The Eagle. L’Aquila is a protagonist in the fight against crime thanks to the Paolo Borsellino National Award, now in its XXXI edition, organized for the first time in the regional capital with a program of events scheduled throughout the year.
The event, organized by the Municipality with the collaboration of the Civil Society association, was presented this morning, in the Rivera room of Palazzo Fibbioni, by the mayor, Pierluigi Biondi, by the president of the executive committee of the National Magistrates Association, Roberta D’Avolio, by the prosecutor at the Juvenile Court of L’Aquila, David Mancini, and by Leonardo Nodari, delegate of the Award.
“It is an honor for our city to host for the first time such an important and long-lived event as the National Award named after Paolo Borsellino, which is enriched in significance in these days in the light of the extraordinary operation to capture the fugitive mafia boss , Matteo Messina Denaro, transferred to the L’Aquila prison, and who introduces the protagonists of a complex season, not outdated, even if less bloody, and who teaches us citizens to form a common front against all types of organized crime”, declared the Mayor of L’Aquila.
“We have also officially invited the anti-mafia prosecutor of Palermo, Maurizio De Lucia, so that the city can give him the right recognition for an operation that will go down in the history of the country”, announced the mayor.
“There will be a total of 42 meetings for the Prize for 2023, 14 of which in L’Aquila, which will involve thousands of students to spread the culture of legality, above all, among young people. The events will be broadcast live on Abruzzo radio Cerrano web tv,” said Nodari.
“We hope that the mafia will also be talked about in schools because criminal organizations constitute a scourge in our country that has not yet been completely eradicated – added the two magistrates present, D’Avolio and Mancini – It is important to continue every day in the fight against crime and to the mafia which, as Falcone said, is a human phenomenon that has a beginning and must also have an end”.
A series of events is scheduled which will culminate in October this year, when the Prize will be awarded, with educational and reflection initiatives for citizens and in particular for the new generations such as the fight against crime, bullying, even in its of cyber bullying, gender violence, the memory of mafia massacres and assassinations. To ensure the awareness of secondary school students in the area, the Regional School Office of Abruzzo was involved.
There are two appointments, scheduled for January.
On the 23rd, the Palazzetto dei Nobili will host the presentation of the book by magistrate Catello Maresca, “The banality of the mafia. Civic education told to young people”.
On January 27, however, Memorial Day, the Park Auditorium will host Fabrizia Francabandera, president of the Court of Appeal of L’Aquila, together with Luigi Guerrieri, lawyer and historian, as well as some actors from the Paolo Grassi Theater in Milan interpreting theatrical readings by Primo Levi, writer and survivor of the Italian Holocaust, and by Edith Bruck, writer, poet, translator, director and witness of the Hungarian Holocaust.
As part of the initiatives connected to the prize, last December 14, in the presence of the General of the Carabinieri, Angiolo Pellegrini, commander of the anti-mafia section of Palermo from 1981 to 1985, trusted man of judges Falcone and Borsellino who carried out the most important investigations into Cosa Nostra, the unveiling ceremony of the traveling work «Il Sorriso, homage to Falcone and Borsellino» was held in L’Aquila, which, on a stone from the Majella weighing around 30 quintals, portrays the historic photo of smiling Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino taken by photographer Tony Gentile. The work will remain in L’Aquila throughout 2023.
Borsellino National Award: L’Aquila as a protagonist in the fight against crime