The European Commission has awarded
Sant'Anna di Stazzema
(Lucca), the scene of the Nazi-fascist massacre on 12 August 1944 in which over 500 people died, the 'European Heritage Label 2023'. Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano speaks of "great news" and "important recognition for what has become a symbol in the deep memory of the Nation". "It is - he explains - a key place in our history which has had an impact, with its suffering, in the fundamental process of formation of the common European identity".
Together with the Tuscan municipality, six other European sites were awarded: Cisterscapes - Cistercian landscapes to connect Europe (Austria, Czechia, Germany, Poland, Slovenia); the monastery of San Jerónimo de Yuste (Spain); the Museum of Our Lord in the Attic (Netherlands); the Royal Theater of Toone (Belgium); Kalevala (Finland) and the Romanian Athenaeum (Romania). With regard to Sant'Anna di Stazzema, the European Commission has recognized its European value as, for the reasons, "a place of remembrance which commemorates the suffering suffered by civilian populations during wars. The Peace Park represents a significant and well-conceived site for discuss political conflicts and promote European values", we read in the motivations". dicastery had "communicated the two Italian sites for the 2023 selection: the monumental complex of San Vincenzo al Volturno, in Molise, and Sant'Anna di Stazzema".
"Enormous satisfaction for having been the only Italian place that prevailed over the other thirteen finalist sites. A result that comes due to the values that Sant'Anna represents and the strength that the National Peace Park institution has had over the years to affirm a history that has managed to become European heritage". Thus the mayor of Stazzema (Lucca) Maurizio Arena comments on the recognition of the 'European Heritage Mark' to S.Anna di Stazzema.