Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Milan, November 23 2021 – Tomorrow, Wednesday 24 November, marks the twelfth anniversary of the disappearance of Lea Garofalo, a witness for justice, killed by her ex-partner and the 'Ndrangheta after she had chosen to move away from her family and collaborate with the magistrates.  

Like every year, starting from the tragic night of November 24, 2009, when the woman was kidnapped and then killed, the Milanese coordination of Libera, together with the Municipality of Milan and the "Lea Garofalo" Libera Presidium, promotes a moment of commemoration. 

“Lea Garofalo's – declares the councilor for Civic and General Services Gaia Romani, who will bring her greetings representing the municipal administration to the Garden of Viale Montello – is a story of courage and rebellion. Of a woman and a mother who, for the love of freedom and her daughter Denise, challenged the 'Ndrangheta and the rules of silence that regulate that culture. And Milan, the city that Lea chose when fleeing from Calabria, has the duty to remember those who were victims twice: of the mafia and of violence against women. Twelve years later, her legacy continues to be a warning for the institutions and an example for many women who find the strength to rebel and free themselves from mafia oppression. Twelve years later her smile is more alive than ever, in that of her daughter Denise, to whom our affection goes, and above all in our commitment against all forms of organized crime and in defense of legality". 

This year's program, promoted by Libera with the patronage of the Municipality of Milan, includes a moment of remembrance with a torchlight procession that will start from the Arco della Pace and end in Viale Montello, in the garden in front of the house where Lea lived, a space once degraded and now recovered for social life and dedicated to his memory.  

The program in detail:  

- at 19 pm, meeting at the Arco della Pace. Speakers will be Lucilla Andreucci, representative of the Libera Milano Coordination, and the volunteers of the University Presidium "Victims of the Via Palestro massacre"; 

- at 19 pm, departure of the torchlight procession; 

- at approximately 19 pm, moment of remembrance at the Monumental Cemetery by the volunteers of the “Lea Garofalo” Presidium;  

- at approximately 20 pm, at the “Lea Garofalo” Community Garden, Dr. Alessandra Cerreti, deputy prosecutor at the DDA of Milan, councilor Gaia Romani, young people from the Libera garrison and the “Non una Less".