L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 12 L'Italo-Americano T welve years have p a s s e d f r o m that tragic night between the 5th a n d t h e 6 t h o f April when a catastrophic e a r t h q u a k e h i t A b r u z z o , bringing its regional capital, L'Aquila, and a number of other locales, to its knees. Three hundred and nine p e o p l e d i d n ' t w a k e u p from the darkness of a night that had begun just like any other. Three hundred and nine people remembered, this year just like the past eleven, in a touching com- memoration that, because of Covid-19, has been a tad different from what it used to be: for the second year in a row, the traditional cand- lelight vigil could not hap- pen and was replaced by t h e t o u c h i n g p r e s e n c e o f small candles lit on people's windowsills, not only where t h e e a r t h q u a k e h i t , b u t across the entire country. A b e a u t i f u l b l u e l i g h t projected towards the sky from L'Aquila's main square while the name of each vic- tim was read out loud. The touching lighting up of a cauldron, fire symbolizing catharsis and the need to restart: something all the more meaningful in these t i m e s o f p a n d e m i c a n d death. It was a young firefi- ghter, Francesca di Nino, herself a symbol: because firefighters, in the most dramatic moments of that t r a g e d y — a n d s o m a n y o t h e r s i n o u r c o u n t r y — s a v e d a n d p r o t e c t e d l i f e , compassionate and coura- g e o u s a l w a y s , h u m b l e h e r o e s o f o u r d a y s a n d times. The bells tolled, later, t h r e e h u n d r e d a n d n i n e times, at 3.32 am, the very hour when, 12 years ago, the earth killed. C o m m e m o r a t i n g i s i m p o r t a n t , b u t w e m u s t l o o k a t t h e f u t u r e w i t h hope, in L'Aquila, because while a lot still needs to be d o n e , l i f e i s b a c k i n t h e town's streets. L i t t l e b y l i t t l e , p e o p l e w h o l i v e a n d w o r k t h e r e say, a sense of normality starts permeating the city a g a i n . T h e s t r u s c i o , t h a t walking up and down the portici of Corso Vittorio Emanuele, started again, with of course all the limita- t i o n s i m p o s e d b y c u r f e w and distancing due to the pandemic. People gets their coffees al bar once more, and the noises coming from t h e m a n y b u i l d i n g s s i t e s around town are more like music than a nuisance: they mean reconstruction is hap- p e n i n g , t h a t L ' A q u i l a i s a b o u t t o g e t i t s n e w Renaissance. Of course, there is still a lot to do, both in L'Aquila and in the many hamlets and villages around it, that suffered equally because of t h e e a r t h q u a k e : i n t o w n , 60% of public buildings and m o n u m e n t s h a s b e e n rebuilt: there is more work a w a i t i n g . 8 5 % o f p r i v a t e homes, however, are ready, and this gives the commu- nity hope and a reason to look forward to the future. C a r d i n a l G i u s e p p e Petrocchi, archbishop of L'Aquila, underlined this importance of living and working together as a community: reconstruction as an event of "community," just like beating the pande- mic will be the work of the " c o m m u n i t y : " i t i s i n moments like these that the i m p o r t a n c e o f u n i t y a n d m e a n i n g f u l c o n n e c t i o n becomes all the more evi- dent, he stressed. Petrocchi brought together the earth- quake and the pandemic, calling them both a "shared tragedy," because the dead o f t h e e a r t h q u a k e " d o n ' t belong solely to their family, but they are and will always be our sisters and brothers." Just like fighting the pande- mic cannot be the work only of a part of the population: "The virtuous behavior of some of us is not enough, if i t i s c a n c e l l e d o u t b y t h e d a m a g i n g b e h a v i o r o f o t h e r s , " h e c o n c l u d e s . P e t r o c c h i r e m i n d s t o t h e community that, this year, t h e s o r r o w o f t h e e a r t h - quake is also the sorrow of today, caused by the many victims — 160 in L'Aquila alone — of the coronavirus. But as we said, there is a lot of hope in L'Aquila 12 years after the tragedy, and i t i s i t s m a y o r P i e r l u i g i Biondi who, perhaps, says it best: "the town's beauty has started to shine again. W h e n i t c o m e s t o r e c o n - struction, it's all downhill from now. We can see the light at the end of the tun- nel." Many people in town a r e b a c k i n t o t h e i r o w n homes and the rest should be able to do so by the end o f t h i s y e a r . A s w e s a i d , there is a bit more to do for monuments and public buil- dings, but L'Aquila is on the right path. Things have been going more slowly in the surroun- ding areas, in the 56 com- munes hit just as badly — if n o t m o r e — a s L ' A q u i l a itself. Here, about 1/3 of all necessary works are fini- shed, 7,592 over more than 23,000, and there are 662 open building sites, with an investment of almost 2 bil- lion euro (2.4 billion USD). 1 8 5 i n t e r v e n t i o n s h a v e been already approved for the reconstruction of public buildings, with an invest- ment of 70 million euro (83 million USD). More than 100 million euro (around 120 million USD) have been s e t f o r t h e s e c u r i n g a n d , w h e r e n e c e s s a r y , r e c o n - struction of schools. Twelve years are a long time, but in the life of a city — o n e f o u n d e d b y t h e Frederick II, that is almost 1000 years old — is nothing. Many more will be the years of Renaissance, beauty and flourishing for L'Aquila, and m a n y m o r e w i l l b e t h e moments of happiness and serenity for its people. L'Aquila: twelve years later CHIARA D'ALESSIO The main square in L'Aquila: 12 years after the quake, the town is almost ready to go back to normal (Photo: Rudolf Ernst/Dreamstime) LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE

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