Florence marks the Remembrance Day with events by the Region and City Hall

Florence will mark the Giorno del Ricordo, Italy’s national remembrance day for the victims of the foibe and the post-war exodus from Istria, Fiume and Dalmatia, with a series of public initiatives promoted by the Tuscan regional government and the city administration.

The remembrance day falls on 10 February and was established by the Italian parliament in 2004 to preserve the memory of a largely neglected chapter of 20th-century European history. The initiatives in Florence combine educational activities for students, institutional commemorations and cultural events open to the public.

What is the Giorno del Ricordo?

The Giorno del Ricordo commemorates Italians who were killed in the foibe — deep karst sinkholes used as sites of executions — and the hundreds of thousands who were forced to leave their homes in the north-eastern Adriatic regions at the end of the Second World War.

Between 1943 and the late 1940s, as borders shifted following the collapse of Fascist Italy and the advance of Yugoslav partisan forces, violence targeted civilians, officials and perceived opponents in areas that today are part of Slovenia and Croatia. In the years that followed, around 250,000 Italians from Istria, Fiume (today Rijeka) and Dalmatia left those territories, many resettling elsewhere in Italy.

For decades, these events received limited public attention. The Giorno del Ricordo was created to acknowledge the suffering of the victims and the long-term impact of the exile on families and communities.

Initiatives promoted by the Tuscan Region

On 9 February, the Tuscan regional government will host an educational event at the Auditorium of the regional Innovation Center, starting at 9.30 a.m. The initiative, titled Sulle tracce della storia. Viaggio sul confine orientale italiano (Tracing history: a journey along Italy’s eastern border), is aimed at secondary school students from across Tuscany and focuses on historical context and memory.

On 10 February at 5.30 p.m., the Region will also present a book by historian Susanna Bino at Palazzo Strozzi Sacrati, the headquarters of the regional government. The volume examines the experience of a family from Venezia Giulia who found refuge in Florence in the immediate post-war years, offering a local perspective on the broader phenomenon of exile.

City of Florence events

The City of Florence, based at Palazzo Vecchio, will lower flags to half-mast on 10 February. At 10.30 a.m., a wreath-laying ceremony will take place at the monument dedicated to the victims of the foibe and the Giulian-Dalmatian exodus at Trespiano cemetery, on the northern edge of the city.

Later the same morning, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., the Biblioteca delle Oblate will host an educational event titled Florence, a city of welcome and exile. The initiative is part of Le Chiavi della Città, the municipality’s long-running educational programme, and is organised in collaboration with the Florence branch of the Association Venezia Giulia e Dalmazia. About 200 lower secondary school students are expected to attend.

From 17 to 28 February, the Oblate library will also host a free photographic exhibition in the Sala Aleramo. The exhibition focuses on the exile of Giulian-Dalmati communities after the Second World War and is curated by historical and cultural associations specialising in Adriatic borderland history.

Remembering through education

By combining institutional ceremonies with educational initiatives and public exhibitions, Florence’s programme for the Giorno del Ricordo aims to place historical memory within a broader civic and European context. The focus on schools and local stories reflects an effort to make a complex and painful history more accessible, particularly to younger generations and to residents who may be unfamiliar with the events commemorated on 10 February.Florence marks the remembrance day with events by the Region and City Hall.

(Cover photo: Autumn 1943, recovery of a body; the men are wearing gas masks to protect themselves from the noxious fumes in the air around the foiba, public domain).

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