Italian
A day dedicated to remembrance, but above all to the renewed commitment of institutions in the fight against organized crime. The President of the Council, Giorgia Meloni, attended the ceremony unveiling the white Fiat Croma on which Giovanni Falcone, Francesca Morvillo, and the members of the escort were killed on May 23, 1992, at the Museum of the Present “Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino”.
PALERMO. Before the event, the Prime Minister chaired the Provincial Committee for Public Order and Security at the Prefecture, together with the Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi and the Minister of Justice Carlo Nordio. In her speech, she reiterated that the memory of the victims of the mafias must translate into a concrete commitment to strengthen legality, support institutions, and not take “a single step back” in the fight against Cosa Nostra.
Not just a tribute to memory, but a call to collective responsibility and daily commitment in the fight against organized crime. This is the message that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni conveyed in her speech during the unveiling ceremony of the white Fiat Croma on which Giovanni Falcone, Francesca Morvillo, and driver Giuseppe Costanza were traveling on May 23, 1992. A moment of strong emotional intensity that has transformed the wreck of the car into a permanent symbol of civil memory.
In her speech, Meloni recalled how the Capaci massacre represented a turning point in Italian history. “From that moment on – she emphasized – no one could pretend that the mafia did not exist.” The attack did not succeed in its aim of bending the State, but produced the opposite effect: a collective awareness that transformed the fight against the mafia into a shared responsibility of all citizens and not just the institutions and the judiciary.
Ample space has been dedicated to the figure of Giovanni Falcone, described as the magistrate who helped give a face and a name to Cosa Nostra, bringing it into the courtroom and demonstrating that the mafia could be fought with the tools of the State. The president also remembered Francesca Morvillo, emphasizing how both were “normal people” who, at the decisive moment, knew which side to choose. A message directed especially at the new generations: heroes, Meloni noted, are not extraordinary people, but citizens who make the right choice when history demands it.
Particularly significant is the passage dedicated to the value of memory. Quoting Tolkien – “It is the small hands that change the world” – the president reiterated that change comes from daily actions and that the memory of the victims of the mafia must translate into concrete commitment. Hence the recognition of the work of Maria Falcone, the Museum of the Present, and the numerous figures who continue to safeguard and transmit the moral legacy of the murdered magistrates.
Looking at current events, Meloni referred to the latest investigations by the Prosecutor’s Office of Caltanissetta and the work of the Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission, stating that the legacy left by Falcone and Paolo Borsellino “has not fallen” but remains strong in the hands of the institutions. Hence the Government’s commitment to strengthening anti-mafia legislation, maintaining the 41-bis regime for bosses who meet the requirements, protecting justice witnesses, combating the transmission of mafia culture to new generations, and continuing the return of confiscated assets to the community.
At the end of her speech, the Prime Minister reiterated that the Italian people “have the right to know the truth” about the still dark pages of the mafia massacre era and assured that every effort to ascertain it must be supported. The sacrifice of Falcone, Borsellino, Morvillo, and the men of the escorts, Meloni concluded, continues to fuel “a flame of hope, justice, and love for Italy,” which still represents the foundation of the institutions’ commitment to upholding legality.
