At the invitation of the Embassy of Italy in Hungary, a delegation of the Provincial Federation of Messina of the Institute of the Azzurro Ribbon between fighters decorated at the VM, led by the President Biagio Ricciardiaccompanied by the Ten. Col. Letterio Scilibertohe participated, in the Italian war cemetery in Budapest, in a solemn ceremony promoted by the same embassy in honor of our 1500 who rest there, fallen in combat or died in the field of imprisonment during the first world conflict.
In the presence of the ambassador Manuel JacoAngeli, The event saw the participation of the National Paratroopers Association of Italy, represented by Gen. Enrico Pollini, General Secretary.
He paid tribute to the fallen the picket of honor made up of soldiers of the “Aosta” brigade and led by the Ten. Alessandro Lorenzini of the 24th Peloritani artillery regiment. Also present the commander of the Italian contingent in Hungary, Ten. Col. Domenico Oppedisano; The military employee Col. Filippo Di Stefano; the honorary console Roberto Sarcià and the col. Emanuele Patalano representing NATO Force Integration Unit Hungary.
A laurel wreath was placed in front of the monument to the fallen flanked, on the occasion, by the Labaro del Ribbon Azzurro, a braking of 32 gold medals VM and escorted by Emanuele Castrianni, and from that of the ANPD’I, escorted by Mar. Francesco Southerns. After the minute of silence, the Italian national anthem was intoned.
In his speech, Ten. Col. Oppedisano underlined the symbolic value of May 24, 1915, exhorting to the conservation of the memory of Italian fallen in foreign land. The religious function was officiated by Don Stefano Tollu, a military chaplain of the Italian contingent in Hungary and Bulgaria.
The cemetery hosts 54 tombstones, many of which bear the wording “unknown”. During the ceremony, President Ricciardi announced a research project to reconstruct, through comparative analysis of archival and personal sources, the names of the decorated to military valor buried in Hungary.
A sober and heartfelt tribute, a tangible sign of continuity between memory, history and civil commitment.