Dear AIPI LCPE Odv members and friends,
Dear readers of the Pula Arena,

Twenty-two years have passed since the law establishing Remembrance Day came into force. This was specified in the Official Gazette of April 13, 2004, an image of which is featured in the cover image. This is a context in which, over two decades, there has been a visible growth in projects and events, which, throughout Italy and beyond, are visibly and concretely multiplying year after year. One example is the Journeys of Remembrance (see the image on the front page, referring to the Roman students' stop at the Basovizza Foiba), which we report on in the inside pages.

We are pleased to note the attention paid to the program of our next meeting in June in Pula, which is now almost completely finalized, although it is subject to some changes or additions as the final definition is being made (details and references on pages 23 and 24).
This month, too, our pages' contents range from current affairs and history, memories and tradition, as do the columns that prove particularly popular with our readers.

As we close this edition of the magazine and prepare to print, we couldn't help but mention the traditional gathering in Barbana on April 25th in memory of the Venerable Egidio Bullesi, which we will report on extensively in the next issue of the Arena. The event—part of the Jubilee Year dedicated to Saint Francis, organized by the Egidio Bullesi Committee for the Cause of Beatification, in collaboration with the ANVGD committees of Friuli Venezia Giulia—enjoyed the enthusiastic participation of our president, Dr. Lucia Bellaspiga, who delivered the public oration for Egidio Bullesi.

For Bellaspiga, this was a particularly significant return to Barbana, summed up in his thoughts dedicated to the memory of his mother Carmen: with shared emotion, we take the liberty of publishing them below.

Today, April 25th, you would have turned 100. You went to Heaven to be with Dad at 99... "For the 100th, we'll go celebrate in Barbana," you told me... Today, Mom, I was in Barbana, on the sanctuary island of Grado, and we celebrated you with many Istrian people, alongside Egidio Bullesi, the saint of Pula! There were hundreds of us, and I gave the public oration for Egidio Bullesi, among many Polesine people who came from as far away as Pula. And I kept your tricolor rosette with me, the one you wore to the Arena on August 15, 1946, three days before the Vergarolla massacre, when 20 of you sang Va' Pensiero. A rose for you, Mom, the one Dad always brought you at San Marco.

Happy reading and see you next time!

Your director,
Viviana Facchinetti

PS: For those who may have inadvertently forgotten, we remind you of the renewal of the membership fee to support AIPI-LCPE Odv, along with the possibility of donating 5 x 1000. We sincerely thank those who are already doing so.

To receive in PDF format The Pula Arena, monthly magazine of the Association of Italians of Pula and Istria – Free Municipality of Pula in Exile, write to redazione.arena@yahoo.it