PANTELLERIA (TRAPANI) (ITALPRESS) – The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, landed at the hangar of the airport detachment of Pantelleria, where the celebratory ceremony for the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the National Park of the island is scheduled. To welcome the head of the state the Minister of the Environment Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, the president of the Park Authority, Italo Cucci, and the mayor of Pantelleria, Fabrizio D’Ancona. A long applause welcomed the entry of the President of the Republic.
“I have been to Pantelleria several times, but never for rest periods. At my age we cannot make long-term programmes, but I do not exclude coming to Pantelleria sooner or later for a rest period,” said the President of the Republic in his speech.
“The so-called smaller islands in our country are all of great importance for its balance and for its future and therefore require constant care and protection, each with its specific conditions and character specificity,” he added.
“Cucci poc’anzi recalled the extraordinary emblematic presence at Pantelleria in Garcia Marquez on the day of arrival on the moon and his words on the island. He reminded me of the title of a book by Garcia Marquez, which reads “I didn’t come to make speeches.” I use that title for me. I did not come to make speeches, but for a precise purpose, to express, reconfirm the affection of the Italians for Pantelleria, well known moreover for the many frequencies that it hosts and welcomes and to emphasize the importance that Pantelleria has for our Republic”, Mattarella explained.
“The character of Pantelleria has placed it well in evidence before the mayor, emphasizing that this character as emerged from his words results from the deep plot that there is between nature and history to Pantelleria. A long history that has seen in the centuries all the protagonists of the Mediterranean look for Pantelleria, is a heritage, this, which must be valued not to preserve it as a photograph, but for the future”, is another passage of the speech of the Head of State.
“The minister Pichetto Fratin has well indicated and emphasized the value, the meaning of natural parks and protected areas, which do not exhaust their task in conservation. They are places of research, places of study that guarantee future prospects and Professor Petrillo poc’anzi remembered the character is the educational role, the pedagogical function that the parks exercise because they express and transmit culture. For all these reasons I am delighted to return to Pantelleria”, he added.
“The first time I came to Pantelleria I think most of the present were not in the world, because it is about 70 years ago. I met the mayor of that time, Vincenzo Almanza, to whom if not mistaken is called the Pantelleria high school. The island accompanied me during my life, for the awareness of its importance, its role, its charm.” “For this reason I would like to tell the President of the Park that it is emblematic and of great significance to make the children protagonists of this occasion, because the Park is for them”, concluded Mattarella, addressing “the greatest, intense, affectionate greetings to all the pants, to Pantelleria and its Park”.
– photo Quirinale –
(ITALPRESS).
Dopo aver partecipato alla cerimonia, il Capo dello Stato ha incontrato la cittadinanza in piazza Cavour per un breve saluto. Qui il presidente Mattarella è stato accolto dai cori “presidente, presidente”, applausi e strette di mano e ancora tanti “grazie presidente”. Al termine di un breve giro, accompagnato dal sindaco Fabrizio D’Ancona, il Capo dello Stato si è spostato per una breve visita privata al museo geo naturalistico del parco a Punta Spadillo, per poi fare tappa all’Arco dell’elefante. Dopo il pranzo e previsto il rientro a Roma.
– foto copertina e seconda fotogallery foto Emanuele Borsellino/Italpress –
– prima fotogallery foto Quirinale –
(ITALPRESS).
