“I suddenly saw pieces of the highway flying and I couldn’t understand what was happening.” These are some of the words, broken by adrenaline and destined to remain engraved in history, from Gaspare Cervello, escort leader of judge Giovanni Falcone and one of the survivors of the Capaci massacre. Precisely this dramatic testimony and the moral duty of remembrance, 34 years after those tragic events of May 23, 1992, was the fulcrum of the emotional conference “Seeds of Memory, Fruits of Legality: the memory of the Palermo Stock Department to today’s young people”.
The initiative, promoted by the “L. Siciliani – G. De Nobili” high school center of Catanzaro, directed by DS Filomena Rita Folino who strongly wanted the event, was held this morning, 23 May 2026, starting at 9.30 am, in the suggestive and evocative setting of the Cloister of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Catanzaro. An event intended to convey to the new generations the value of the sacrifice of those who defended the State at the cost of their lives.
The dramatic story of Falcone’s escort leader
«Our car – continued Cervello – was still hit by the shock wave and rubble and pieces of asphalt began to fall on us. I got out of the car first and rushed towards Falcone’s car which was in the chasm. I didn’t feel like calling him doctor like I always did, I pronounced his name twice: “Giovanni, Giovanni”. He turned and looked at me with a dull look, as if he wanted to tell me that the end had come for him too, but he couldn’t say anything to me.”
Then the shock: «Other people began to arrive and I stood next to Falcone’s car and shouted at everyone to move away because I didn’t know them, I didn’t know who they were. Some said they were from the Flying Squad but I, with my gun pointed, replied that if someone I knew in uniform didn’t come, I wouldn’t lower my weapon. Then a colleague I knew arrived. Only then did I lower the weapon and walk away.”
The daily commitment of magistrates
The works, moderated by the Gazzetta del Sud journalist Giuseppe Mercurio together with the Deputy Prosecutor at the Court of Crotone and member of the Executive Council Section. ANM of Catanzaro, Dr. Rosaria Multari, opened with institutional greetings from the School Director, Filomena Rita Folino. Then the debate which saw the important contribution of the magistrates of the Catanzaro district.
Dr. Irene Crea, Dr. Corrado Cubellotti and Dr. Annamaria Frustaci, deputy prosecutors at the Court of Catanzaro, spoke with their testimony of daily commitment, together with Dr. Giovanni Strangis, Judge at the Court of Catanzaro and President of GES ANM Catanzaro, who focused their attention on the figures who accompanied their colleagues throughout their professional and private journey.
“We believe – they said – that it is a dutiful act because we live side by side every day with people who today face the same sacrifices and who were victims of what is then an episode of unprecedented violence that has forever marked the history of our country”. Dr. Attilio Battaglia, senior manager of the Ministry of the Interior and Anti-Mafia Commissioner, was unable to take part in the meeting, contrary to what was expected, due to personal problems.
The voices of the survivors and the supply units
The beating and most touching heart of the initiative was the direct confrontation between the students and the true protagonists of those dark and dramatic years: the men of the escort departments and the direct witnesses of the Palermo massacres.
In addition to Gaspare Cervello, the head of Dr. Paolo Borsellino’s escort, Benedetto Marsala, offered a precious and painful testimony: «What we could receive and understand at the same time, in the state of mind of the prosecutor Paolo Borsellino was too thoughtful and too busy with work that he lacked time». Also important are the testimonies of the person in charge of the operational safety devices during the period of the massacres, Francesco Mirabella, of the judicial driver of judges Chinnici, Borsellino and Falcone, Paolo Sammarco Tinaglia, and of Dr. Giovanni Falcone’s escort leader, Francesco Vellutini.
The artistic contribution of the students
The event was concluded by the lawyer Simone Rizzuto, criminal lawyer of the Catanzaro Court and coordinator of the association “La Voce della Legalità”. At the end of the event, the students of the 4th AA, artistic direction, coordinated by the teacher Adriana De Vito, donated two paintings which will be placed in Doctor Giovanni Falcone’s studio, now called the “bunkerino”. The students also delivered ceramic objects made by the Artistic students, followed by professor Angela Loprete.
The “seeds of memory” sown on this day, coordinated by the initiative’s coordinator Prof. Elena Maida, found fertile ground in the attention and emotion of the many young students present. Listening to the voice of those who were there, of those who saw their colleagues fall and continued to serve the institutions, transformed the historical memory into an imperative of legality for the present and the future.