HAS BEEN CELEBRATED IN MILAN THE 8TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TRAGEDY OF LINATE
A commemorative mass for the 118 victims of the Linate tragedy was held in the Sant’Ambrogio basilica on Thursday, October 8, exactly eight years after the accident.
Auxiliary Bishop Monsignor Stucchi performed the rite attended by Mayor Moratti, President of the Municipal Council Manfredi Palmeri, Province Chairman of Infrastructures Giovanni De Nicola, Regional Under-secretary Angelo Giammario, and SEA President Giuseppe Bonomi, as well as 49 mayors from the hometowns of the victims and several authorities and directors of Italian organizations.
Paolo Pettinaroli, President of the October 8 Committee, sat with the authorities.
“It is our city’s duty to commemorate the victims and strive to keep their memory alive so that our skies become safer,” said Mayor Moratti.
“We transformed our sorrow into a great commitment to improve flight safety, and I believe that we have made much progress in these past eight years,” said Pettinaroli.
In memory of the victims, one hundred and eighteen white roses were placed at the foot of the altar in the basilica and later taken to the Bosco dei Faggi memorial. After a moment of silence during the ceremony at the Bosco dei Faggi, flowers from city and national organizations and a candle donated by SAS were placed on site.
Nearly 2,000 persons filled the La Scala Opera House on Saturday, October 10, 2009, for a concert with the La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Maestro Myung-Whun Chung. The concert was a moment of intense emotion and unity for the family members of the victims.
“This anniversary is a moment of profound sorrow,” said Paolo Pettinaroli, President of the October 8 Foundation. “At the same time, it is at the root of our commitment to improve flight safety.” He added, “Our heartfelt thanks go to everyone who made these days possible.”
The texts of the speeches follow.
(See Photo Gallery)
SPEECH OF PAOLO PETTINAROLI AT
SANT AMBROGIO BASILICA 8th OCTOBER 2009
I wish to thank His Excellency Monsignor Stucchi for celebrating this Holy Mass, Monsignor De Scalzi for kindly allowing us to hold our eighth anniversary in this magnificent basilica, and Archbishop Cardinal Tettamanzi and His Eminence Cardinal Martini for their touching messages.
Thank you to the Sant’Ambrogio basilica choir for their precious contribution to this memorial service.
I also want to extend our heartfelt thanks to all the mayors and authorities present.
A few days ago, I happened to read a phrase by Saint Thomas More that said:
“You must not abandon the ship in a storm because you cannot control the winds. What you cannot turn to good, you must make as little bad as you can.”
I remember having first read these words when I was at school. Forty years later, I admit that I have experienced and reacted to many emotions, but never have I tried to cherish what Saint Thomas More taught me more than now.
Faced with the air tragedy of October 8, 2001, our choice was certainly not hopeless resignation or endless desperation.
Step by step, we sought the strength to keep on living, even after this serious loss.
Daily thoughts of our loved ones are always very painful, but we are able to live with them.
To reach this point, we created the October 8 Foundation: we worked tirelessly and demolished obstacles that we thought were insurmountable. Now we are an organization that, we are told, is accepted by international flight safety experts.
The young generation that has grown up after October 8, 2001, is now attending elementary school. Others are in high school and still others have graduated from professional schools or universities.
I think they can be proud of how we transformed the negativity of this great tragedy: we transformed our demand for justice into respect and have reached this point today.
We all thought this was the path to take. Were we wrong?
Our Bosco dei Faggi awaits us for our commemorative moment of silence.
I sincerely thank you for your comforting presence.
Paolo Pettinaroli, Chairman of the 8th October Committee and Foundation
Address by the Mayor LETIZIA MORATTI for the evening at La Scala on 10th October 2009
Once again this evening, I wish to express my affection, both as Mayor and as a woman, and that of the citizens of Milan to the families of the 118 victims of the Linate tragedy which took place on the morning of 8th October 2001 eight years ago. The heart of Milan cherishes the pain and tears of that day. This profound pain, however, has not stifled the need to know and to work hard to prevent this pain from happening to other families and other lives. I have always been struck by a phrase of Martin Luther King, who said: “When you discover what you will be in your life, set out to do it”. With love for its lost ones, determination and courage, the “8th October 2001-Not to forget” committee and its Chairman, Paolo Pettinaroli, discovered that their objective was to overcome their personal pain in order to reach a shared truth, fertile ground in which to plant the seed of a civilisation that is more attentive to people and respectful of life. I would like to thank the Committee for its extraordinary testimony, our foreign guests and the conductor, Myung-Whun Chung, for this evening of music and love.
