The Italian Embassy in Mogadishu and the Italian contingent in Somalia commemorated the so-called 'Battle of the Pasta Factory' with a ceremony to honour and remember the sacrifice and courage of the Italian soldiers who lost their lives or were wounded in the events of 2 July 1993, when troops of the Italian Italfor contingent, deployed in the Somali capital as part of the United Nations Unosom II mission, were involved in a violent firefight with the militias of warlord Aidid.
Famous for being the first battle in which Italian soldiers took part since the end of World War II, the episode saw three brave young Italians - Second Lieutenant Andrea Millevoi, Staff Sergeant Stefano Paolicchi and Corporal Pasquale Baccaro - lose their lives; other Italian soldiers were wounded (including Lieutenant Colonel Gianfranco Paglia, decorated with the Gold Medal for Military Valour). At the ceremony, the Italian Ambassador in Mogadishu Pier Mario Daccò Coppi said: "Even 31 years after those tragic events, Italy does not forget its missing sons and daughters and holds its affection for their families with deep remembrance: to them goes our grateful and dutiful remembrance for having honoured our tricolour, the symbol of our identity, our history and the high values of cohesion, freedom and democracy, with its most precious asset".
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