Tuesday, August 18, 2026, marked the 80th anniversary of the Vergarolla massacre, which occurred on the beach in Polesano on Sunday, August 18, 1946. The beach was packed with families and participants in the Coppa Scarioni races, the Istrian leg of which had been organized by the Pietas Julia sailing club, a long-standing patriot, which would later celebrate its 60th anniversary that evening. It was the first massacre in the history of the Italian Republic, as well as the one with the highest number of victims: 64 were identified (a third of them children), but nearly 50 more bodies were unidentified, so badly damaged had they been by the explosion of the warehouse...

As part of the events taking place in Pula to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Vergarolla massacre, the exhibition was curated by the IRCI (Regional Institute for Istrian-Fiuman-Dalmatian Culture), which presented it to the public at its headquarters in Trieste from Remembrance Day 2026 until early July. In Pula, it will be open to the public from August 18th to September 9th. The exhibition catalog is available for free consultation in PDF format on the publisher's website.

Tuesday, August 18, 2026, marks the 80th anniversary of the Vergarolla massacre. The massacre occurred on the beach in Polesano on Sunday, August 18, 1946, while the shore was packed with families and participants in the Coppa Scarioni races, the Istrian leg of which had been organized by the Pietas Julia sailing club, a long-standing patriotic tradition. It was the first massacre in the history of the Italian Republic, as well as the one with the highest number of victims: 64 were identified (a third of them children), but nearly 50 more bodies were unidentified, so badly damaged had they been by the explosion of the defused mine cache located at the end of the beach. The...

Thirty-two stories of dedication to the medical profession from across Italy. Passion, generosity, and a calling to altruism far beyond the bounds of the Hippocratic Oath. Just like Geppino Micheletti, the Trieste surgeon (1905-1961) who, on Sunday, August 18, 1946, operated for over 24 hours on the wounded who were arriving continuously at the Sartorio Hospital in Pula from the nearby Vergarolla beach, where a cache of defused mines had been detonated, causing carnage among the families who were watching the Scarioni Cup swimming competitions while awaiting the evening celebration that would celebrate the 60th anniversary.

On Sunday, August 18, 1946, Pola still belonged to Italy, though it was under Anglo-American military administration; the outcome of the institutional referendum had sanctioned the new republican structure. That day, on the Vergarolla beach in Pola, crowded with families with children watching the Scarioni Cup swimming competitions, a cache of defused mines piled at the end of the beach exploded, causing carnage. Sixty-five victims were identified, including many children; another 40-50 or so were torn to pieces by the blast, and dozens of wounded were treated by Dr. Geppino Micheletti, even after learning that his two...

It is with deep emotion that I announce that on Tuesday, March 24, a new memorial stone was unveiled in Pula, dedicated to the Vergarolla massacre, the 80th anniversary of which will be celebrated in August. The memorial bears the names and ages of all 64 identified victims! This is a momentous event, unimaginable just a few years ago. As president of Aipi-LCPE, the Italians of Pula and Istria, I sincerely thank the city of Pula's administration, represented by Mayor Grbin and Deputy Mayor, our dear Vito Paoletić. My gratitude also goes to those who have worked for decades to achieve this milestone: our exiles from Pula, Lino Vivoda and Livio Dorigo,...

A carefree holiday destination for today's tourists, who know little or nothing about Vergarolla, Pula and its sea were a place of joyful encounter even on that distant Sunday, August 18, 1946, when its inhabitants cherished the dream of regaining a peaceful existence. Suddenly, however, the unpredictable face of a destiny exploded by a cowardly criminal hand materialized, dispersing the scent of a barely caressed tomorrow, erasing dreams, crystallizing pain and feelings, indelible in the future of all those affected by that massacre. The sadness of remembering that tragic day was renewed again this year on the occasion of...

Last Monday, ceremonies commemorating a terrible chapter in Italian history were held: the massacre of defenseless civilians, mostly young people and children, who died on the Vergarolla beach in the Polesine area on August 18, 1946. It was a day of celebration and sport that should have brought a smile and a moment of lightheartedness, amidst anguish and uncertainty about the future of those lands. A piece of memory too long dismissed from the collective imagination, a dull pain, compounded by the lack of recognition of what happened, which for decades further deepened the anguish of the families who lost loved ones in that explosion. A...

The documentary "Vergarolla. The Canceled Massacre," produced by the RAI Friuli Venezia Giulia editorial team, can be streamed on Rai Play: https://www.raiplay.it/video/2025/07/watchfolder-FVG-PROGRAMMI-ITALIANI-VERGAROLLA-1604616--BR--2400mp4-a8d4f1b0-f67a-4390-a83a-ff5e5f574651.html On August 18, 1946, an explosion on Vergarolla beach in Pula, where hundreds of people had gathered to watch a swimming event advertised as a demonstration of Italianness, resulted in the confirmed deaths of 65 people and an unknown number of injuries and missing. The Vergarolla massacre occurred after the war ended in an Italian city that was about to become Yugoslavian, and is...

Pola, August 18, 1946. The massacre in Vergarolla was the largest in terms of civilian casualties since the end of the Second World War. It is the largest massacre to have occurred within the territory of the Italian Republic. Yes, because the city of Pola, although under British military control, was still Italian territory in August 1946. Yet in Italy, this Italian tragedy is never remembered, never mentioned, and never officially commemorated. BACKGROUND: At the end of the Second World War, in June 1945, after a brief but terrible and painful occupation of Pola by the "Titoist" communist partisans, the famous forty...