RAI television and radio programming dedicated to Remembrance Day 2025

Rai 1

Saturday February 8

One Morning With The Family

He will dedicate space to the anniversary in the column "The theme of the day" (8:35)

Sunday February 9

One Morning with the Family (7.15 am)

will dedicate the first column to Remembrance Day with several guests in the studio.

Special Tg1 – Rai Cultura: The Julian-Dalmatian Odyssey – From the foibe to the exodus (23.45pm)

On February 10, Italy celebrates the “Day of Remembrance”, dedicated to the victims of the foibe and the tens of thousands of Italian exiles forced to leave Istria and Dalmatia during and after the end of World War II. A page of history at the center of the Rai Cultura special “The Julian-Dalmatian Odyssey. From the foibe to the exodus” proposed on “Speciale TG1”.

The most tragic chapter begins in 1943, in the midst of the conflict. After September 8, the already existing tensions between Slavs and Italians, exacerbated by fascist politics - the so-called border fascism - are impacted by the war with its load of ferocity and brutality, which also involves thousands of civilians. In October 1943, from the depths of the Istrian foibe, the first terrible evidence of the massacres emerges: from the Vines cavity, dozens of bodies are extracted, the vast majority of which are Italian, killed in the most horrendous way. It is the first wave of foibe in the context of violent intimidation and persecution. Others will follow, which will push Italians to leave the land and homes where they were born and lived. But how does all this come about? What are the fundamental stages of an odyssey that will only end in the mid-50s? A young historian will retrace them, with the help of three experts in the field, and the advice of historian Raoul Pupo, directly from the most representative places of the Julian-Dalmatian drama: from Trieste, a crucial point in the story, to the foibe of Vines and Basovizza, to the reception camps where tens of thousands of exiles were placed, often in conditions of extreme hardship. The epilogue of the story takes place in Trieste, which returns to Italy in 1954.

Monday February 10

• Quirinale Palace: celebration of the Day of Remembrance by Tg1 and in collaboration with Rai Quirinale (10:55)
• Film The Girl with the Suitcase (21:30 pm first showing)

Written by Andrea Porporati. Based on the book of the same name by Egea Haffner and Gigliola Alvisi

Directed by Gianluca Mazzella

With Petra Bevilacqua, Sara Lazzaro, Claudia Vismara, Sandra Ceccarelli, Davide Strava, Andrea Bosca

It is the winter of 1944 and the bombings continue on the city of Pola and the port, an important military target, strategic for the defense of northeastern Italy, of which Venezia Giulia and Istria are part. The life of little Egea Haffner, apart from the occasional and sudden escapes to the shelter, continues like in a fairy tale. There is the villa of her paternal grandparents, the Haffners, and the jewelry store in the center where her father Kurt works. In the spring of 1945 the war ends. In Istria the so-called "Titini" prevail, the army put together by Marshal Tito, who occupies the entire Julian region, until then part of fascist Italy. A night that was supposed to be a celebration turns into the beginning of a very strong pain for little Egea. Someone knocks loudly on the door of the house. They are two men in uniform, two Titini, and they have come to look for Kurt: "Just a formality, a check", they say. Kurt follows them with a reassuring smile for his wife and daughter, but he will never return to that house. The rumor about what happened to Egea's father spreads in the days that follow in Pola: he could be one of the victims who fell into the Foibe, terrifying karst sinkholes that begin to torment the little girl's dreams. It is only the beginning: shortly after, following the numerous attacks against Italians considered fascists, Egea begins her life as an exile, which forces her to leave her homeland and face an uncertain future in Bolzano, cared for by her grandmother Maria and her aunt Ilse, who loves her like a daughter. Her real mother, Ersilia, instead chooses to move to Sardinia to pursue the goal of opening her own hairdressing shop: she wants to emancipate herself from the Haffner family, by whom she has never felt accepted.

In Bolzano Egea grew up, discovering first-hand the drama of uprooting, of the exodus that united more than 250.000 people from the Julian-Dalmatian and Istrian Italian communities, forced to leave their homes and imagine a new future for themselves.

Rai 2

Monday 10 February

Tg 2

• Tg2 Italia Europa column (10:00 am)
• Tg2 Special Foibe (18.10pm)
• Tg2 Post dedicated episode (21:00 pm)

Rai 3

Sunday February 9

REBUS (16pm)

A book on the topic will be displayed by the expert in the studio to open the reflection in the studio with the guests.

