Milan remember its dead
During the years 1943-44, it is known that Milan suffered a high number of air raids by the British and Americans, which caused the death of thousands of civilians.
A not insignificant consequence of such bombardments, among which that of the school of Gorla, was the disposal of the rubble of the destroyed buildings, which led the local administrators of the time to the decision to create two artificial hills in opposite areas of the city: to the east erected the mountain of the Lambro Park, to the west that of San Siro.
Testimonies of the time have confirmed that in those places were not disposed of only parts of empty buildings, but also of buildings where the residents had not managed to save themselves and whose bodies were never recovered, therefore considered missing.
From this it is deducible that under the enormous heaps of rubble there is also the presence of human remains.
Both hills over the years were covered with vegetation, trees were planted and on that of San Siro the Municipality also installed sports equipment.
The Milanese population has always frequented those places with due respect and civic sense, even if the citizens who remembered the origins of those realities with the passing of the years were in ever smaller numbers.
In recent times, however, the situation has deteriorated, especially for the mountain of San Siro: the presence of citizens of foreign origin, has led the place to a level of degradation now unacceptable: every weekend there are thousands of people who bivouac on the lawns where they flow rivers of beer (and maybe not just that ...).
A serious damage to the vegetation was caused by the summer editions of the meetings of political parties that took place in recent years, due to which the municipality has quantified an environmental damage of about 120 thousand euros.
Following all of the above, we started with the project to request the Municipality of Milan to recognize such mounts as the Natural Shrines to which they have due respect.
The city administration immediately started to accept our proposal, and specifically the District Councils of Zone 3 and 8, where the two small hills are located, unanimously decided to carry out the two Shrines.
We are able to illustrate what was decided by the Council of Zone 3 regarding the mountain of the Lambro Park:
the recognition consists in the laying of a plate at the top of the hill bearing the words
and a marble stone at the base of the hill, engraved with the same phrase
War is the lesson of history that people never remember enough - Carlo Del Croix
The opening ceremony took place Saturday, March 25, 2006 at 10 AM, at the entrance to the Lambro Park, near Carnia street.
On this occasion, certificates of merit were given to citizens and associations deserving to keep alive the memory of the civilian victims in our city; below the list:
To Memory:
- Boerchio Serena
- Lecchi Carlo
- Mussi Alfredo
- Porro Don Carlo
- Rossi Nino
- Smidili Giovanni
Associations:
- ACLI Lambrate
- ANPI sezione Venezia
- Associazione Nazionale Mutilati e Invalidi di Guerra
- Associazione Nazionale Vittime Civili di Guerra
- Associazione Villa San Giovanni
- Associazione Sportiva Crespi Morbio
- Comitato Piccoli Martiri
- FIAP
- FVL
- Fondazione Don Gnocchi
- Gorla Domani
- Lega Ambiente Crescenzago
- Martinitt
- Museo della Pace Piccoli Martiri di Gorla
- Coro Ensemble
- Donn de Milan
- Centro Roberto Ronchi
Citizens:
- Alberti Lisetta
- Annovazzi Francesca
- Banfi Gianni
- Betti Vittorio
- Bocceda Guido
- Bracalini Romano
- Fregno Alessandro
- Ghisalberti Graziella
- Merli Claudio
- Novara Giancarlo
- Pogliano Maurizio
- Pellegrini Gigi
- Piantanida Mitti
- Pisanò Paolo
- Polver Franco
- Rastelli Achille
- Rossi Pietro
- Savoia Armando
- Siegel Leo
- Varesi Franco
- Zeni Alarico
Holders of Institutional Roles:
- Fede Pellone Alessandro - President of the District Council 8
- Consolini Claudio - President of the Institutional Affairs Commission Zone Council 8
- Ranzini Costante - Councilman Zone 8
Recalling the beginning of this page, where we tell the birth of two small artificial hills created with the rubble of destroyed buildings, we propose a video published by Daniele and Davide Ratti taken from Youtube with a song that talks about the topic.Written by Nino Rossi, it was then interpreted by numerous Milanese singers, here is the official version sung by the author, obviously in the Milanese dialect:
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watch on Youtube
If you can not see the movie in the window on the page, clicking on the link you can view it directly in full screen Milanese Dialect Italiano English Montagna de San Sir Montagna di San Siro Mountain of San Siro Pussee che on mont a l'è on monton de terrache la natura in verd la quattarà:inscì sarann sconduu i oror de guerrae tra on quai ann nissun ricordaràche quell che ciamom 'na montagna, ormai,l'è fada de maceri e catanaj:di noster catanaj, di nost casett,che anca a tocchei sortissen el sò efett... 'Me te seet bella in controlus stasera!Te guardi e te me paret vera!Te seet costada lacrim e sospir,tomba di noster cà,montagna de San Sir! Per mett insemma tutta 'sta montagnagh'emm 'vuu bisogn de Ingles e American:lor gh'hann miss tanti bomb e la vergogna;numm sporch de sangh i tocch del nost Milan.La guerra l'è finida, tucc amis!Desmenteghemm tusscoss, vivemm in pas!Ma se, combinazzion, ghe passi arent,la mia casetta la me torna in ment... 'Me te seet bella in controlus stasera!Te guardi e te me paret vera!Te seet costada lacrim e sospir,tomba di noster cà,montagna de San Sir! Più che un monte è un mucchio di terrache la natura in verde coprirà:così saranno nascosti gli orrori della guerrae fra qualche anno nessuno ricorderàche quella che chiamano una montagna, ormai,è fatta di macerie e rottami:dei nostri rottami, delle nostre casette,che anche a pezzi suscitano il loro effetto... Come sei bella in controluce questa sera!Ti guardo e mi sembri vera!Sei costata lacrime e sospiri,tomba delle nostre case,montagna di San Siro! Per mettere insieme tutta questa montagnaabbiamo avuto bisogno di Inglesi e Americani:loro hanno messo tante bombe e la vergogna;noi, sporchi di sangue, i pezzi della nostra Milano.La guerra è finita, tutti amici!Dimentichiamo tutto, viviamo in pace!Ma se, per combinazione, passo vicino,la mia casetta mi torna in mente... Come sei bella in controluce stasera!Ti guardo e mi sembri vera!Sei costata lacrime e sospiri,tomba delle nostre case,montagna di San Siro! More than a mountain it is a pile of earththat nature with grass will cover:so the horrors of war will be hiddenand in a few years nobody will rememberthat what they call a mountain nowit's made of rubble and wreckage:of our wreckage, of our little houses,that even in pieces elicit their effect ... How beautiful you are against the light tonight!I look at you and you seem real!You cost us tears and sighs,tomb of our houses,mountain of San Siro! To build this whole mountainwe needed the help of English and Americans:they put so many bombs and shame;we, stained with blood, the pieces of our Milan.The war is over, we are all friends!We forget everything, we live in peace!But if, by chance, I pass by,my little house comes back to my mind ... How beautiful you are against the light tonight!I look at you and you seem real!You cost us tears and sighs,tomb of our houses,mountain of San Siro!