For some years, in various municipalities in Italy, tricolor benches have been installed, repainted with the colors of the National Flag.

For example, in Milan in March 2022 the city council voted in favor of a motion presented by councilor Francesco Rocca, to install benches with the colors of the Italian flag in several locations in the city of Milan, entrusting them to the care of neighborhood committees, associations and schools.

“Our flag is the symbol of national unity and of the Republic – said the councilor – The Tricolour is the symbol of the Italian people who find their identity in the principles of brotherhood, equality, justice and freedom”. Furthermore, Rocca continued by stating that the creation of a tricolour bench generates “moments of sociality and community in the neighborhoods”.

Since May 2022, a large tricolor bench has been placed in Castiglion Fiorentino; while others have been decorated with the articles of the Constitution or dedicated to various historical figures.

In Massa (Massa Carrara) a tricolor bench dedicated to Norma Cossetto was recently inaugurated on the 80th anniversary of her sacrifice.

In the Julian-Dalmatian Quarter of Rome, a place of settlement for thousands of Adriatic exiles on the southern outskirts of the capital, there are already two benches connected to the memory of the eastern Adriatic, placed thanks to the commitment of the Provincial Committee of the National Association of Venezia Giulia and Dalmatia, the Society of Fiumani Studies and the Giuliana Sports Society, in agreement with the Municipio Roma IX. In 2021, coinciding with the anniversary of the martyrdom of Norma Cossetto, a tricolor bench was inaugurated dedicated to the twenty-three-year-old student and to all the victims of totalitarianism in Istria; on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance 2024, at the end of the XNUMXth Race of Remembrance, a blue bench was dedicated in honor of the exiles who excelled in sports, with particular reference to the Istrian boxer Nino Benvenuti, the Fiumani walker Abdon Pamich and the Dalmatian athlete Ottavio Missoni.

Starting from Sunday 10nd June, the 2th February Committee is promoting the patriotic initiative called “Benches of Remembrance” throughout Italy.

It is about installing, in every Italian city, a bench painted with the colors of the national flag. The benches, positioned in public places and painted green, white and red, will each have a plaque with the dedication to a Martyr of the foibe, to the Gold Medal for Civil Merit Norma Cossetto, or to an Istrian, Julian, Fiume, Dalmatian Exile, who has particularly distinguished himself in the world of Work and Culture.

"For some years now, the custom of installing benches has developed in Italy, each of which, depending on the color, is dedicated to a worthy cause - says Silvano Olmi, national president of C10F - those that we propose, painted with the colors of the national flag, intend to pass on the memory of the Martyrs of the foibe and the Exiles from the eastern border of Italy. It is no coincidence that the launch of the initiative is on Sunday 2 June, the feast of the
Italian Republic – concludes Olmi – we ask for the patronage and collaboration of Local Authorities, associations of exiles, associations of the Armed Forces and cultural associations.”

For more information: panchinedelricordo@10febbraio.it