Monday 10 February

• AGORA' (08:00)
• ELIXIR (10:15 am)
• MIXERSTORIA (11:20 am) episode dedicated to the Foibe
• Past and Present – ​​Border Churches – 1^TX (13.15pm and 20.30pm on Rai Storia)

What role did the Catholic Church have in the territories of the Adriatic border? In the twentieth century, the countries and regimes that fought in that area often either supported or opposed the ecclesiastical hierarchies and the clergy for their own gain. This is what happened in the first post-war period with Fascism, and this is what happened in the second post-war period with the Yugoslavian communist regime. The border Church often found itself at the center of ideological and identity crossroads, becoming the object of violence and religious persecution. A complex and articulated history in one of the most difficult territories of our peninsula retraced by Paolo Mieli and Professor Raoul Pupo.

• ITALIAN EXCELLENCE (15pm)

She will dedicate a special episode: Guests of the episode will be: Egea Haffner, the little girl with the suitcase, protagonist of the film of the same name that will be broadcast that evening and Grazia Del Treppo, both exiles.

Professor of contemporary history Antonio Maria Orecchia will explain the historical-political conditions that led to the foibe.

To enrich the testimonies there will be archive video contributions and a report on the Basovizza foiba.

Regional News

Monday 10 February

Abruzzo

The editorial staff will produce a service dedicated to the anniversary which will be broadcast in the main editions of Telegiorni and GRR;

Basilicata

The editorial staff will dedicate extensive information coverage to the anniversary with:

• reports on Lucanian soldiers killed in the foibe within Buongiorno Regione and the Telegiornali
• service dedicated to the celebration that will be held in Potenza, organized by the Prefecture and the Municipality at the Gropius High School
• service dedicated to the event that will take place, with the historian Donato Verrastro (Unibas- University of Basilicata,) in Avigliano

Trentino Alto Adige (Bolzano Italian editorial team):

the Bolzano editorial team will produce a service that will be broadcast in the main editions of the news and GRR;

Trentino Alto Adige

the Trento editorial team will broadcast, within the BuonhiornoRegione column and the Telegiornali, reports on the commemorative day (with historical images) and will follow the initiatives in the area with wreath laying and institutional speeches

Lazio

the Lazio editorial team will carry out the following services:

Interviews with representatives of the Julian-Dalmatian Associations and the Director of the Historical Museum of Rijeka (to be filmed on February 6);

Tecnè research on the perception of the Foibe and the Julian-Dalmatian Exodus (to be filmed on February 7);

Extraordinary City Council on the Foibe (to be held on February 13).

Rai News 24

The newspaper confirms its commitment, as every year, to guarantee wide information coverage for the anniversary with dedicated services and connections starting at 6.30 on Mattina24 and throughout the day within the editions of the Telegiornale.

Furthermore, it will produce a dedicated one-hour Special, divided into two parts: the first part hosted by Roberta Ammendola with guests in the studio and in connection, to delve into the anniversary and the historical context, with interventions by Rainews correspondents and then a second part with a historical reportage with images and amarcord of the time, curated in collaboration with the approfondimenti editorial team.

The newspapers will dedicate extensive information coverage to the anniversary

Premium Rai

Sunday February 9

Miniseries The Heart in the Well (06:50)

Part 1 and Part 2

Directed by A. Negrin, with L. Gullotta, B. Fiorello, A. Liskova

Istria, 1944. A small Istrian community is shocked by the arrival of Tito's partisans.

Rai movie

Sunday February 9

Film Red Land – Rosso Istria (21 pm)

Directed by Maximiliano Hernando Bruno, with Maximiliano Hernando Bruno, Franco Nero, Geraldine Chaplin, Sandra Ceccarelli

Italy, September 1943. After the armistice and the flight of the King, the war theatres of the North-East see the advance of Tito's partisans.

