Great War
One of the places especially significant and unique memory of the Great War, which fulfills the Ninety years after the end of this year, is the National Monument to the sailor who dominates Italy with a height of more than fifty meters, the port area of \u200b\u200bBrindisi. She is there to remind us that between the two shores of the Adriatic sea, between 1915 and 1918, developed a naval war against no less important from strategic point of view of the Earth.
the beginning of the 900 maritime conflict was seen as critical to the problems related to the procurement of food resources, raw materials and in general trade and colonial policies. The competition and the naval arms race, enhancing the role of Brindisi and Taranto, with the strengthening of arsenals and shipbuilding. In fact, with the entry into the war alongside the Western powers of France and England against the Central Powers of Austria and Germany, was consolidated naval blockade imposed by the channel of Otranto French and British allies, who together with bases of Corfu and Malta use those of Salento.
Some coastal cities of Apulia and the bases areo-ship of Brindisi and Taranto were then subjected to heavy bombing. Habsburg naval units attacked since June 1915, Barletta and Monopoli, Bari and Mola and suffered several air raids. The Italian navy was distinguished from the early days of the conflict in 1915 and ferried from across the Adriatic largely allied Serb army and many civilians who found accommodation in the various refugee camps throughout the region and in Bari.
In a very small theater, the Adriatic, then began a war of attrition which changed the strategies of powerful navy, highlighting the role of submarine warfare, whose function was also relevant in the ongoing trade battle. We also witnessed a substantial change in naval warfare conducted not only by the powerful armored units but by reading, among where Mas (fast anti-submarine boat) that in some cases had an important role in the battles in progress. The use of Mas
allowed Italy, precisely June 10, 1918, to block the powerful Austrian squadron was heading towards the Otranto channel. The bold actions of the Italian units led by Lieutenant Commander Luigi Rizzo near the island of Premuda (across from the Dalmatian coast) allowed the sinking of the 'Szent Istvan ", modern and fast units of 22 000 tonnes, derailing the Austrian strategic plan which involved, among other things, the bombing of Brindisi, Otranto and Valona. In memory of that action and significant singular was established on June 10 the "Day of the Italian Navy."
The memory of the conflict is responsible for shipping in the Great War in particular to the Monument to the sailor of Italy in Brindisi. The work takes on a very specific symbolic meaning, like the great monuments that were erected in many cities of Europe, to commemorate "the lost generation." The commemoration of the Twenties fever involving large and small towns throughout the peninsula and gave rise to the construction of monuments in all public places. Each fall was entitled to have their name engraved in the public municipality. The main town of Brindisi, in 1925, the Italian Navy League is working to implement the large stone building which was completed in 1933 and inaugurated on November 4 of that year by King Vittorio Emanuele III (ten years later, in the shadow of that monument, after the dramatic events of the armistice, the king moved his home, turning in fact Brindisi for a few months in "the capital of Italy). To find the necessary funds for its construction, the famous tenor Tito Schipa in Lecce in 1926 organized a series of concerts in major cities of Puglia and Italian.
The monument, which symbolizes a great helm and also includes a chapel-shrine (crypt-shaped hull upside down), reflects, inter alia, the identity of the city, its natural harbor, central hub for the Mediterranean area. On its walls are engraved the names of about 6,000 who died in the First World War are remembered and even the 33,900 sailors perished in the last war. In the space in front of the monument, anchors and cannons were placed units Austrian navy, sunk by the Italians, and the bell of the Italian battleship "Benedetto Brin" struck at the beginning of the conflict in the port of Brindisi. At the top of this impressive work, in 1954, was placed a marble statue of the Madonna.
The Italian Parliament, 31 July 2002, established the "day of remembrance of the sailors missing at sea ', which is commemorated annually on 12 November, Brindisi, at the National Monument to sailor Italy.
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