That of the Italian sailors who took refuge in the Balearic Islands in September 1943, after the sinking of the battleship Roma, is a little-known episode of the Second World War. But now the Spanish public will also be able to learn about it in detail, thanks to a translated edition of a book that retraces the story in detail, originally published in Italian in 2009. The author, Giuliano Marenco, is the son of one of those veterans, Franco Marenco, who at the time was on board one of the ships that escorted the Roma in the waters of north-western Sardinia and was spared the German bombardment that sank the battleship.
Titled in the original 'Italian warships interned in the Balearic Islands after 8 September', the book was presented yesterday at the Institute of History and Military Culture in Madrid, in the presence of Marenco himself. 'This was initially intended as a book just for my family,' he recounted, 'but then it seemed to me that this story of the internment of the ships could be of more general interest.' His is a meticulous reconstruction of the story, an account that focuses both on the succession of events that led to more than a thousand sailors being interned for around 16 months in the Balearic Islands, the majority in Mahón (Menorca), and the complex diplomatic negotiations that then allowed them to return to Italy, and on the living conditions of those sailors in the Spanish archipelago and their encounter with the local population. 'This book traces an exemplary story of respect and solidarity between Italians and Spaniards at a particularly dramatic juncture in the history of my country,' is the comment in the preface by the current Italian ambassador to Spain, Giuseppe Buccino Grimaldi.
The Spanish edition of the book was edited by the Fundación Hospital Isla del Rey, which now runs a museum dedicated to the Italians of Menorca located in Mahón, with a translation by Bruno De Marchi. During the presentation, which was also attended by the Defence Attaché of the Italian Embassy in Madrid, Massimiliano Siragusa, a special tribute was paid to Commendatore Mario Cappa, for many years the authentic guardian of the memory of that event, who passed away in the summer of 2024.
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