(ANSA) - TRIESTE, 27 AGO - "After a two-year health crisis, two difficult years, this is an excellent opportunity to be together. It is a moment of sociability, in which we can be positive, think about the future, be close, and emphasize our belonging to the Slovenian and Slovenian-Italian culture." Boris Pahor, President of the Republic of Slovenia, said this tonight in Monrupino (Trieste) as a guest speaker at the 27th edition of the "Karst Wedding," a wedding celebrated according to the folk customs of the second half of the 19th century, at the heart of a village festival promoted by the Slovenian minority that is a tourist attraction for several days.

Traditionally celebrated every two years in the last week of August, the event has been missing in Monrupino for nine years.

Tomorrow at 11 a.m. Dana and Ivan will get married, wearing traditional costumes. These days ahead of the highlight event, convivial moments, dancing in the square, serenades, and the bride and groom's respective bachelor and bachelorette parties have been taking place in the small Karst village.

Pahor arrived in Monrupino in the late afternoon and visited the Karst House, and met the newlyweds, then brought a greeting to those gathering in the main village square. As a tribute, he gave the bride and groom a heart-shaped tray, "on which," he explained, "to place what is closest to you both." "This spirit of friendship towards our region and our country - underlined Senator Tatjana Rojc - and this closeness to the Slovenian minority, even at cultural events, honors us and gives us hope that this is the right way to have more and more awareness that we are the heart of Europe." (ANSA).