Mattarella denounces 'wall of silence' around Foibe massacre. President Sergio Mattarella on Friday denounced the tragedy of the Foibe.
The massacre of thousands of Italians by Tito's partisans in ethnic cleansing at the end of World War II. It is estimated that as many as 15,000 Italians were tortured or killed by Yugoslav communists who occupied the Istrian peninsula during the last two years of the war. Many of the victims were thrown into the narrow mountain gorges during anti-Fascist uprisings in the area.