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Centenary of the Unknown Soldier: a train will repeat the 1921 journey
One hundred years later – between October 29 and November 2 – a 'Train of Memory' will retrace the journey of the special convoy that in 1921 carried the body of the Unknown Soldier from Aquileia to Rome, where he was buried on November 4 in the shrine of the Altar of the Fatherland, at the Vittoriano. It was one of the unifying events of the Nation, with over a million people who flocked to pay their respects to the coffin along the 120 stages of the journey.
"This year we will relive without any rhetoric that important moment in our history in which the country found itself united. We need to reconnect the threads after the dramatic experience of the pandemic. The hope is that the journey of the Train will be shared by many Italians as happened a hundred years ago", said the Minister of Defense Lorenzo Guerini, at the presentation of the celebrations for the centenary of the Unknown Soldier, held in the Hall of Flags of the Altar of the Fatherland.
Also present was the great-granddaughter of Maria Bergamas, mother of Antonio – a deserter from the Austrian army and a volunteer in the Italian ranks during the First World War, who died in combat without his body being found – who was called to choose from eleven identical wooden coffins containing the remains of as many unidentified fallen soldiers of the Great War, the one who would later be buried at the Vittoriano. At home, says Grazia Riccio Bergamas, who has a vague memory of her great-grandmother, who died in 1953 when she was only 2 years old, “there was little talk about this story. I think because it was such a great, devastating pain. And I believe that today we need to return to those principles, without any political coloration”.
Also present was the great-granddaughter of Maria Bergamas, mother of Antonio – a deserter from the Austrian army and a volunteer in the Italian ranks during the First World War, who died in combat without his body being found – who was called to choose from eleven identical wooden coffins containing the remains of as many unidentified fallen soldiers of the Great War, the one who would later be buried at the Vittoriano. At home, says Grazia Riccio Bergamas, who has a vague memory of her great-grandmother, who died in 1953 when she was only 2 years old, “there was little talk about this story. I think because it was such a great, devastating pain. And I believe that today we need to return to those principles, without any political coloration”.
Source: HANDLE – 02/06/2021
