Fondazione Pesenti supports the Giorgio Ambrosoli Civil Association in promoting the 2020 Civil Virtue Day, dedicated this year to “Change” in memory of Piersanti Mattarella. The event will be held on Thursday, December 10 at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan and will be streamed live on the Conservatory’s Facebook page.
SAVE THE DATE
Civil Virtue Day 2020
“Change”
In memory of Piersanti Mattarella
Thursday, December 10
Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory of Milan – via Conservatorio 12
5 PM: Round table for university students
“The Courage to Change. Stories of People, Stories of Institutions”
8 PM: Giorgio Ambrosoli Lecture
“Civil Society, Economy and the Risk of Crime”
9 PM: Giorgio Ambrosoli Civic Concert
In memory of Piersanti Mattarella
Participation is free until seats are filled.
The round table, the Giorgio Ambrosoli Lecture, and the Civic Concert will be streamed live on the Conservatory’s Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/ConservatorioMI
Piersanti Mattarella
Few figures have embodied the spirit and desire for profound change in their community like Piersanti Mattarella, President of the Sicilian Region, who was assassinated by a hitman in the center of Palermo on January 6, 1980. His entire political activity, first as a deputy and then from 1978 as President of the Sicilian Assembly, was marked by extensive reform efforts aimed at regional bureaucracy, budgeting, urban planning, and the very structure of regional government. He believed that only through a radical change of mentality and social culture could Sicily and Southern Italy close the development gap with the rest of Italy and Europe.
His motto urged colleagues and Sicilian citizens to have “their cards in order,” indicating a way of thinking and acting aligned with principles of correctness, transparency, respect for laws and economic rules, while fighting entrenched vices and backward mentalities such as unproductive welfare, corruption, and collusion with the mafia.
Mattarella thought like a statesman and was closely linked to the politician who had most effectively provided a farsighted and reformist vision to Christian Democracy during a very delicate and dramatic phase of Italian history, Aldo Moro. Their ruthless elimination, so close in time, was a brutal attempt to extinguish the flame of reformism in Italy — a criminal and anti-democratic project that nonetheless did not prevent the beginning of the change Mattarella advocated.
The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, recalled his brother Piersanti with these words:
“He was a normal person who loved life and the future; he loved his wife and children, was open in character, cheerful in personal relations and at work. But he strongly felt the dignity of himself and of his role; he refused to bow to the mafia’s bullying, oppression, or threats of violence; he had no intention of pretending not to see. He was aware of the danger he faced but believed in living decently, always proud of his choices.”
The Day of Civic Virtue invites citizens, and especially young people, to reflect on this word—change—and on how, at times, it can be an act of courage to commit, in everyday life, to honoring not heroic but ordinary values such as a sense of the common good, respect for rules, and responsibility toward the society in which one lives.
The association
The Giorgio Ambrosoli Civil Association is a free, non-partisan, non-profit association. It was born from the desire of a group of Milanese citizens to remember values of honesty, respect for laws, and care for the common good, exemplified by Giorgio Ambrosoli and others like Guido Galli and Libero Grassi, who gave their lives defending everyone’s rights in Italy’s recent history.
Their diverse stories, united by personal sacrifice, show that the fundamental rules of civil life are not an abstract set of freedoms acquired once and for all, but a heritage of civilization to be protected and won daily. Since 2009, the Association has promoted events to publicly reaffirm these values, which risk being overshadowed today by a crisis of trust between citizens and institutions.
These initiatives, open to all, are particularly aimed at younger generations to emphasize the necessity of personal commitment to building a just, free society based on the principles of the Italian Constitution. To more effectively convey this message, since 2011 the Association organizes the Civil Virtue Day, with activities aimed at citizens and students of all educational levels, from primary schools to universities.
LIVE ON FACEBOOK PROGRAM www.associazionecivilegiorgioambrosoli.it associazionecivilegiorgioambrosoli.it/giornata-della-virtu-civile