Massacre of the Georgofili, the ceremony with Mattarella in Florence. “Italy has been able to defeat the blackmail of fear”

15:56 Mattarella at the Palace of Justice in Florence The Head of State Sergio Mattarella has arrived at the Palace of Justice in Florence. The President of the Republic was welcomed by the mayor of Florence Dario Nardellaby the president of the Tuscany Region Eugene Giani and by the prefect Francesco Ferrandino. 16:11 The program of the ceremony Greetings from the President of the Court of Appeal Alessandro Nencinithe reports of the national anti-mafia prosecutor will follow John Melillo and of the professor emeritus of the University of

Firenze Francis Charles Palace, former member of the ministerial commission for the reform of the penal code. The interventions of the President of the Constitutional Court are also awaited Silvana Sciarraof the Vice-President of the Superior Council of the Judiciary Fabio Pinelli and the first president of the Court of Cassation Margaret Cassano.

16:20 Giani: “Reference point of civil reaction” “The Georgofili massacre had a profound impact

Florence and Italy, a dramatic massacre that confronted

Florence the fact that the mafia could be among us. I remember the week following the massacre the student assemblies, the outrage of the city. From that ability to react also came the impetus to excellent magistrates who managed to reconstruct the entire criminal process and lead to 32 exemplary sentences. The massacre of the Georgofili is a point of reference of civilian reaction and the ability of justice to do justice. And in this moment the President of the Republic seals the meaning and the reaction of the fight against the mafia and organized crime”. The president of the Tuscany region said this, Eugene Giani at the Palace of Justice.

16:34 Nardella: “Piero Vigna extraordinary magistrate” The mayor of Florence Dario Nardella at the Palazzo di Giustizia recalled the naming of the park of San Donato to the magistrate Peter Vigna. “An extraordinary magistrate – underlined the mayor -, one of the protagonists of the fight against the mafia in the 90s who started the 1996 maxi-trial together with other great men, I am thinking of Chelazzi, Caponnetto, Nicolosi”. 16:40 Prosecutor Melillo: “The 1992 and 1993 massacres were brutal tests of strength to destabilize” The massacres of 1992 and 1993 were “brutal tests of strength guided by strategies to destabilize the country”, “they were massacres planned by the Cosa Nostra by elaborating the idea inoculated into the management team of that criminal organization, according to which mixing the blood of victims innocent to the dust originating from the destruction of the cultural heritage of the Republic would have brought the State to its knees”. Thus the national anti-mafia prosecutor John Melillo at the Palace of Justice. “The entire massacre campaign – added the prosecutor – developed without the bodies responsible for guaranteeing the security of the Republic being able to demonstrate their ability to control such great dangers as those revealed by attacks that intertwined with apparently distant events, the facts of Saxa Rubra and via dei Sabini in Rome and the exploits of the so-called Falange Armata. Gestures through which old instruments of provocation and political destabilization strategies emerged from the shadows, with some variations”. 16:46 La Russa: “Wicked mafia violence” The president of the Senate Ignatius LaRussa sent a message of greeting to the commemoration held at the Palace of Justice. “Indelible is in all of us the memory of the wicked mafia violence that struck the city of

Florence and all of Italy with 300 kilograms of explosives which took innocent lives, caused over 40 injuries and defaced places of art and history. But the indelible memory must also be the courage and pride with which in Florence and in every other place in our country, in the institutions as well as in every sphere of society, Italy was able to defeat the blackmail of fear”.

16:54 Sciarra: “Consulta also takes care of those who repent”

On organized crime “the tightening of the measures, following the massacre in Capaci, and the fallout of the same on the penitentiary regime, have led the Court to deal, even recently, with the condition of those detained for crimes connected to organized crime, who had initiated a path of repentance and severed ties with organizations. This path is not a deviation from the original path – which recognizes the compliance with the Constitution of measures to combat organized crime – but rather a parallel path”. Thus the president of the Consulta Silvana Sciarra.

“For me who, despite not having been born there – she underlined again – have lived in Florence for many years, the roar of the night between 26 and 27 May 1993 was the atrocious sign of my belonging to the city, its history and its worth. I felt I owed tribute to this city gratitude for the ability to react to a hateful massacre and I now want to reiterate this sentiment, which is associated with a few other words, linked to my experience as a constitutional judge”.

16:56 Cassano: “The massacre revealed the strength of the rule of law” “Such a tragic event, far from producing a laceration between the community and institutions, revealed the strength and solidity of the rule of law which responded with the clarity of reason and convinced respect for the rules, to the ruthless mafia strategy”. Thus the first president of the Court of Cassation Margaret Cassano speaking at the ceremony at the Palace of Justice. 17:02 Mattarella’s greeting to the families of the victims of the massacre The ceremony at the Palace of Justice has concluded. The President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella did not intervene but during the commemoration the Head of State spoke with some relatives of the victims of the massacre.