Tomorrow, Tuesday 5 October, at 17:00 pm (that is, at the end of the ceremony in honour of Norma Cossetto which will take place at 16:30 pm (between via del Carso and via Norma Cossetto at the height of Via del Pasubio, in the Campagnuzza district), in compliance with the anti-Covid regulations, the book will be presented in the oratory of the Campagnuzza parish Campagnuzza: from an exile village to a village of Gorizia, edited by Francesca Santoro and Maria Grazia Ziberna.

In the text, published by the provincial committee of Gorizia of the National Association of Venezia Giulia and Dalmatia and by the CDM (Multimedia Documentation Centre of Julian, Istrian, Fiume and Dalmatian Culture), after the historical introduction that retraces the difficult years of the Second World War and the reasons why around five thousand Istrian, Fiume and Dalmatian exiles took refuge in our city, are collected evidence whose currently lives in the neighborhood and of the exiles who lived there since the 50s, after its construction under the administration of the Mayor Bernardis, originally from the island of Veglia, whose daughters  Marisa and Claudia – esteemed teachers – will be present in the room.

Professor Maddalena Malni, daughter of the architect who designed the church, dedicated to Our Lady of Mercy, will also be present.

We thank the current parish priest for his valuable contribution, Father Fulvio Marcioni, which in the text retraces the salient moments of the history of the neighborhood, remembering the priests who preceded him - Don Luciano Manzin, Don Cesare Scolobig, Don Duilio Nardin, Monsignor Arnaldo Greco and Don Paolo Zuttion.

Don Fulvio reminds us that “Campagnuzza was an open space, a field, a pleasant place where Edvard Rusjan created the first flying machine in the world. Then it became a village, a gathering point and meeting place where many families from Fiume, Pola, Zara, Istria and Dalmatia rediscovered the joy of living, the warmth of a home, the strength of work, the magic of communion, the greatness of faith in God, the security deriving from the constant protection of Mary, woman, wife and mother.

Over the years, in a continuous and dazzling transformation, Campagnuzza has become a village of Gorizia, perfectly integrated into the variegated fabric of the City, it has been able to give Gorizia new life with the people, ideas and initiatives that have marked and innervated the entire city community from the Second World War to the present day. (…) Campagnuzza, with its families, homes and Church has been able and is still able to offer people a truly community dimension where it is possible to find spaces for reflection, for the expression of one's feelings and for the realization of one's expectations. In other words, among the houses and streets of the village there has been a melting pot, an my best of languages, traditions, sensibilities quite unique for the city, with exiles, Friulians, Slovenians, Italians from every part of our country and lately many Kosovars, Albanians, Serbs, Bosnians and Poles, which constitutes an irreducible and very rich conviviality of differences. A beautiful challenge and a responsibility, an epiphany and a symphony of humanity created in the image and likeness of God.”

Ample space is reserved for the events of the “Fabio Filzi” college, housed in the former barracks of the Julia Division, renovated thanks to the generous donation of 300 million lire by the couple Oscar Sinigaglia and Marcella Mayer, daughter of Senator Teodoro, founder of the daily newspaper "Il Piccolo".

From 1951 to 1975, the college welcomed and educated over five thousand children and young people, many of whom were orphans or children of missing persons in war, who had seen destruction and violence, had to abandon their homes, friends and schoolmates, and had fled with their families, finding hospitality and safety in Gorizia during their formative years. Representing them will be Furio Dorini, former student of the Fabio Filzi college and now president of the Association “Yesterday of the Filzi".

Finally, some considerations. As we all know, Gorizia and Nova Gorica, together, have been designated as European Capital of Culture for 2025. President Mattarella has underlined the importance of this choice by Europe, “a signal that honors Italy and Slovenia for having developed relationships that go beyond coexistence and mutual respect and express collaboration and prospects for a common future".

The President had already stressed in February 2019 that in our city and in the territories of the eastern border "always a meeting point of ethnic groups, languages, cultures, with centuries-old mutual influences, there are no more curtains, nor borders, nor wars. Today the city of Gorizia is no longer divided in two by fences. In their place there is Europe, a common space of integration, dialogue, promotion of rights, which has eliminated walls and wars within it. Today friendly and brotherly peoples collaborate together in the European Union for peace, progress, the defense of democracy, prosperity. "

And it is with this spirit, in condemnation of every war and every persecution against any person, that we wanted to publish this booklet. Reading this publication, those who still do not know the history of the exiles will understand what they had to face to become "Gorizians", and how much the welcome of the city where they were able to peacefully rebuild their future, engaging in cultural, social and economic life and collaborating in the progress of the city, counted for them. Thanks to them, we, their descendants, are proud to be Gorizians, but also to be children and grandchildren of those who were "Italian twice: by birth and by choice".

The volume can be requested by writing to anvgd.gorizia@libero.it