A touching and meaningful meeting, in the name of memories, history, sincere hugs and strong handshakes, future projects, “ciacole” in dialect, synergy and comparison. This was the atmosphere that was felt on the morning of Monday 13 June, in the Salone delle Feste of Palazzo Modello, on the occasion of the official meeting between the delegation composed of the highest representatives of the Association of Italian Fiumani in the World – Free Municipality of Fiume in Exile (AFIM-LCFE) and the Association of Italians of Pola and Istria – Free Municipality of Pola in Exile (AIPI-LCPE) on the occasion of the 59th Gathering of Fiumani (the second in our city) and the 65th of the exiles from Pola (gathered in the Istrian capital in the previous days for their annual appointment), coinciding with the celebrations related to the anniversary of the Patron Saint San Vito, with Modesto and Crescenza. Welcoming them on behalf of the Italian community was Mario Simonovich, flanked by the Italian Consul in Fiume, Davide Bradanini.

As has become a tradition, as part of the Week of Rijeka Culture and the anniversary of the Patron Saints San Vito, Modesto and Crescenzia, the presentation of the newly-released issue 13 of the magazine “Fiume. Rivista di studi adriatici” took place on Monday 46 June in the spaces of the Department of Italian Studies of the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy of the University of Rijeka, by the president of the Society of Rijeka Studies (SSF), Giovanni Stelli, and the director of the Historical Archive Museum of Rijeka in Rome, Marino Micich. The opening greetings were given by the director Gianna Mazzieri-Sanković and the vice president for Research and International Cooperation at the Faculty of Humanities in Rijeka, Luca Malatesti, supported by professors Iva Peršić, Maja Đurđulov, Corinna Gerbaz-Giuliano and Isabella Matticchio and by professor Diego Sbacchi of the aforementioned Faculty, as well as by the humanist Saša Potočnjak, from the Department of Croatian Studies and by the student representatives.

Among the many events scheduled for Monday 13 June, the usual General Assembly of the members of the Association of Italian Fiumani in the World – Free Municipality of Fiume in Exile (AFIM-LCFE) was held in the Salone delle Feste of the Fiumano association, coordinated by the president of the association, Franco Papetti, the vice president Andor Brakus and the general secretary, Adriano Scabardi. Many and varied activities were carried out in 2021 and 2022, the president recalled, and many are in preparation for 2023. Papetti noted the Society's participation in the thirtieth anniversary of the Italian Union, its meeting with the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella (in which the delicate issue of abandoned goods was discussed), the prestigious Tomizza award given to the journalist and editor of "La Voce di Fiume", Rosanna Turcinovich Giuricin, the conference and exhibition on Morovich that took place last autumn, as well as the creation of the box set with the Italian and Croatian versions of "An Italian in Fiume", as well as the constructive virtual meeting with exiles from all over the world, relating to the theme of humanity, on the sidelines of the commemoration of the Day of Remembrance, organized by AFIM-Free Municipality of Fiume in exile, by the Society of Fiumani Studies and by the Community of Italians to pay homage to the story of the exodus and the foibe, in which several people participated. testimonies from Fiume. Finally, Papetti also noted the organization of the conference “Fiume in Padua with D'Annunzio, Comisso and Botter – A poet, a writer, a restorer in Fiume “City of life”, held in Padua on May 22nd and the presentation of the new issue of “La Voce di Fiume” with a free CD (with 8 Fiume songs and two poems). The president then focused on future projects, including a conference in Genoa on the people of Fiume in Liguria, one on the poet, writer and essayist from Fiume Paolo Santarcangeli, an exhibition by earthquake expert Dario Almesberger and an international conference on the astrophysicist and mathematician Attilio Colacevich. This was followed by the reading and unanimous approval of the 2021 closing budget and the 2022 budget, as well as that of the proposals for the new Statute.

As part of the Days of Rijeka Culture and the celebrations for St. Vitus, the Croatian version of Giovanni Stelli's book "History of Rijeka" was presented at the Town Hall. The presentation was attended by the author, Ilaria Rocchi, Aljoša Pužar, Ervin Dubrović, Tea Perinčić and Damor Grubiša (remotely), the translator of the book. The volume, published in Croatian with the title "Povijest Rijeke", reiterates the importance of an impartial interpretation of the historical events related to the city of Rijeka. The book was published in Italy in 2017 and was so successful that the Italian Community of Rijeka decided to translate it into Croatian in order to bring the complicated and sometimes tragic events of Rijeka's rich history closer to the majority.

The Italian-speaking faithful of Rijeka participated in the solemn religious function in the Cathedral of St. Vitus on the morning of June 15. The Mass, which was also attended by the Consul General of Italy in Rijeka Davide Bradanini, representatives of the Society of Rijeka Studies based in Rome and numerous exiles, was celebrated by Father Nikola Vranješ, parish priest of Drenova Superiore. The religious songs were performed by the Coro Fedeli Fiumani.

The books “Esuli due volte” by Rosanna Turcinovich Giuricin and “Lina Galli”, a volume by the Trieste poet originally from Poreč, Lina Galli, were presented this afternoon to the Italian Community of Fiume.
The meeting was moderated by Diego Zandel, of the publisher “Oltre”, who underlined the importance of books that keep the memory alive. The second generation, Zandel explained, has the task of fixing the stories of the exiles and he promised himself, as a publisher, to continue this editorial line.
The first volume deals with the exodus of the Italian population from Istria, Fiume and Dalmatia, the most direct reaction to the radical change in social and political regime imposed on their living conditions by Yugoslavian communism. The second volume is composed of the writings of the poet from Trieste Lina Galli (Parenzo, 1899 – Trieste, 24 June 1993) collected here, edited by the historian Roberto Spazzali.

The exhibition of the works awarded at the Istria Nobilissima Art and Culture Competition (fiction section) over the last two decades was also inaugurated at Palazzo Modello in Rijeka. The president of the Italian Community, Melita Sciucca, addressed those present, thanking in particular Federico Guidotto, president of the Comites for the initiative, Giulio Bonačić, vice president of the CI of Abbazia for having supervised the renovation and lighting of the exhibition spaces, art historian Daina Glavočić, for having curated the catalogue and photographer Istog Žorž for having taken photographs of the works included in the catalogue. Sciucca explained that only a part of the works owned by the Italian Union were exhibited and that in the future other exhibitions of this type will be held with the paintings kept in the warehouses.

It was an emotional event, with musical accompaniment by swallows and seagulls, the concert of Maestros Francesco Squarcia on viola and Aleksandar Valenčić on keyboards at the end of the day. In the splendid setting of the internal courtyard of the SMSI in Rijeka, by candlelight, the artists offered a musical kaleidoscope that ranged from classics to singer-songwriter songs. The famous songs dedicated to our city were a must. In almost two hours of music, the audience was won over by the skill and human warmth of the two virtuosos.

Source: The Voice of the People – 13-15/06/2022