Rai History

Monday February 10

The day and the story (00.10 and repeated at 8.30, 20.00)

Since 10, the Italian Parliament has chosen February 2005 as “the Day of Remembrance” in memory of the victims of the foibe and the Istrian-Dalmatian exiles, forced to abandon their homes after the transfer of Istria, Fiume and Zara to Yugoslavia, following Italy's defeat in the Second World War. The foibe are karst caves, with a sheer entrance, where Tito's communist partisans threw, between 1943 and 1945, more than 3000 Italians. The total number of “infoibate” victims is 80,000, mostly Croats and Slovenians, considered enemies of the project pursued by Tito of a Yugoslav communist federation under the leadership of ruling groups of Serbian origin.

Past and Present – ​​The Foibe and the exodus with Prof. Enrico Miletto (08.45)

The exodus of thousands of Italian citizens from the territories of Istria, Fiume and Dalmatia is a dramatic and complex passage that has its historical roots in the conflicts between Italians and Slavs that developed in that border area between the 1943th and 1945th centuries. A passage reconstructed by Paolo Mieli and Professor Enrico Miletto, on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance. Tensions that culminated in the massacres of the foibe in 1946 and XNUMX in which thousands of people were killed. Starting in XNUMX, the Italian community of Istria, Dalmatia and Trieste that did not accept living under the Yugoslav regime began to emigrate en masse to Italy. Among the regions that stood out most in welcoming exiles was Piedmont and in particular the capital Turin, where the municipal administration immediately took action to help refugees, provide housing, subsidies, job opportunities and school assistance to refugee children.

February 10th. Remembrance Day (11:30 am)

Historical contextualization of the Foibe and the exodus on the north-eastern border.

Past and present

The Adriatic question from the foibe to the exodus (with Prof. Guido Rumici) (14.15 pm)

On February 10, Italy celebrates the “day of remembrance,” dedicated to the victims of the foibe and the tens of thousands of exiles forced to leave Istria and Dalmatia at the end of World War II. Horror, fear, ideological clashes and delicate geopolitical balances are at the root of the so-called Adriatic question and the tensions between Slavs and Italians that began at the end of the XNUMXth century. A series of attacks and reprisals that will explode in the most atrocious way during the world conflict and in the immediate post-war period.

The Time of Remembrance. The Foibe and the Istrian-Julian-Dalmatian Exodus (14.45:XNUMX p.m.)

On the occasion of the Day of Remembrance, celebrated on February 10 of each year and established by law March 30, 2004 to celebrate "the memory of the tragedy of the Italians and all the victims of the foibe", Rai Storia tells in the special "Il Tempo del ricordo. Le Foibe e l'esodo istriano giuliano dalmata" the events of a painful, long, sometimes silent exodus of the Italians of Istria, Fiume and Dalmatia forced to leave their lands and their homes without any certainty, pursued and in some cases massacred by Tito's army. Places such as Basovizza, Vines, Pisino, Tarnova become the places where thousands of Italians are shot and disappeared. Thus begins that journey, that exodus that has in the refugee camps established in the Italian peninsula a first tragic phase to which will be added in the first post-war period the institution of more than forty "neighborhoods" in the major Italian cities where a laborious reconstruction of the social fabric and the future of entire families will begin. The "Julian-Dalmatian" neighborhood of Rome thus becomes a place in which the memory of what happened builds, through the presence of the museum "the House of Memory", a new bridge of dialogue and reconnection with the families and relatives who remained in Istria.

Italy of the Republic – The disputed border (16.20 pm)

The line dividing Italy and Yugoslavia, in the post-war period, became a deep wound in the history of the Republic. It is discussed in “L'Italia della Repubblica”, the Rai Cultura series, with an introduction by Paolo Mieli and historical consultancy by Giovanni Sabbatucci. Guest in the studio, the Istrian writer Anna Maria Mori, interviewed by Michele Astori, tells how the events of the “disputed border” marked the lives of those who had to leave their homes forever. After the peace treaty, Yugoslavia controlled the Istrian peninsula, while the Free Territory of Trieste was divided into two zones, one entrusted to the Allies and one controlled by the Yugoslavs. The capital of Friuli had to wait many years before returning to Italy and in this time, from the end of the conflict to the London memorandum of 1954, the Italians living in that land paid the price of defeat. They are also tributes of blood, like that shed in the tragedy of the foibe that swallowed up thousands of people, writing one of the darkest pages in Italian history. Finally, there is the sad exodus to which the Italians living in the border lands that passed to the Yugoslavs were forced. The episode, which gives voice to the protagonists and witnesses of the time through archive interviews from the Rai archives, makes use of the contribution of historians Raoul Pupo and Patrick Karlsen.