Letizia Moratti, Mayor of Milan
Speech of MANFREDI PALMERI, President of the Municipal Council of Milan
This evening we renew the memory of a constantly open wound, one that has left a permanent scar in the history of Milan, in our consciences and in our hearts: 118 people lost their lives at Linate in the worst air disaster in Italy. 8th October 2001, just a few hours after the incident and with many excruciating images in our minds, we met at Palazzo Marino to testify, with a solemn moment of silence and meditation that we repeat every year, the great pain felt by the citizens of Milan. Today, like eight years ago, in this place which illuminates the world with art and is one of the main symbols of the cultural identity of Milan, our city, with its Mayor, Letizia Moratti, and its Municipal Council, returns to embrace those 118 lost lives, alongside two friends whose long path of suffering we have shared: Paolo Pettinaroli, Chairman of the 8th October Committee, working with exemplary courage and generosity for a cause that is certainly not limited to the relatives but is a great value for the entire community, and Pasquale Padovano, the only survivor, who has never lost the will to live, partly thanks to the warmth of his extraordinary family. Together with them and for the good and love represented by the victims of Linate, we try to “turn pain into hope” also in other periods of the year, as we are aware that, for Milan, every day is 8th October. Every day we feel responsible for cherishing the memory of Linate, an insufficient moral duty towards those who lost their lives and their families; every day we must constantly pay all due attention to the issue of airport safety, a priority for the institutions and a benefit not only for Milan but for all. It is in this spirit and with this desire that on 10th June 2008 we organised, together with the 8th October Committee, a theatrical event (not a show but an artistic representation of a real event) entitled “Linate, 8th October 2001: the slaughter” in Sala Alessi, Palazzo Marino, the home of the citizens of Milan. This première was followed by repeat performance on 20th November at the Strehler Theatre in Largo Greppi, open free of charge to the city, in an ideal continuity with the traditional concert at La Scala. We cannot and do not wish to forget: precisely because it was inevitable, the tragedy of Linate has no acceptable human and civil explanation. It still has much to teach us about safety on flights and at airports in order to improve the conditions of safety of both passengers and workers. The pain cannot be cancelled and the enormous burden cannot be lessened, even in the light of the sentence of the Court of Cassation. But casting light on the responsibilities was a duty for the institutions and a right for the victims, for their mothers, their fathers and their children: alongside them and together with them, we will continue to combine remembrance with the pursuit of truth and, consequently, of justice.
Manfredi Palmeri, President of the Municipal Council of Milan
Address by the President of SEA Milan Airports GIUSEPPE BONOMI
I sincerely greet and thank the entire 8th October Foundation and its President, Paolo Pettinaroli, who tirelessly promotes and animates its initiatives. Once again this year, eight years from that indelible wound in the history of our city, we are here to embrace the families of the victims. For them, the memory of that unhappy 8th October is still tinged with pain, sadness for so many lives cut short in such an absurd way and, at times, anger about the things that still are and always will be unacceptable. The City of Milan, together with SEA, wishes to continue to remember because only in the act of remembrance is it possible for hope to take root. This duty to preserve the memory of those who suffered so much, the 118 people who lost their lives and their families, must never fail.For this reason, the Mayor of Milan, Letizia Moratti, who I thank for her sensitivity, wishes to honour the memory of those involved in the tragedy by holding an extraordinary concert at Teatro alla Scala.This evening of beautiful music and emotions sets out to drive home the desire of the whole City of Milan, and of the families, to ensure that what has happened must never happen again.This is the increasingly recognised and internationally accredited commitment of the 8th October Foundation, a commitment that is by now a shared heritage to be preserved and not lost, to be guarded like a precious treasure.As precious as the lives of the 118 deceased were, including four SEA employees who were torn from their families while doing their work.A treasure to nurture which invites us not to stop, to continue to preserve the value of memory because were are here in order not to forget.
Giuseppe Bonomi, President of SEA Milan Airports
Speech by the chairman of the 8th October Committee and Foundation PAOLO PETTINAROLI
Good evening, We here to mark the 8th anniversary of the Linate tragedy, and it is touching to see so many of you here today. Our heartfelt thanks go to the Mayor of Milan, Letizia Moratti, to the Municipal Council and to the management of Teatro alla Scala, to the conductor Myung-Whun Chung and the members of the Filarmonica della Scala orchestra. I would also like to renew our thanks to SEA for its traditional and precious support, and to SAS for remaining so close to us and I take note of the kind and constant presence of the Civil, Military, Religious and Political authorities. I welcome our foreign friends from Scandinavia and other parts of the world, and the representatives of the associations of the families of the victims of Italian aviation accidents. That foggy morning changed our lives. Though we have not forgotten our great pain, we have dominated and contained it, we have prevented it from suffocating our minds and hardening our hearts. We have adapted to the changed conditions and precisely because we are so scandalised by this imperfect human reality, we have doggedly pursued a better balance at any cost! Today, after looking back on what has happened (trials, sentences, acquittals, frustration over certain amnesties), we are together once again, worn but ready to do our utmost to highlight the things that need to be done to change some dangerous habits, to give sense to our suffering. Today the system recognises us and most of it accepts us by now. And today, slowly but surely, we have become both the promoters and the guests of many of the air safety initiatives that are held in Italy and abroad, to tell out story and contribute towards improving safety. I should mention our participation in the European conference organised with ACI Europe in Berlin last November, the one we organised in Milan last February and the conference on the safety culture workshop held in Milan last week in collaboration with Fit Cisl and the Demetra Study Centre. And I must also mention our participation at next month's international IASS seminar organised in Peking by the Flight Safety Foundation, the conference of the Air Port and Rail magazine in Rome, and the ACI Europe congress in Barcelona at the end of November. The Flight Safety Foundation has entrusted us with the organisation of the Annual IASS (International Air Safety Seminar) Convention for 2010 in Milan which will attract about 1,000 representatives from 52 countries. The IASS, is the most important annual event in the world for Flight Safety. It is monitored and attended by the entire international aviation sector, including representatives of Aeronautical Authorities, Regulators, Providers, Industries, Professional Associations, ICAO, IATA, and many others. All these initiatives, I should point out, are organised in partnership with the Demetra Study Centre of Rome with which we share our objectives. This is a very important event that we are proud to have contributing towards and valorised. In other circumstances we would have been very proud but, as you know, we are not looking for this. Today we just want to say that this recognition is immensely gratifying to our work. We are also continuing to promote the dedication of the Linate tragedy to public areas. Last month a park was dedicated to it in Parma. At this point, I wish to give a fraternal welcome to the Capogallo Association of Bari whose painful and difficult path has been linked with ours for some time. If everything began with the case, the case has now generated our history. Our deepest and most heartfelt THANKS to you all.
Paolo Pettinaroli,
Chairman of the 8th October Committee and Foundation