Liberation Day in Italy (the Anniversary of the Resistance) commemorates the end of Nazi occupation and the struggle of the Italian Resistance. Normally a day for celebration and reflection, this April 25th (the 75th anniversary) was unlike any before. As we near Memorial Day weekend in the U.S, it too will likely look very different from most. But as Italy begins to loosen lock downs and hopefully continue to lower infection rates, we too can take a lesson from our friends in Italy and practice a bit more patience as we look to the future with optimism.
Our Fleet and Equipment Manager, Igor – who lives in Northern Italy near our Italian headquarters, shared his thoughts on lock down and missing the traditions of this Italian holiday.
I really missed the celebrations for Liberation Day this year: obviously I’m missing every social event and my desire to go out beyond the imposed 200 meter radius of our homes is growing stronger every day! But the liberation day really would have been so proper if the virus would have allowed it! It’s the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Italy and we could have celebrated another liberation that we will have to postpone.
The energy of this event is really contagious, starting from the number of Italian flags that are posted on the streets, on people’s houses, on objects of all sorts.
Generally a rare manifestation of patriotism, this year we could see a lot of flags already on display since people realized that we are in danger and that a common effort is needed to come out of this. Our president of the republic reminded us: the values of freedom, justice and social cohesion are the roots of the Resistenza and the fight for freedom. These are still the things that we need to recall to fight the pandemic today.
I missed participating to our local event, that since 2004 is bringing thousands of people together with a walk along the river Senio, enlivened by events such as oral literature, theater performances and music, to celebrate and remember the battle on the Senio and Resistance.
And I really missed singing Bella Ciao together with this crowd of people of all ages, among them still some partisans. It’s a great song and I really feel emotional when singing it with that crowd. Here is a great English version from Marc Ribot and Tom Waits.