Past and present

Foibe, the eternal abandonment the eternal abandonment with Prof. Moscarda and Ivetic (17.00 pm)

Horror, fear, ideological clashes and delicate geopolitical balances: this is the dramatic combination underlying an event involving a population of around 250 Italians forced to leave Istria and Dalmatia at the end of the Second World War and embark on a long, painful journey that for many also meant death in the foibe. A page of history retraced in a special episode dedicated to the Day of Remembrance, on Rai Storia. In the studio with Paolo Mieli, Professor Orietta Moscarda and Professor Egidio Ivetic. Even the return to Italy often takes place in the name of drama, fueled by mistrust and prejudice. The foibe and the Julian-Dalmatian exodus represent a tragic chapter in our history, which re-emerged from oblivion only starting in the 90s and is still the subject of studies and research.

February 1947: Winners and Losers (17.45pm)

“February 10, 1947. Italy signs the peace treaty. 25 years have passed and many of us have the melancholy privilege of being able to recall that time: the great events and the small news stories”. This is how Enzo Biagi opened, in 1972, the broadcast “February 1947: winners and losers”, an investigation into the events that led to the Paris Peace Treaty between the Allies and Italy. The main facts and events of 1947 are retraced: from economic and social difficulties to political instability, from discussions and protests on the results of the Peace Treaties signed in Paris on February 10, 1947, to territorial, military and economic impositions on Italy. Sports, cinema, politics, cultural and folkloristic initiatives, and crime news of the time are analyzed, up to the birth of the Cold War in Italy and the world and the end of the united front.

Past and Present – ​​Border Churches – 1^TX (20.30pm and 13.15pm on Rai3)

The Journey of the Train of Remembrance (21pm)

A long train journey from Trieste to Taranto, through the main Italian cities, to remember men and women who did not want to lose their identity. It is the Train of Remembrance, created on the occasion of February 10, the Day of Remembrance: a traveling exhibition dedicated to the tragic story of the Julian-Dalmatian exodus. A project promoted by the Minister for Sport and Youth Andrea Abodi, created by the Mission Structure for National Anniversaries and National and International Sporting Events of the Presidency of the Council, by Ferrovie dello Stato and Fondazione FS Italiane, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Merit, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Defense, Rai Teche, Rai Cultura, Rai Storia, Archivio LUCE and the Regional Institute for Istrian-Fiuman-Dalmatian Culture. “The Journey of the Train of Memory” by Agostino Pozzi with the collaboration of Clemente Volpini brings to life through archive footage and interviews with witnesses: Ireneo Giorgini, Clelia Giurin, Sergio Leonardelli, Elio Menegotti, Aldo Pugliese, Eufemia Sponza, Giovanni Stipcevich – the journey of the exiles from Istria, Fiume and Dalmatia who over 70 years ago were forced to flee to live in freedom and not under Tito's communist regime.

Specials History '23-'24

The Julian-Dalmatian Odyssey - From the Foibe to the Exodus R (22:00 PM)

On February 10, Italy celebrates the “Day of Remembrance,” dedicated to the victims of the foibe and the tens of thousands of Italian exiles forced to leave Istria and Dalmatia during and after the end of World War II. A page of history at the center of the new special “The Julian-Dalmatian Odyssey. From the foibe to the exodus.” The most tragic chapter begins in 1943, in the midst of the conflict. After September 8, the tensions already existing between Slavs and Italians, exacerbated by fascist politics – the so-called border fascism – are impacted by the war with its load of ferocity and brutality, which also involves thousands of civilians. In October 1943, from the depths of the Istrian foibe, the first terrible evidence of the massacres emerges: from the Vines cavity, dozens of bodies are extracted, the vast majority of which are Italian, killed in the most horrendous way. It is the first wave of foibe in the context of violent intimidation and persecution. Others will follow, which will push Italians to leave the land and homes where they were born and lived. But how does all this come about? What are the fundamental stages of an odyssey that will only end in the mid-50s? A young historian will retrace them, with the help of three experts in the field, and the advice of historian Raoul Pupo, directly from the most representative places of the Julian-Dalmatian drama: from Trieste, a crucial point in the story, to the foibe of Vines and Basovizza, to the reception camps where tens of thousands of exiles are placed, often in conditions of extreme hardship. The epilogue of the story takes place in Trieste, which returns to Italy in 1954.

