Nearly 4.4 million Italian viewers,
with a peak audience of 28.1%, tuned in to watch Oscar winning
comic, actor and director Roberto Benigni's monologue on
Wednesday night dedicated to Europe, broadcast live on Rai1's
show Il Sogno (The Dream).
In the show, Benigni hailed the "European dream" created by the
"heroes of Ventotene", referring to Altiero Spinelli, Ernesto
Rossi and Eugenio Colorni who came up with the 1941 Manifesto
which was circulated within the Italian Resistance and soon
became the programme of the European Federalist Movement.
"We accomplished quite a few things as Europeans, it's right to
remember who we are, we must be proud to be European: Europe is
the smallest continent in the world that lit the fuse of all
revolutions, it transformed the planet, it forged the greatest
thoughts of humanity, inventing logic, reason, doubt" as well as
"freedom, democracy, theatre, sport, modern chemistry, social
conscience", among others, creating a "common heritage, an
immense treasure in all fields", said Benigni.
"While all around there were ruins, the dead, bodies, in 1941,
in the small island of Ventotene, three men, three heroes,
Spinelli, Rossi, Colorni" had the idea of "changing everything,
turning a page: the idea of European unity", the Life Is
Beautiful director said on his show.
"They are our history's heroes, pioneers".
On Wednesday, Premier Giorgia Meloni's statement that the
Manifesto of Ventotene did not represent the Europe she
envisions during a Lower House debate ahead of this week's EU
Council sparked a protest by opposition members that led Speaker
Lorenzo Fontana to temporarily interrupt the session.
"I don't know if this is your Europe, but it's certainly not
mine", Meloni said of the 1941 manifesto.
"I am not very clear on your idea of Europe", the premier went
on to say, mentioning a pro-EU demonstration held in Rome
Saturday at the initiative of journalist Michele Serra, and
saying that many participants as well as members of the
centre-left opposition in the House had mentioned the Manifesto:
"I hope they haven't read it, because the alternative would be
scary", she said.
The small island of Ventotene off the coast of Lazio housed a
Fascist prison during World War II, and three of the founding
fathers of the European Union were held there by the Mussolini
dictatorship.
This was where Spinelli Rossi and Colorni came up with the
Ventotene Manifesto.
The Manifesto encouraged a federation of European states in a
bid to prevent future wars.
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