"Creating an event like this 25 years ago would have been much more difficult." These are the words with which the mayor of Trieste, Roberto Dipiazza, launched the 2021 edition of "La Bancarella - Salone del libro dell'Adriatico Orientale", an event organized by the Multimedia Documentation Center of Julian, Istrian, Rijeka and Dalmatian culture (CDM) in collaboration with the Provincial Committee of Trieste of the National Association of Venezia Giulia and Dalmatia. "This is proof of how, over the last five years, many things have changed - added the mayor - and I am proud to have started this path of dialogue and looking to the future precisely 25 years ago together with Renzo Codarin."

After the greeting, in person, of the Mayor Roberto Dipiazza and, remotely, of the president of the regional council Piero Mauro Zanin, the real kick-off was with the exhibition on how Il Piccolo looked at the phenomenon of the Exodus between 1945 and 1956. «We thought of telling the tragedy that was unfolding through the pages of the newspaper – explained the director Omar Monestier -. As the years passed and the newspaper even changed its name (from Giornale Alleato to Piccolo, passing through Il Giornale di Trieste) we noticed the change of perspective on the subject».

"From 1945 to 1947 it was treated in an almost too neutral manner, so much so that the Giornale Alleato spoke of it with absolute detachment," said Jacopo Bassi and Luca Manenti, the two researchers who were responsible for researching and cataloging the newspapers. "Since 1947 and with the new name, Il Giornale di Trieste, the theme of the Exodus has been treated in a dichotomous way, dividing it between communists and anti-communists, and the newspaper chooses a well-defined side to be on." On how they carried out their research, the two researchers explained that they tried, together with the co-director of the Piccolo, Roberta Giani, and the editor Diego D'Amelio, to do a systematic review of the articles containing this theme. "We tried to isolate every article that talked about exiles, with the complete narrative from their departure from their homes of origin, up to the refugee camps."

The results of this research are available, both in Italian and English, on the website https://lab.gedidigital.it/gnn/ilpiccolo/noi-esuli/.

"This is a meritorious work," emphasized historian Raoul Pupo, "which helps 60 million Italians understand the subject. Of course, this does not mean that all of Italy knows the history of the Julian-Dalmatians, but they certainly know more about it than other founding themes of Italian history, such as the Risorgimento. The topic is always alive," continued the professor, "and the fact that the controversy is always heated proves it. The fact remains that outside of Italy this history is still very little known and it is therefore a good thing that this site is also written in English."

According to Giuseppe De Vergottini, president of Federesuli, «this work is a way to approach the problems of the Exodus in a documented way: it is a highly appreciated work that we hope can be spread as much as possible».

The afternoon continued with the narration of how the Istrian communities scattered around Italy have optimized in recent years, and especially in the year of the pandemic, the dissemination of the themes of the Exodus. «A work that began before the closures imposed by the pandemic – Anna Maria Crasti specified – and, after the schools closed, we began to disseminate our themes with the help of four online newspapers in Lombardy that gave us a lot of visibility».

At the same time, Emanuele Merlino, president of the February 10 Committee, explained how they managed to make a story go from local to national. "We tried to tell ourselves first and then the nation what happened in these parts. Not with historical ambitions, but with the aim of spreading a story from an emotional point of view, so as to push the reader to delve deeper into the topic." Hence the idea of ​​creating a comic strip about Norma Cossetto. "A project that, however, could not have been enough and from here arose the idea of ​​"A rose for Norma" which so far has allowed us to place a rose on a monument, a street or a simple plaque dedicated to Norma Cossetto or the Martyrs of the Foibe in many Italian cities.

The cinema concluded the first day of meetingsThe seventh art was discussed with the “Istrian Trilogy” by Franco Giraldi, that is, the films “The Red Rose” from 1973, “A School Year” from 1977 and “The Frontier” from 1996.

"A cinematographic work that derives fully from a quality literary transposition - as Alessandro Cuk, journalist, film critic and vice president of Anvgd, underlined - and that touches on different times and angles of life on the border". Massimo Gobessi, journalist and curator for the regional headquarters of Rai of the program "Sconfinamenti" and, remotely, the actors Stefano Patrizi and Laura Lenzi, two of the main protagonists of the film "Un anno di scuola", intervened in the dialogue with Cuk.

After yesterday's debut, the Eastern Adriatic Book Fair is getting into full swing today and tomorrow. The theme of the second day of Bancarella 2021 is "Tourism, history and future networks" and will see the presentation, at 11.30:XNUMX am, of the historical guides of the Touring Club Italiano dedicated to Venezia Giulia over the last hundred years. The event will be presented by architect Emanuele Bugli, national councilor of the Anvgd, in a dialogue with Ester Capuzzo, full professor of contemporary history, Luciano Mornacchi, commercial director of Touring Editore, Andrea Ungari, full professor of contemporary history.

Just one event for the morning, with the Bancarella that will resume at 15.30:XNUMX pm with the cluster “Italians visit Italy: tourist policies and dynamics along the Boot between the two world wars”, by Ester Capuzzo, an event that will be attended by Andrea Ungari and Giuseppe Parlato, full professor of contemporary history at the University of International Studies of Rome, as well as president of the scientific committee of the Multimedia Documentation Center.

At 17 pm there will be the presentation of the podcast project: “Foibe and Day of Remembrance, a historical journey against simplifications and ideologizations”, once again with Andrea Ungari, Petra Di Laghi, PhD student in comparative law, historian Gianni Oliva, Diego Lazzarich, associate professor of history of political doctrines and once again Giuseppe Parlato.

At 18.30:29 pm, the situation of the relationship between exiles and “remainers” will be discussed, with the presentation of the agreement signed last July 72 in Zagreb between Federesuli and Unione Italiana, in the presence of Giuseppe De Vergottini, president of the Federation of Associations of Istrian, Fiume and Dalmatian Exiles, Maurizio Tremul, president of the Unione Italiana dell’Istria, Giorgio Tessarolo, vice-president of the Istrian Communities and member of the commission on law 19.30, Davide Bradanini, Italian Consul in Fiume and Franco Papetti, vice-president of Federesuli itself. The meeting will be moderated by the national president of Anvgd and of the Cdm, Renzo Codarin. The day will end with cinema: at XNUMX:XNUMX pm the documentaries on “Il Bosco di San Marco” will be presented, relating to the wooded area adjacent to Montona which over the centuries has constituted the reserve of wood for the construction of Venice, and the one on Monsignor Santin, both under the supervision of the film producer Alessandro Centenaro, the director Giovanni Ziberna, the president of the Fameja Montonese, Simone Vicki Peri, and Alessandro Cuk, journalist, film critic and national vice-president of the Anvgd.

All events are visible live on the sites www.anvgd.it e www.arcipelagoadriatico.it