100,000 parade in the streets of Milan, over 10,000 in Rome – Corriere.it

The big snake parades slowly through the streets of the centre. The queue of the procession (here our live coverage) is still in Piazza della Scala when the speakers have now finished their speeches in Piazza Duomo. Milan, the gold medal city, honors the Resistance. “We are more than one hundred thousand,” said the Milanese president of the PNA, Roberto Cenati, from the stage. A festive procession, where for the first time the Jewish Brigade was not challenged as it marched surrounded by the flags of Ukraine. On the other hand, in the morning, a group of students from the Network targeted the Minister of Education, Giuseppe Valditara at the end of the deposition of wreaths at the Memorial of the Fallen.

There is Elly Schlein who parades behind the Pd banner with the Anpi handkerchief around his neck. Every meter a photo, a handshake, a hug. The secretary, however, does not sink the blow. He is not here to counter the words of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. «Today we honor the Resistance. We do it with the spirit of remembering what the Nazi-fascist dictatorship was and what the sacrifice of those who wanted to free us was and how to bring those values ​​back to the present today”. The mayor of Milan, Beppe Sala, at the head of the procession with the tricolor band, takes care of sinking the blow: «On some occasions Meloni showed a decisive face, he shouted certain words and certain slogans and what he should do is say with clarity and definitively: “we are anti-fascists”».

That word, “anti-fascism”, Sala pronounces it several times from the stage. «Milan is profoundly anti-fascist. There is the risk of an omission of what has been our history». For the mayor, the antidote to forgetfulness has a name and surname: Sergio Mattarella. “The other day I saw a great man walking the infamous paths of Auschwitz. I saw his gaze, hard and moved. This great man restored history.” He adds: “From what I feel, this day and that of Sant’Ambrogio are the two days that I feel the most and that move me the most”. Partisan Alessio, 97, intervenes in video Aldo Tortorella: “Anti-fascism does not belong to a party but to everyone”. The square applauds.

«It is a must to be in Milan» d
ice Noemi Di Segni, president of the Union of Italian Jewish communities. The first time the Jewish Brigade was in the procession was 2004. Every year, inevitable, at the same corner of Piazza San Babila, protests and boos. This time everything goes smoothly. Many faces. Giorgio La Malfa, Lele Fiano, Marco Cappato, Benedetto Della Vedova, Marco Cappato. All in Milan with the same motivation: «If not now, when?».

In Rome, the climate is festive almost everywhere. At least ten thousand participate in the procession of Anpi and Jewish communities that winds for two kilometers, from the Ardeatine pits to Porta San Paolo, the scene of violent clashes between Italians and Germans in 1943. They wave tricolor flags, of Emergency, of peace, they praise rights and work. Some are wearing red handkerchiefs, others the colors of Ukraine grappling with its resistance. On stage, in protest, thermal blankets used to protect migrants from the cold. Hundreds, teenagers, families with children, a lot of the grassroots left, celebrate the Liberation by grilling, playing and singing “Bella ciao” between Pigneto, Ostiense and Esquilino. Not everywhere, however, the celebrations are festive. In Centocelle the procession of the social centers praises Piazzale Loreto, and the anarchists light smoke bombs for Alfredo Cospito.

All aimed at pacifying the messages, after days of controversy. Minister Adolfo Urso and the secretary of the CGIL, Maurizio Landini, are at Porta San Paolo. Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani and Undersecretary Isabella Rauti are at the shrine of the Fosse Ardeatine in the name of “freedom”. Matteo Renzi parades in Florence, where Matteo Salvini also pays homage to the fallen, but at the American cemetery. Francesco Lollobrigida in his Subbiaco, recalls the «15 Italians rounded up by the Nazis in the villages of the Aniene valley». Episodes of intolerance and contrasts are not lacking, however, even in the smaller towns. The mayor of Grosseto, Antonfrancesco Vivarelli, challenged for naming a street after Almirante, is forced to interrupt his speech. In the Piedmont chosen by Mattarella to honor the Resistance, the Municipality of Groscavallo silences April 25: no ceremony, no crown for the fallen of the country.