Livorno, the commemoration of the thirtieth anniversary of the Moby Prince tragedy

Livorno, “This anniversary is not the same as all the others.
It is not the same because it comes after the difficult choice to digest of the sentence of the Civil section of the Court of Florence regarding the case against the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Defense promoted by the family members.
It is not the same because 30 years later we are still chasing justice and truth, in the midst of approximate or imaginative reconstructions that punctually come out in the days of remembrance.
It is not the same because the pandemic forces us once again not to be able to hug each other and not to be able to share emotions and sensations in the most natural way.
It is not the same for me and for all of you because here there is no person like Loris Rispoli, symbol of an extraordinary path of struggle and commitment in this cursed affair of a massacre for which no one is responsible". Thus the mayor of Livorno Luca Salvetti in the City Council Hall, on the thirtieth anniversary of the tragedy of the Moby Prince, the largest in Italian navigation which occurred on the terrible night of 10 April 1991 a few hundred meters from the coast of Livorno.

This year the anniversary, still without official truth, was remembered without the presence of Loris Rispoli - unfortunately he is hospitalized due to a serious illness - who in all these years, as president of the association "140 Family Members of the Victims of Moby Prince” (one of the two associations on the front line in the search for truth, together with the “10 Aprile” association led by Angelo Chessa), has incessantly sought answers to the dramatic event.

Answers that the nation must continue to seek as the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella also declared in one of his messages: "The Italian people cannot forget. Just as the city of Livorno does not forget, which saw the fire break out a few miles from the port and witnessed in dismay the frantic organization of the rescue efforts and their dramatic delay. Every effort to shed full light on the responsibility for the accident and the circumstances that led to it is mandatory. The commitment that has distinguished family associations over the years represents a civic value and contributes to pursuing a common good."

The thirty-year anniversary day in Livorno was marked by many moments, each with a profound symbolic meaning. The morning began with the delivery at the Palazzo Comunale of the parchments of thanks to the two moorers Valter Mattei and Mauro Valli who saved the only survivor of the disaster, Alessio Bertrand.

So in Fortezza Nuova a wreath was placed on the monument of the victims Koningin Juliana” created a few years ago by the artist Federico Cavallini: an iron cube from a boat symbolically beaten on the sides with demolition tools. The effect created is that of fists being beaten from inside the ship. There are 140 "bumps" as well as the victims of the tragedy and the white plants in the adjacent flowerbed, the "garden of memory" of the Moby Prince. Followed by a musical moment by EstrOrchestra and the Rodolfo del Corona Choir.

The Mass in the cathedral officiated by the Bishop of Livorno Monsignor Simone Giusti closed the first part of the celebrations.

Then in the early afternoon the speech of the mayor of Livorno in the presence of the city authorities and the president of the Region Eugenio Giani.

In the Council Room a work by the artist Francesco Vieri was also delivered, intended to perpetuate the memory of the tragedy through meetings in schools: a model ferry covered in newspaper articles telling what happened.

Then the procession to the Andana degli Anelli for the deposition of the rose cushion donated by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella and the laurel wreath on the plaque bearing the names of the 140 victims of the tragedy of 10 April 1991. Names read at one of the moments most touching of the day by people who represent the city from an institutional, cultural, spectacular, associative and voluntary, journalistic, student, sporting point of view, as well as a group of families of the victims.
(The reading is by the Effetto Collaterale Association and Documenta 30).

After the reading, I threw 30 red roses into the sea, in memory of the years that have passed since one of the deepest wounds suffered by Livorno.

Finally at the Goldoni Theater the presentation of the Golden Livornina, the highest city honor, to the vice-president of the "140 Family Members of the Moby Prince Victims" Association Nicola Rosetti.

The day ended with the concert for soloists, choir and orchestra “Requiem KV626” by WAMozart in memory of the Moby Prince tragedy. Organized by the Municipality of Livorno in collaboration with the Goldoni Theater Foundation, the Goldoni Theater Orchestra was the protagonist, in its first public outing.

Many appointments, a single purpose, as the mayor Luca Salvetti said: “A way to say out loud and with extremely significant passages that we all have no intention of forgetting now or ever.