Route 230° – Return to the land of the fathers (22.45 pm)

A journey to reconstruct the memory and reread the tragedy of the Julian-Dalmatian exodus that tore away the roots of many Italians, forced to abandon the Adriatic coast. Some of these found shelter in Fertilia, Sardinia, to start a new life. From there, after more than 70 years, the Klizia vessel, together with its crew commanded by eighty-six-year-old Giulio Marongiu, sets off again on a long journey, to tie up the threads of history, to return to the land of the fathers. It is “Rotta 230°. Ritorno alla terra dei padri” the film by Igor Biddau, produced by Gianluca Vania Pirazzoli for Time Multimedia, which Rai Cultura. The film – previewed at the 81st Venice International Film Festival – retraces in reverse the route taken in the spring of 1948 by 13 fishing boats carrying 53 families of exiles from Istria, Fiume and Dalmatia who, after having to abandon the land where they were born, after 20 days and 20 nights of sailing along the coasts of our peninsula, reached Fertilia, a small town of unfinished foundation built near Alghero in Sardinia, making the seed of a new life germinate. An encounter between a city without inhabitants and a community without a home.

The vessel, the Klizia, set sail from Alghero and commanded by Giulio Marongiu, an exile from Pola who moved to Fertilia, reached Chioggia, the port of departure for the 13 fishing boats, Venice, Trieste, Muggia, the last Italian city in Istria, and then crossed the national borders reaching Capodistria, Piran and Slovenia, to head for Rovinj and Pola, the main Istrian cities in Croatia.

The protagonist is Giulio himself, who – at the end of a long journey aboard his boat – saw for the first time the city of Pola he abandoned as a child, sailing with a crew formed by his son Federico and Mauro Manca, founders of the Egean Ecomuseum, Giuseppe Bellu, and Federica Picone, who played the inspiring Siren who led him on his return to his native land. The film was written by Mario Audino and Igor Biddau, and the narrator is Roberto Pedicini, one of the best Italian voice actors, while Alina Person gave voice to the Siren. The music for the film was created specifically by Maestro Pinuccio Pirazzoli, with the exclusive performance of Isabella Adriani.

Thanks to this journey, destined to remain in the memory, it is possible to make known a wonderful example of resilience and inclusion, which Fertilia certainly was but more generally the characteristic of an entire community, that of the exiles of Istria, Fiume and Dalmatia, which everywhere in the world has distinguished itself for its great strength and for the ability to rebuild a life in the aftermath of the serious tragedy that struck it.

Rai Culture Portal

To celebrate February 10, the Day of Remembrance in memory of the victims of the Foibe, the Rai Cultura portal offers a special on the theme in the spirit with which the commemoration was established: "Preserve and renew the memory of the tragedy of the Italians and of all the victims of the foibe, of the exodus from their lands of the Istrians, Fiume and Dalmatians in the post-war period and of the more complex story of the eastern border" (https://www.raicultura.it/speciali/ilgiornodelricordo)

RaiPlay

For the occasion in question, we would like to highlight the following content available on the RaiPlay platform:

The Cinema, TV Series, Documentaries section offers:

ITALIAN SERIES – FILMS

• The Rose of Istria (Italy 2024) directed by Tiziana Aristarco
• The Girl with the Suitcase (Italy 2025) directed by Gianluca Mazzella
• The Heart in the Well (Italy 2005) directed by Alberto Negrin
• Red Land (Rosso Istria) (Italy 2018) directed by Maximiliano Hernando Bruno.

The Learning section offers:

“LE FOIBE” COLLECTION

https://www.raiplay.it/collezioni/lefoibe

A collection that tells the story of the Foibe tragedy through period footage, interviews, documentaries and the two-part Rai fiction Il cuore nel pozzo.

In “Past and Present – ​​The Julian-Dalmatian Drama from the Foibe to the Exodus”, Paolo Mieli and Professor Raoul Pupo tell the entire story that re-emerged from oblivion only in the 90s.

“The Last Resort. Pola between the Vergarolla Massacre and the Exodus”, through testimonies, historical documents and reconstructions, tells the story of the most serious massacre in Republican Italy, which took place on August 18, 1946.

