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Giulio Marongiu, exiled from Pola to Fertilia, is Commander of the Republic
For the first time in its history, Fertilia celebrates Commendator Giulio Marongiu.
On Wednesday 14th January the official communication arrived from the Secretariat of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella who awarded Giulio Marongiu, the now famous commander of the vessel Klizia, protagonist of the journey, the book and the film Route 230° Return to the Land of the Fathers, with the title of Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
This is an important recognition for a man who journeyed back in time to reunite those threads brutally severed by history and to symbolically close a circle also on behalf of the many exiles who in life were never able to return to the land denied them by the well-known events that followed the Second World War.
At the age of 85, just halfway through the long journey that took the vessel from Sardinia to Pula, Giulio was able to set foot, for the first time in 77 years, on that same dock where, in February 1947, he climbed the steps of the ship Toscana with his family, to say goodbye to the city that, despite everything, has always remained in his heart.
The death of his parents and later of his beloved sister Laura had meant that he no longer felt the desire to return to those places where, in the meantime, Marshal Tito's communist regime had fallen, and with it that anti-Italian sentiment that for years had made it difficult for many Italians to return to their native land.
But as always, history, just when it seemed too late, played a trick on Giulio he didn't regret. Thanks to a crazy idea, conceived by his son Federico, along with Mauro Manca, Giuseppe Bellu, and Elena Fustini, the Klizia adventure offered the opportunity for an unexpected comeback.
"I was afraid I would never find the Pula I had left behind and would relive the difficult climate I had experienced at my farewell," said the newly appointed Commander Giulio Marongiu, emotionally. "But my return to Pula, the embrace of Egea Haffner and Marisa Brugna, who welcomed me tearfully on the dock, and the affection of the Italian community truly moved me. I truly struggled to hold back the tears on what was one of the most beautiful days of my life."
