Mattarella’s appeal: "Give the whole country adequate services"

The Militello celebration in Val di Catania, with the streets and balconies decorated with the Tricolor that welcomed the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, puts a seal on the day in which the symbolic flag of Italy is celebrated. Grand master of ceremonies is the mayor, Giovanni Burtone, a historic friend with whom the head of state shared an ancient political militancy which over the decades has taken on the challenge of renewal. Resistance, school, substantial unity of the country, guaranteeing adequate services for all, working for the development of “the internal areas, the mountain municipalities, the small islands” which “they make up 60% of Italy and where 13 million Italians live“, are the red threads of this visit, of which the laying of a laurel wreath at the monument of the heroes of the resistance, the inauguration of the recently renovated “Pietro Carrera” school, named after the author of book “The Game of Chess”, written in 1617, inventor of the so-called Sicilian defense, and the meeting with the citizens at the sports hall.

“In our country, in our beautiful country, many cities and many internal areas – underlined Mattarella – are protagonists of history, of the great civic event that has unfolded over the centuries. Mayor Burtone in his speech gave a hymn to the internal areas and underlined the need for attention to these”. In fact, the mayor’s appeal was heartfelt: “Our communities are suffering from the reduction of services relating to health, school and transport. This process must be stopped, school dropout and the risk of isolation must be fought. They often see their children leave to study, work, establish themselves in distant places, return on special holidays and have a bleeding heart because the roots are strong and it hurts to leave”.

Words to which, almost as if they were an urgent necessity, the head of state immediately wanted to respond: “I wasn’t supposed to intervene – he actually made his debut – but I couldn’t resist”. He reiterated what he said at the mayors’ assembly, “in the splendid assembly of the ANCI where mayors of every political sensitivity reasoned productively”. The inland and mountain areas “are not only a historical richness in our country, they preserve an immense wealth of artistic and cultural heritage which is an essential part of Italy’s attraction in the world, of its culture, of its history, of its model of life, of his art… and therefore they are areas that require constant intervention”. There is a problem, explained Mattarella, “which concerns communications, a quantity of services that must be guaranteed in the interest of the entire country, not only of the internal and mountain communities which are also an element of security for the plains and the cities lowland and larger. Therefore conserving the territory is a precious work of a national nature”. But this, he warns, “it cannot be done if they are impoverished, weakened or even abandoned“.

Digital, for Mattarella, “allows us to cancel the distances and isolation of the past, but we need to proceed quickly in this direction. It is therefore necessary to accept the invitation that is coming from this day so that we take into account how much it is a national element the fate of the internal and mountain areas is significant, not only in the interest of these cities, but of all the municipalities of this country, large and small, plain and mountain. The internal areas – he concluded – feel how much the national bond is It is indispensable and essential. It is therefore essential to guarantee adequate services, adequate connections and equal citizenship conditions throughout the country”.