Il racconto del Sindaco Pugliese sui Montesi d'America
"History is testimony of the past, light of truth, life of memory, teacher of life". After two thousand years I believe that these words of Cicero are more relevant than ever. At a time of serious economic and social crisis, history can come to our aid. Tracing the winding thread of the history of our nation and our community, thousands of kilometers from home today I experienced one of the most beautiful and exciting days of my mandate. But first I must tell you another story: that of very young Italian prisoners, captured by the allies and deported to prison camps in the United States. But while humanity was losing itself in the German concentration camps, in the United States the Italian prisoners, passed to the rank of cooperating after Italy inevitably revised its position in the Second World War, had treatments and comforts unknown even to homes. Many of them (1200) were taken to Letterkenny in Pennsylvania, employed in a gigantic ammunition factory and filled with attention by the local Italian American community, who brought them food, help or simple comfort, even if they did not know them. Among these was Monsignor Cicognani, later secretary of state in the Vatican, who offered them strong moral and spiritual support. But the Italians, hard workers and skilled builders, hardly manage to sit idle: the idea of building a church was born. In a short time the co-workers collected stones from the surrounding farms, building up a lovely chapel which today has been declared a national heritage for its history and for the valuable manufacture, considered a church of peace with a monument dedicated to 11 September 2001 next to it. You may be wondering what Monte di Procida has to do with all this.
To answer this question, I must tell you about a phone call I received some time ago from Antonio Brescianini, former Mayor of Vimodrone near Milan and son of one of the prisoners of Letterkenny, who asked me to do research on the Russian Archangel, also among those prisoners. A few days later I was able to confirm that Arcangelo was Montese. We tracked down his relatives who helped us trace his personal history and thus ascertained that Monte di Procida also had its part in the beautiful story of Letterkenny. I then had the pleasure of hearing the historian Conti and professor Alan Perry, authors of a book on the events published by il Mulino, thus beginning to develop more and more the conviction that the story of the Letterkenny chapel had strong similarities with that of ours. community: people far from home, who have been able to work together to create something special, transforming nostalgia for the hometown into work, solidarity, success and a sense of community.Today, January 26, 2019, together with an institutional delegation, I finally visited the chapel, welcomed by the Mayor of Chambersbug and by civil and military authorities. The ceremony, as well as an institutional moment, was above all a meeting between people, united by the profound sense of history: strong handshakes and proud looks in the eyes that go beyond the protocol, with the emotions and trust shared in a path of awareness. and enhancement of our past. We have donated a reproduction of the Madonna Assunta (courtesy of the Associazione Vela Latina Monte di Procida) which from today will be placed in plain sight in the chapel. And we learned another piece of the story here, because two kilometers from Letterkenny, Mrs. Filomena Spinelli, from the Montese Caretti family, owner of a pizzeria, even helped to make the son of a prisoner meet his relatives after about 50 years. ... But this is another story, albeit linked to what we have lived today, sharing with other people overseas the stubborn goal of remembering who we have been and giving prestige to those who, with their heads held high, have been able to honor Italy and Monte di Procida: Arcangelo has been gone since 2001, but I am sure that today he would have appreciated our visit, and experienced our same emotions.
