Also this year the patriotic event “A Rose for Norma” will remember Norma Cossetto, an Istrian university student, tortured, raped and thrown alive into a sinkhole on the night between 4 and 5 October 1943 by the Yugoslav communist partisans of Josip Broz, better known as Marshal Tito. The first rose of 2024 was placed at the entrance of the Montecitorio palace: present, together with the president of the Culture Commission Federico Mollicone and the deputies of Fratelli d'Italia Alessandro Amorese, promoter of the event, Nicole Matteoni and Dario Iaia, the president of the 10 February Committee Silvano Olmi and the representatives of the armed forces associations and the Istrian, Fiume and Dalmatian exiles who sponsor the initiative.

"It was right to pay homage to Norma Cossetto here in Montecitorio, a few days after the anniversary of her death. This event will be followed by others, including the one in Colle Oppio on October 4, when a theatrical work dedicated to the young Istrian will be presented in preview. Alongside, a permanent exhibition, with the display of the Gold Medal for Civil Merit in memory awarded to Norma by President Ciampi in 2005" declared Mollicone.

Amorese echoes this sentiment, according to whom «this important commemoration contributes to nourishing the memory of an Italian event that has been relegated to oblivion for too long: for this reason we must always work so that Norma Cossetto – emblem and female icon of the dramatic event of the Foibe and the exodus from the very Italian lands of Istria, Fiume and Dalmatia – enters with ever greater force into the memory of the entire national community».

Trieste MP Nicole Matteoni expresses her satisfaction for the growth of “A rose for Norma”, an initiative that began a few years ago and, she adds, «has reached very important numbers today, thanks to the commitment of the 10th February Committee: in fact, more and more cities, not only in Italy, have joined. The event has its culmination here at the Chamber of Deputies, a symbol of the institutions in representation of which I am very happy, together with my colleagues from Fratelli d'Italia, to offer a flower to Norma Cossetto».

The patriotic demonstration “A Rose for Norma Cossetto”, organized by the 10th February Committee, has reached its sixth edition: on 4th and 5th October and in the following days it will be held in over 390 Italian and foreign cities.

Twelve months ago there were 345 cities, and the complete list of this year's edition will be published on the website www.10febbraio.it 

The volunteers, often with the patronage of Municipalities, Provinces and Regions, will go in front of a symbolic monument of their city and lay a rose. During the ceremony, the figure of Norma Cossetto will be remembered, the young Istrian martyr who was kidnapped, raped, tortured and finally thrown alive into a sinkhole, on the night between 4 and 5 October 1943 by the Yugoslavian communist partisans.

"Together with her we will remember women who suffer violence, in times of peace or during armed conflicts," said Silvano Olmi, national president of the Comitato 10 Febbraio. "Unfortunately, rape is still a terrible weapon today, used in wars between Israel and Palestine and Russia and Ukraine. Every year the number of cities where the demonstration in memory of Norma Cossetto takes place increases," concluded Olmi, "an event open to everyone's participation."

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