Features

ROME—The Vittoriano monument in central Rome, towering over the bustling Piazza Venezia, is usually one of the city’s most chaotic traffic areas and foremost tourist destinations. 

The huge white monument, commonly referred to as the ‘wedding cake,’ was transformed into a place of national mourning, solemnity and patriotism this week when the caskets of 19 Italian soldiers killed in a bomb attack in Iraq were placed there for public viewing. 

Tens of thousands lined the streets on Monday to pay their respects to the 19 soldiers, the highest number of Italian military killed abroad in a single attack since World War II. Visitors laid flowers and notes on the massive white steps of the monument, creating a cascade of bouquets, covering the marble steps underneath. 

Thousands more returned to the monument on Tuesday, the day of the state funeral at St. Paul’s Cathedral. Initial speculation that the high number of deaths in a war unpopular with a majority of Italians could fuel anti-war sentiment in the country has not come to pass. In the first few days after the attack it appears the opposite may be true. 

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who sent thousands of soldiers to Iraq this spring after the fall of the government there, pledged this week to keep Italian troops in Iraq. In the past week, Italian flags have become a more common sight hanging from apartment windows around Rome. Rainbow PACE flags, a popular sign of war protest are still visible in large numbers around Rome, but the colors have faded in many of them. 

“I hope the killings could increase the feeling against the war,” said Luciana Milella, 27, a resident of Rome who came to the steps of the Vittoriano monument on Tuesday. “But I think it is possible that it will increase support for it. I have noticed that feelings of country love have broken out at a high level. Nationalism is growing in Italy. I don’t think that’s a good thing. I love my country, but I don’t want to fight in the name of my country and kill other people.” 

Milella said she felt compelled to visit the monument, to take part in the public mourning, to try to understand what had happened to her countrymen and to her country. “I wanted to realize this massacre,” she said. 

The crowd on the sidewalk grew in the late afternoon as school groups arrived and workers stopped by on their way home. The river of flowers on the steps grew deeper by the hour. Teenagers cried into each others arms, parents explained the scene to their children and tourists and Romans mingled silently, some clasping the hands of the guards on duty. 

The deaths of the soldiers left many Italians shaken. The Roman daily newspaper La Repubblica reported the Nov. 12 suicide-bombing in Nassiriya with the headline “La strage degli italiani” (“The Slaughter of the Italians”). Many of the letters attached to flowers left at the Vittoriano in Rome read, “Grazie Eroi” (“Thank You Heroes”) and referred to the dead soldiers as Italy’s “19 Angels.” A few also read “Viva L’Italia,” making the point that this war was now Italy’s battle as well. 

Foreigners also paid their respects at the monument. “To the families of the soldiers lost and the people of Italy, we truly feel your sorrow,” wrote Bill Knoll of Florida on a note attached to a bouquet of flowers. 

“I feel so little in this situation, like I can do so little,” said Fabio Piemonte, 20, a student in Rome. “I just watched the funeral on television and I came here. I felt like there was nothing I could do. I hope these deaths were not in vain. I am against the war. War is evil always. I hope this changes something.”  

Others said the killings will make more Italians see that the war is their fight as well and will persuade the country that the U.S.-led war is justified. 

“The deaths of the soldiers will help unify the right and the left politicians behind the war,” said Antonio Gramoccone, 60, a resident of Rome. “Hopefully it will help Italy to participate more in the war. I am convinced we have to be a friend to America and to the American people.” 

On his way home Tuesday, Piero Gaspa, 42, a hospital psychologist, pulled his motor scooter to the edge of the monument, pulled a stack of cards from his jacket and tucked them beside the flowers on the steps. The 15 cards were made for the soldiers by his 9-year-old daughter and her classmates.  

Gaspa said the war and the deaths of the Italian soldiers had been a constant subject of discussion at family dinners and in his children’s’ classes over the week. While he said that he does not like war, he feels conflicted about the military activity in Iraq. 

“I’m very realistic,” Gaspa said. “I think it was necessary to get rid of Saddam Hussein and to fight for democracy for the people of Iraq. I think that the deaths of the Italian soldiers will likely increase Italian involvement in the war.” 

Michael Howerton is the former managing editor of the Daily Planet.