A proud Zaratino has left us. With him, the last descendant of the Vuxani family, patriots of the Albanian community of Borgo Erizzo, a hamlet of the Municipality of Zara that bears the name of the Provveditore of the Republic of Venice, Nicolò Erizzo, who in 1726 welcomed and assigned to that place a group of Albanian Catholic families who had fled to escape the Ottoman occupation, has disappeared. In Zara, before the outbreak of the Great War, the Vuxani house was an important reference, headquarters of the Autonomist Party (the pro-Italian party), of the National League, of the Bersaglieri Society and of the Italo-Albanian Association.

Giuseppe – Pino Vuxani (Zara 23.02.1926 – Trieste 16.12.2021) graduated from the “Gabriele D'Annunzio” classical high school in Zara in 1944. With the entry of the Yugoslav partisans into the city on 31 October 1944, the massacre of the Italians took place. In contempt of international law, the forced mobilization of the young people of Zadar was decided, in particular the children of those arrested and killed, destined for the demining battalions or assault brigades. Pino was mobilized in an assault brigade.

His father Giacomo, secretary of four patriotic associations, was regent of the Prefecture of Zadar and Commissioner of the Municipality, the last Italian authority when Zadar was occupied by Yugoslav troops on 31 October 1944. Arrested, tried and sentenced to death, he was finally freed and returned to his family.

His brother Giorgio, a highly decorated officer "for war merit", reached the rank of General of the Army Corps and was commander of the Military District of Trieste for a long time.

Father Giacomo returned to Italy in 1948, taking with him, at great risk, the flag of Zara, sewn into a pillow. The flag was delivered to the Free Municipality of Zara in 1965 by Giuseppe and Giorgio Vuxani in a solemn ceremony on the occasion of the 12th Rally of Dalmatians of Ancona. Today the banner is in Rome at the Museum of Gold Medals. In memory of the more than two thousand Fallen of the city, it awaits the final pinning of the Gold Medal for Military Valor, never awarded, which in 2001 was awarded to it by the President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.

In 1948, “Pino” also reached the peninsula in exile, with his family in the refugee camp of Marina di Massa. In 1952, he graduated with honors in Law at the University of Ferrara. In 1954, he obtained the qualification to practice as a legal attorney and when Trieste returned to Italy in October 1954, he moved to the redeemed city. Winner of a competition in the management category, in 1955 he was hired by INPS, where he achieved the qualification of Senior Manager and the regency of the Trieste office.

In 1997 he was among the founders of the periodical Il Dalmata, a newspaper founded in Zara in 1866 and suppressed by Austria in 1916, refounded by the Exiles to give voice to the Dalmatians scattered around the world.

Within the Trieste Associations of Exiles he holds various positions, including Vice President of the Dalmatian Circle "Jadera", Secretary of the Dalmatian Section of the National League, member of the Board of Directors of the Trieste Committee of the National Association of Venezia Giulia and Dalmatia, member of the Cultural Consultation of the Regional Institute for Istrian, Rijeka and Dalmatian Culture.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Volunteers for Freedom of Trieste and of the Council of the Association of Families and Relatives of Italian Deportees in Yugoslavia, Missing or Killed.

From 2003 to 2015 he was President of the Trieste Federation of the Institute of the Blue Ribbon among those decorated for Military Valor and from 2009 to 2014 National Councilor of the same Institute.

His articles published in the IRCI magazine “Tempi & Cultura” and in the magazine “Il Nastro Azzurro” edited by the Institute of the same name are precious.

With a contagious smile, he was an honest and kind person, always happy to meet friends, he never missed “de ciacolar” with his calm “calada” zaratina. From the Dalmatians a last, emotional farewell.

Our deepest condolences to his wife Anna Maria and daughter Gabriella.