The municipality of Azzano Mella (in the province of Brescia) is the first to have decided to dedicate a tricolor bench as proposed by the Comitato 10 Febbraio. Since last June 2nd, in fact, the C10F has been promoting throughout Italy the patriotic initiative called “Benches of Remembrance”, the installation in every Italian city of a bench painted with the colors of the national flag: these benches, positioned in public places and painted green,
white and red, each will have a plaque with a 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.

The Municipality of Azzano Mella, with Mayor Matteo Ferrari and his Board, has done things in a big way and has decided to name a giant wooden bench, located in the “Bosco Urbano” park, in memory of a fellow citizen, Antonio Despalj, an exile from Zara, who was a pharmacist in that Municipality for many years.

“I thank the Mayor and the Council of Azzano Mella for having promptly joined the patriotic initiative – declares Silvano Olmi, national president of C10F – the benches painted with the colors of the national flag serve to pass on the memory of the Martyrs of the foibe and the Exiles from the eastern border of Italy.”

Two months after the initiative's launch, 57 municipalities have joined and are preparing to install a tricolor bench in their areas. For more information, please contact panchinedelricordo@10febbraio.it.

We recall that prior to this meritorious campaign, the first ever Bench of Remembrance was inaugurated in the Giuliano-Dalmatian Quarter of Rome in 2021 thanks to a shared initiative between the Coordination of the Historical Associations of the Quarter (Provincial Committee of Rome of the National Association of Venezia Giulia and Dalmatia, Society of Fiumani Studies and Giuliana Sports Association) and the IX Municipality of Rome Capital, which had unanimously approved the installation of a bench dedicated to Norma Cossetto and all the victims of the Istrian foibe. Last February, at the end of the Corsa del Ricordo, the blue Bench was also inaugurated on the same site, that is, at the memorial stone commemorating the Julian-Dalmatian fallen along the Via Laurentina, which commemorates the Adriatic exiles who excelled in sport: the Istrian boxer Nino Benvenuti, the Fiumani walker Abdon Pamich and the Dalmatian athlete Ottavio Missoni first and foremost.