Protecting beauty, defending cultural heritage, which represents one of the most precious identity traits of our country: this is the mission of the Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Command, to which the Board of Directors of the Uberto Bonino and Maria Sofia Pulejo Foundation has decided to award the XVIII International Prize, awarded for merits in the scientific, social and cultural fields.
«For the first time – explains Lino Morgante, president of the Foundation and of the Sud Gazzetta del Sud Giornale di Sicilia Publishing Company, of which FBP is the main shareholder – the Prize named after the founders is awarded not to a person but to an Institution. The Foundation intended to underline the role of this section of the Army, which has rigorously and effectively protected our thousand-year-old cultural heritage, operating in an exemplary manner on a national and international level. Objectives that fully coincide with those of the Foundation itself, which has always been active in the field of cultural and social promotion, with special reference to the younger generations. And for them – we hope – a mission of high civic value such as that of the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage can represent a model to follow, even in professional choices”.
The award will be presented on December 6th to Brigadier General Antonio Petti, who has led the Command since last September, during a ceremony to be held at the Vittorio Emanuele theater in Messina at 7 pm in the presence of the civil, religious and military authorities and the board of directors of the Foundation, composed not only of the president Morgante, but also of the vice president Francesco Pulejo and the councilors Ruggero Arena, Santina Calarco, Margherita Leto, Raffaella Monforte, Giuseppe Santoro and Giovanna Spatari.
The delivery of the plaque, also created for this edition by the Crotone goldsmith Gerardo Sacco, will be followed by a concert by the Army Music Band. The event, which will be accessed by invitation, can be followed by the entire public via live television on the Ses Group TV channels (Tgs, channel 12, and RTP, channel 19 dtv) and in live streaming on the websites of Gazzetta del Sud and Giornale di Sicilia.
Founded in 1969, with the functions of an information and analysis hub also for the benefit of other police forces, in 2001 the Command assumed its current name, counting on approximately 300 qualified soldiers. It is made up of a central structure in Rome and a peripheral structure, belonging to a Group and located in 16 units across the territory (15 Units and a Section for eastern Sicily). Thanks to the experience in Kosovo and Iraq and to the recovery activities also carried out in favor of foreign countries, the TPC Command was identified to constitute the Carabinieri component of the Italian Task Force “Unite4Heritage”, the so-called “Blue Helmets of culture”.
The last edition of the award in 2022 to President Mattarella
The previous edition of the Bonino Pulejo Award was held on 13 April 2022, and had the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella as its illustrious protagonist. President Morgante presented him with the award at the ceremony also held at the Vittorio Emanuele theater and concluded with a concert by the young talents of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan conducted by maestro David Coleman. The event celebrated the 50 years of the Bonino Pulejo Foundation (born in 1972), the 70 years of the Gazzetta (which debuted in 1952) and the 162 of the Giornale di Sicilia, on newsstands since 1860, which entered the Ses Group in 2017.
The first to receive the recognition in 1991 was the late prof. Angelo Falzea, jurist among the most illustrious exponents of the Messina civil school. In the following years those who were awarded were James M. Buchanan, Nobel Prize for Economics (1992); Luc Montagnier, discoverer of the HIV AIDS virus (1993); Ralf Dahrendorf, sociologist and philosopher (1994); Riccardo Muti, musical director of the Teatro alla Scala (1995); Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General (1996); Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (1998); Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, cardinal of Cuba and archbishop of Havana (1999); Alberto Sordi (2000); Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, president of world champion Ferrari (2001); Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, President of the European Convention (2002); Giovanni Petrucci, president of CONI (2004); Albert II of Monaco (2005); Marcello Lippi, coach of the Italian national football team, world champion (2006); Victory of Sweden (2009). In 2010 the honor went to Giuseppe Tornatore, Oscar-winning director of “Nuovo Cinema Paradiso”.