The sale to Egypt of two frigates just delivered by Fincantieri to the Italian State is perplexing. A perplexity that goes beyond the management of the operation that "forgets" to ask Cairo as a minimum compensation for some more information on the end of one of our young compatriots, a fact that demonstrates once again the weakness of our diplomacy, this time in the presence of a Nation far from representing a superpower.

Given this background, it's not surprising that the recipient of this sale was a frigate named after Spartaco Schergat, a native of the Koper area. He received this honor for participating in the December 1941 sinking of the British battleship Queen Elizabeth in Alexandria, Egypt, alongside Antonio Marceglia of Piran (also a Gold Medal recipient), with the 10th MAS Flotilla (coincidentally...). Taken prisoner at the end of this operation and forced into exile after the war, he was a man many in Trieste had the honor of knowing. This sudden sale represents yet another affront, albeit a symbolic one, by the Italian state to the already maligned world of Julian-Dalmatian exiles and the prominent figures who belonged to it.

Now both the frigate named after the hero from Koper and its sister ship, Emilio Bianchi , will have to be replaced with two newly built vessels, which, according to Fincantieri, should be even more modern and better equipped, so as to avoid our Navy being left without two FREMM units, which are extremely important for the Italian fleet.

The National Association of Venezia Giulia and Dalmatia strongly hopes that, to remedy what happened, one of these two new ships will take the name of Spartaco Schergat, taking into account that a FREMM was already registered to Antonio Marceglia in 2018. It would be the best, simplest and most logical way to make the gaffe that is being made these days more digestible.

Renzo Codarin