During the 42 days of Yugoslav occupation, Trieste had endured the traumatic experience of an annexation that, under the banner of communist terror, sought to erase its identity, replacing Italian Trieste with a Balkan Trieste. On June 12, 1945, the men with the red star were forced to leave. The Allies, the Anglo-Americans, had taken over.

The terror was over, but a strong sense of uncertainty had taken over and, above all, the anguished question loomed: “What if the Titoites return?”

It was in this context that the National League was reborn in 1946. Its mission was clear: to defend the identity of the city of San Giusto, an identity summed up in two very specific values: Italy and Freedom!

The Association will be called upon to do so as it did during the Habsburg rule, that is, with the tools of culture and with a non-partisan role, but in close connection with the Tergestino Municipality.

He will do it, he will try to do it for the many decades to come.

Wednesday, March 25, 2026 – 5:00 PM

1946: THE NATIONAL LEAGUE IS RISE AGAIN
“Italy and Freedom” in post-war Trieste

Main Hall of the Chamber of Commerce of Venezia Giulia, Trieste and Gorizia
Stock Exchange Square, 14 – Trieste

Conference on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the reconstitution of the National League of Trieste

Program

17.00 - Institutional greetings

5:15 PM – Eighty Years Since the Risorgimento of the National League
Paolo Sardos Albertini – President of the National League

5:35 PM – Identity Culture and the Politics of Welfare. The National League in the Post-War Period (1946-1948)
Luca G. Manenti – Scientific Director of the Manlio Cecovini International Society for the Popularization of Historical, Social and Ethical Studies

17.55pm – Italy in 1946, a time of great choices
Stefano Pilotto – University of Udine

18.15pm – Film screening
Three dates, three moments in the history of Trieste
May 2, 1945, June 12, 1945, March 27, 1946
Footage from Paolo Venier's archive recovered by collector Edvino Millo
Introduction by Roberto Spazzali, historian

Program_The League Rises Again - March 25, 2026