About 70 swimmers took to the water again this year in Ventotene to participate in the Natalonga for Europe, organized by EuropaNow! together with Acmos and the Benvenuti in Italia Foundation. The Olympians Alessandra Sensini, Alessandro Terrin and the French Emmanuel Front took part in this third edition, dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Ventotene Manifesto. In the water also the great-granddaughter of Altiero Spinelli, Aria: "It is always nice to swim for these values, the values of Europe, we hope that after the pandemic they will be strengthened values". From the island of Santo Stefano to the beach of Ventotene, they all swam 1,700 meters at the origin of the European dream, to reaffirm the founding values of the Union and to claim a new Europe based on equal rights.
The Natalonga for Europe is a non-competitive open water competition organized in collaboration with the Municipality of Ventotene, the Italian Representation of the European Commission, and with the patronage of the Lazio Region. "On the occasion of the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) which opened in May, we must be inspired by the foresight of the authors of the Manifesto", said Eric Jozsef, co-founder of EuropaNow!, Underlining that "the dark months of pandemic reminded us that Europe is an essential construction.
However, the dream of the founding fathers remains to be fulfilled, overcoming the resistance of the nation states, to create a Union even stronger and closer to the citizens. "As part of the event, the EuReCa project was presented on the Pontine island. - European Republican Cafe's, a network of cafes that will be places of discussion on the future of the Union, with the aim of paving the way for a Republic of Europe. In addition to the three associations promoting Natalonga, the EuReCa project is also supported by the European Democracy Lab in Berlin, by New Europeans, founded by former British parliamentarian Roger Casale and by the information site Voxeurop, based in Paris.