The city of Milan celebrates, in the presence of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, the 150th anniversary of the death of Alessandro Manzoni. "Today, 150 years later, the figure of Alessandro Manzoni stands out as one of the most important personalities in the entire history of our city and our country - recalled the mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala in his daily podcast 'Buongiorno Milano' dedicated to the writer - He is certainly not a simple character. But neither is he that dusty figure far from life that a certain Italian academic and publishing tradition has delivered to public opinion and, above all, to the youngest".
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 represents "a fundamental charter, born after the horrors of the Second World War, which identifies the human person in himself, without any difference, as a subject bearer of rights, thus blocking the way to harmful conceptions of supremacy based on race, belonging, and, ultimately, oppression, persecution, on the prevalence of the strongest. Concepts and assumptions that - as we well know - are expressly placed at the basis of our Republican Constitution". This was underlined by President Sergio Mattarella celebrating Alessandro Manzoni. In Manzoni's vision "it is the person, as a daughter of God, and not the lineage, belonging to an ethnic group or a national community, who is the recipient of universal rights, of protection and protection. It is man as such, not only as belonging to a nation, as a citizen, who is the bearer of dignity and rights", said the President of the Republic. . "Son of his own century, Manzoni had the peculiarity - which belongs only to the great - of casting on society and on the historical reality of his time a far-sighted gaze, capable of going beyond, connecting - and often inspiring them - to the most lively and dynamic forces of Italian and European culture, pervaded by the aspiration to freedom, independence, self-determination. An aspiration that cannot be separated from opposition and repugnance towards tyranny, abuse of power, violence, injustice, especially against the poor, the humble, the defenseless. Manzoni has always avoided, for his proverbial confidentiality and also for health reasons, political militancy in the strict sense. But it is considered, quite rightly, an inspirer and a driving force of our Risorgimento and the Unification of Italy. And he is, to all intents and purposes, a father of our homeland." This was said by President Sergio Mattarella speaking on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the death of Alessandro Manzoni. It is necessary to reflect "on the tendency, which can be recorded all over the world, of the ruling classes to support their electoral base or consensus and its changing moods, recorded day by day through polls, rather than devoting themselves to building wide-ranging policies, capable of resisting the years and defining the future. Already in The Betrothed, in the chapters dedicated to the plague, Manzoni wrote icastically about these risks: "Common sense was there; but he hid from it, for fear of common sense." This was said by President Sergio Mattarella celebrating Alessandro Manzoni.
Mattarella lays a wreath on Manzoni's tomb in Milan
The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, attended the laying of a wreath of flowers, with white and red roses, on the tomb of the writer Alessandro Manzoni, whose 150th anniversary of death occurs today. Also present, among others, the deputy mayor Anna Scavuzzo and the members of the Commission for the Honors to the Famedio, the president of the City Council Elena Buscemi, the councilor for Civic Services Gaia Romani and the councilor for Culture Tommaso Sacchi and the prefect of Milan Renato Saccone. After the laying of the wreath on the tomb of the writer, Councilor Sacchi illustrated to the President of the Republic some historical notes on the Famedio, the pantheon where those who gave prestige to the city are remembered. The tomb of Alessandro Manzoni is located right in the center of the structure. The Milanese writer was the first to be transferred to the Famedio, in 1883, ten years after his death. In the Famedio are housed the remains of eight characters, the others are inscribed. In the other two sarcophagi in the great room are Carlo Cattaneo and Luca Beltrami; while four columbarium on the west side guard the remains of Salvatore Quasimodo, Carlo Forlanini, Bruno Munari and Leo Valiani. In a columbarium of band to the side, from November 2021, rests Carla Fracci, the first woman to be welcomed in the Famedio after 155 years from the inauguration of the Cemetery Monumentale.Il President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella was "sincerely impressed" by the visit to the Famedio of the Monumental Cemetery of Milan, where he attended the laying of a wreath on the tomb of Alessandro Manzoni 150 years after the death of the great writer. To the Councillor for Culture of the Municipality of Milan Tommaso Sacchi who illustrated some historical notes on the Famedio Mattarella asked for information on some famous people remembered in the pantheon.
"It is a great honor the visit of the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, who reiterates the great importance of Alessandro Manzoni in the cultural history and not only of our country". This was said by thePresident of the Lombardy Region Attilio Fontana, on the sidelines of the deposition of the wreath at the tomb of Alessandro Manzoni whose 150th anniversary of death is celebrated today. "Mattarella was very impressed by the beauty of the Monumental Cemetery. He was passionate about getting to know the people who rest here and reiterated the importance of being in Milan," he concluded.
Manzoni, Fontana: 'President Mattarella's visit is a great honour'
Alessandro Manzoni "is a true Milanese of Europe, a writer who from Piazza Belgioioso has exercised through his works and his thought a charm and an interest difficult to imitate in the history of our country", he added.
To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the writer's death, Milan has promoted a program of events involving the main cultural institutions of the city, from Casa Manzoni, to the Duomo, to the Pinacoteca di Brera. "This is therefore a precious opportunity, which will be inaugurated today by the visit of the President of the Republic to Casa Manzoni to reiterate the gratitude that Italy and its language want to pay to this great son of our city", concluded the mayor.
In collaboration with: