MILAN IS MEMORY. “DON'T FORGET ME” PRESENTED, THE MEMORIAL IN MEMORY OF THE VICTIMS OF THE STRATEGY OF TENSION 

A self-financed monument on the initiative of the families of the victims of the Strategy of Tension - from the Piazza Fontana massacre (1969) to that of the Bologna station (1980) - will be placed in via Beccaria in front of piazza Fontana 

The victims of the strategy of tension, of the terrorist massacres carried out between 1969 (Piazza Fontana) and 1980 (Bologna station), will be remembered by a self-financed memorial created on the initiative and through the committee of citizens and families of the victims , “Don't forget me”, born four years ago on the 50th anniversary of the attack in Piazza Fontana.  
The installation characterized by a strong symbolic and narrative meaning was conceived by the artist Ferruccio Ascari and will be located in via Beccaria in a green area overlooking Piazza Fontana. It is a device designed to arouse collective memory and the elements of which it is composed contribute to achieving this purpose: the same number of wind chimes are suspended from the 137 stems - corresponding to the number of victims of the massacres, including Giuseppe Pinelli. Driven by the wind, the bells ring, evoking the voices of the victims who ask to be able to tell their story, not to be forgotten. 

The memorial was presented in Sala Alessi a Palazzo Marino in the presence of the institutions, associations and committees of the victims' families. The Councilor for Culture participated Tommaso Sacchi, the President of the Don't Forget Me Committee, Carlo Tombola, the President of the Piazza Fontana Association 12 December 1969, Federico Sinicato, President of the Association of the Fallen of the Piazza della Loggia massacre, Manlio Milani, Roberto Castaldo, representing the Association of Family Members of the Victims of the Bologna Station Massacre of 2 August 1980,  Claudia e Silvia daughters of Giuseppe Pinelli, Roberto Cenati, President of the provincial ANPI of Milan e Irene Pavlidi, of the Board of Directors of the Don't Forget Me Committee. The artist was also present Ferruccio Ascari.  
The memorial he conceived and dedicated to the 137 victims of the eight massacres that marked the history of our country from 1969 to 1980, was approved and accepted by City of Milan in the context of Milan is memory, the program of initiatives created to raise awareness, preserve and pass on the history and identity of the city. 

“We thank the “Don't forget me” committee and the artist Ferruccio Ascari – said the Councilor for Culture, Tommaso Sacchi – for this important project. The work that will be placed in front of Piazza Fontana will not only be an ever-present look at the past but will constitute the basis for the construction of a plural and aware future, built on the truth of the victims, history and justice. Art is a very powerful means of communication thanks to its evocative capacity which touches the soul and mind leaving an unforgettable mark. For this reason, the work takes on an absolute value in the transmission of memory, a civic duty from which no one must shy away." 

The presence of this work in the heart of Milan will be an opportunity for citizens and passers-by and above all for the young generations to reflect on a painful past of terror and on the value of memory to build a future free from fear and based on free comparison. In Italy there were, between 1969 and 1980, 137 deaths and over 570 injuries who still await a clear and complete verdict on the political responsibilities of the subversive extreme right and the so-called "deviant bodies of the State". The Committee, with Non Dimenticarmi, intends to contribute to the affirmation of justice together with the families of the victims of the massacres in Piazza Fontana (12 December 1969), Gioia Tauro (22 July 1970), Peteano (17 May 1973), and the Milan Police Headquarters ( 17 May 1974) and of the Italicus train (4 August 1974), of Piazza della Loggia (4 August 1974) and Piazza Arnaldo in Brescia (16 December 1976) and of the Bologna station (1980). 

As Ferruccio Ascari stated, “'Don't Forget Me' is not limited to its visible part since the action of political participation that accompanies it is an integral, not secondary, part of the work itself”.   

The month of May will be dedicated to public presentations of the project. The next dates will be: May 15th at 21pm at the Casa della Memoria (via Confalonieri 14) and May 31st at 21pm, at the Casa della Cultura (via Borgogna 3). 
The project is self-financed and it is therefore possible to contribute to its realization through free donations through .
 
The Committee, in addition to the creation of the Don't Forget Me memorial, promotes and organizes conferences, meetings, publishes research to raise awareness among citizens and especially the new generations, on the history of the country in the years of the so-called Strategy of Tension and on the massacres that have characterized.