There are also interviews with witnesses, such as those conducted by Giovanni Minoli in a special dedicated to the Day of Remembrance and, previously, for his historic program Mixer. And then there are the RaiScuola specials, Correva l'Anno, La Grande Storia which tell the story of the depopulation of the city of Fiume at the hands of the dictator Tito, the upheaval of the eastern Italian border and the Julian-Dalmatian exodus.

The RaiScuola special Dopo l'esodo instead focuses on the journey that these people expelled from their cities took from the purge, to the passage through the refugee camp, up to their reintegration into the socioeconomic fabric.

Finally, a delicate and new point of view is offered to us by music, with the Concert for the Day of Remembrance in which music by Luigi Dallapiccola, a composer born in Pisino D'Istria, and two of his students, Luigi Donorà, born in 1935 in Dignano d'Istria, and Luciano Berio, who with his Folksongs created a hymn to the brotherhood of peoples, are performed.

or It was the year – Foibe

or Frontiers – The Denied History

or It was the year – Foibe Special

or Rainews24 Special – Italians twice

or The Vergarolla Massacre

or Memories from the Abyss

or The catastrophe of Adriatic Italianity

or Enigma – The foibe

Oh Istria, land of my pain

or Istria – right to memory

or The Last Resort. Pola between the Vergarolla Massacre and the Exodus

or Time and History – The Foibe

or Concert for Remembrance Day

or RaiScuola specials – The Power of Memory

or The Heart in the Well – Fiction in 2 episodes

or Fiume: Tito's purge

or Foibe the day of remembrance – Time and history

or The Giuliano Dalmata drama from the Foibe to the exodus

or Foibe: the history and the places

or Unomattina – The tragedy of the Foibe

o After the exodus

or Frontier Italy: the war, the foibe, the exodus

or History is us – The foibe

or Time and History – Interview with Ernesto Galli Della Loggia

or Memories and Hopes – The Foibe

o Foibe: the day of remembrance

or Foibe the eternal abandonment

o Tg2 dossier Stories – Le Foibe

o Door to Door – Foibe Italian Tragedy

or Pain and Exile

o Foibe, the day of remembrance

or Foibe: Italian tragedy

The showcases offer:

foibe

or Foibe Archipelago: https://www.raiplay.it/programmi/arcipelagofoibe

or The memory of the Foibe: https://www.raiplay.it/programmi/ilricordodellefoibe

RaiPlay Sound

The platform will display a selection of contents on the home page, including:

The memory of the foibe, an anthology by Rai Teche that through archive materials, testimonies and reports retraces the massacre of the foibe and the subsequent Julian-Dalmatian exodus.

The audio documentary Gorizia. Birth of a border which collects the stories of witnesses from Gorizia, Italy and Slovenia

The Power of Memory and Border Stories, from Gli Speciali di Rai Scuola that tell the stories of projects and experiences of students dedicated to the day.

La Grande radio – Le foibe which offers a journey through history and literature with the reading of pages from Carlo Sgorlon's book 'La foiba grande'.

Three Colors: The Drama of Istria. Historian Guido Crainz retraces the various phases of Istria's troubled history from its annexation to Italy to the Foibe massacres.

Written, read, said in which the historian Gianni Oliva recounts the atrocities of the foibe and the silence maintained for decades on the affair.

From Mangiafuoco sono io comes a portrait of Marshal Tito

In I gialli della Storia Giovanni Minoli retraces the horrors of the foibe, long confined to oblivion, through testimonies and sound documents.

RADIO

In reference to the Day of Remembrance in memory of the victims of the Foibe, we highlight the programs that include editorial ideas to promote the anniversary:

Radio 1 – GR

Saturday February 8

Special Envoy (8:30 to 9:30)

Monday 10 February

• Special Foibe from 10:30 to 12:10.
• Reports and interviews in the main editions of GR

Radio 3

Sunday February 9

Quirinale Concert 2025 11:50 am

Stefania Tallini, piano, Daniela Spalletta, voice, will perform the song 1947 (Sergio Endrigo) dedicated to Pola.

Monday 10 February

Fahrenheit (from 15.00 pm to 18.00 pm) connection from Trieste with the historic Raoul Pupo.