this, honors were paid to the Prefect of the province of Cosenza who reviewed the deployment, accompanied by the Provincial Commander of the Carabinieri, representative of the Armed Forces, attending the traditional flag-raising ceremony, marked by the notes of the “Mameli Hymn”. Subsequently, the messages from the Head of State, Sergio Mattarella, from the Minister of Defense, Guido Crosetto, and from the Chief of Defense Staff, Army Corps General Luciano Portolano, were read solemnly.
This year’s theme emerges in the messages of the top authorities – “Defence, the force that unites” – which, far from wanting to be a slogan, presents itself as a concrete principle underlying every action of the Armed Forces, Defence, in which the founding values of the State and national unity are concentrated, which binds territories and generations, cities and villages, shortening the distances between the suburbs and the heart of the State and building trust between institutions and citizens through a sense of responsibility, coherence between words and actions, the ability to protect without compromising ethics, respect and dignity.
Finally, before the final honors to HE the Prefect, the touching moment of the laying of the laurel wreath at the war memorial in Piazza della Vittoria, marked by the notes of the “March of the Piave” and the “Silence of Ordinance”, which remembered and honored the hundreds of thousands of civilian and military victims of the Great War, which ended with the armistice of 4 November 1918.
National Unity Day and Armed Forces Day will end at 4.30 pm with the flag lowering ceremony.