ROME – Simone Cristicchi honorary member of the Società di Studi Fiumani-Archivio Museo storico di Fiume in Rome. The nomination of the Roman singer-songwriter is an important recognition, almost a sign of gratitude, for his civil commitment in favor of an often forgotten cause, that of the Italians of the Eastern Adriatic. His show “Magazzino 18”, in fact, has significantly contributed to making known and spreading on a national Italian scale, as well as in Slovenia and Croatia, the drama of the foibe and the exodus, but also of the suffering endured by the Italians who remained under Tito's regime; pages of history often ignored, forgotten.
Ten years after the institution of the Day of Remembrance, Cristicchi has relaunched them, urging the general public to reflect and deepen their knowledge of these events, giving a new dimension to the anniversary itself. Specifically, to reread them beyond the instrumentalizations and ideological encrustations of 60 years, so that they fully enter the conscience of a common Italian national memory, thus allowing new generations to know this history and the values ​​of the homeland outside the excesses of nationalism.
Therefore, the decision of the Society of Fiumani Studies to appoint him as an honorary member, last Saturday at the end of the Social Assembly, is understandable and commendable, as announced by Marino Micich, director of the Historical Archive Museum of Rijeka, general secretary of the Society of Fiumani Studies and president of the Association for Rijeka, Istrian and Dalmatian Culture in Lazio. Together with Cristicchi, the musician Francesco Squarcia – a famous and award-winning violist from Rijeka who lives in Rome but often visits his hometown, founder of the “Cameristi italiani”, awarded last year with the gold plaque with the coat of arms of the city of Rijeka – and Carlo Ermini, director of the Lazio Region for the Culture Area, who has long followed and supported the initiatives of the associations of exiles focused on the issue of the eastern border of Italy, were appointed honorary members.

The honor of the Society of Fiumani Studies-Historical Archive Museum of Fiume in Rome had been assigned in the past years to figures such as, for example, the deceased Leo Valiani, senator, the historian Renzo De Felice, the lawyer Claudio Schwarzenberg, the professor Anita Antoniazzo Bocchina, the musician Nino Serdoz, Riccardo Zanella, president of the Free State of Fiume; then the Hon. Roberto Menia, the senators Carlo Amedeo Giovanardi and Lucio Toth, the lawyers Luigi Petani and Augusto Sinagra, the historians Giuseppe Parlato and Carlo Ghisalberti, the Olympian Abdon Pamich and the director of the Civic Museum of Fiume, Ervin Dubrović.

(March 24, 2014 - Written by Editorial Staff – THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE)

The Adriatic Observer