The documentary film “Antonio Santin, Defensor Civitatis,” directed by Valeria Baldan and Giovanni Ziberna, tells the story of the merciful figure of Monsignor Antonio Santin (Rovigno 1895-Trieste 1981), bishop of Trieste and Capodistria from 1938 to 1975.

For the Istrians in particular, Monsignor Santin – an exile among exiles – was a fundamental point of reference, a guarantee of understanding their problems and difficulties, a constant presence in support of the most vulnerable.

With the same passion, he also defended the Jewish people after the promulgation of the Fascist racial laws, openly opposing Mussolini himself. He rose to the rank of defensor civitatis in the spring of 1945, during the tumultuous days when the Nazi occupation of Trieste ended, the brief liberation of April 30th by the city's CLN (National Liberation Committee) took place, and on May 1st the forty days of Yugoslav occupation began, bringing deaths, deportations, and arbitrary killings, the prelude to a long and tormented postwar period.

This documentary, produced by Venicefilm in collaboration with the Multimedia Documentation Center of Julian, Istrian, Rijeka and Dalmatian Culture, the National Association of Venezia Giulia and Dalmatia, and the Federation of Associations of Istrian, Rijeka and Dalmatian Exiles, can be viewed on the Amazon Prime streaming platform.