Another day full of meanings for the people of Fiume traveling for their 60th Gathering. On the journey undertaken at the Municipality of Trieste, the IRCI and the CI, on Monday 30 October the people of Fiume stopped in Rovinj, first at the Historical Research Center, then at the Italian Community, received by their respective highest representatives, Raul Marsetič and Viviana Benussi, the latter accompanied by Gianclaudio Pellizzer. The delegation of the people of Fiume was joined by other guests, interested in gathering proposals that could lead to joint initiatives, in favor of individual projects, but also of common strategies.

The president of AFIM, Franco Papetti, expressed his enthusiasm and admiration for finally getting to know the reality of the CRS, at European level, an institution that rewards all those who over the decades have worked hard to transform the research regarding the minority and the history of the territory into a high-level historiographical debate, into an endless series of volumes that build the great wall of our culture. But there is also room for joint projects; this is what Papetti and Marsetič decided, who in the future will work together on significant initiatives regarding Rijeka, which will enrich the already rich panorama of the production of the Rovinj Center.

The meeting with Viviana Benussi was also intense, as she wanted to focus on the contours of a legal reality that sometimes favors, but mostly limits the possibilities of growth of the Italian minority and of the relationships between the people still present in Istria and Fiume and the exiles in the world. The opinion on the path to take was unanimous: collaboration must transform into an awareness of the most important issues to be developed through debate and collaboration on the issues of minority rights in today's and tomorrow's Europe. Therefore, in this 60th, the possibility of further joint, shared, participatory development opens up in a reality that sometimes seems to slip away like sand between the fingers of the minority society. Building together must become a way to continue to exist on site, but also for a true cultural return of the exiles from these lands.

The meetings continue in Rijeka with the conference dedicated to Franco Vegliani and with all the activities that will keep the people of Rijeka busy until next Friday.

Rosanna Turcinovich Giuricin
Source: The Voice of the People – 30/10/2023