Bergamo council agrees that 18th March will become Coronavirus Memorial Day

That evening a column of military trucks lined up in via Borgo Palazzo. Trucks carrying the caskets of 65 bodies that could not be cremated at the cemetery of Bergamo and had to be transferred to other cities.

It was that March 18 that Italy saw the photo of the trucks and finally understood the dimensions of the drama that Bergamo was experiencing.

This is why March 18 is about to become Memorial Day for coronavirus victims.

The text of the law was approved unanimously by the Chamber’s Social Affairs Committee in recent days and will shortly go to plenary for discussion.

It foresees that every year programs will be made on TV and radio, and activities in schools and the possibility to donate part of one’s working day to research. “So it will be a day not only of memory but also of commitment – says one of the promoters, the deputy pd Maurizio Martina -. Our proposal dates back to the days of the maximum emergency, in early April. And it was conceived in the spirit of creating a moment of collective memory that went beyond personal mourning.

This is a virus that leads to loneliness, and having a moment of collective memory is crucial. I am also very happy that there has been sharing by all the parties ». The date was chosen on the basis of that photo, taken by chance by a resident of via Borgo Palazzo: «March 18 was the turning point in understanding what was happening. That image said more than many words, it has arrived in the homes of many people not only in Italy but all over the world. She managed to understand the drama that was going on in those days due to the pandemic and the emergency that was happening in our territories.

The fact that all this happened in Bergamo for me takes on an even stronger weight.