Cgil, memorial at Portella della Ginestra needs restoration

(ANSA) – PALERMO, 23 SEPTEMBER – The Portella della Ginestra massacre was a massacre committed on 1 May 1947 in Portella della Ginestra, in the municipality of Piana degli Albanesi, in the province of Palermo, by Salvatore Giuliano’s criminal gang who shot at a crowd of farmers gathered to celebrate Labour Day, causing eleven deaths and numerous injuries. To commemorate that massacre, a memorial was erected, designed and built between 1979 and 1980 by Ettore de Conciliis, consisting of numerous inscriptions engraved on large local stones. The CGIL reported today: “Lesions in the stones and in the cement bases, encrustations, stains in the sculptures, infiltrations. Some of the menhirs that indicate the places where the victims of Giuliano’s gang fell are tilted. The dry stone wall that cuts across the space reproducing the trajectory of the shots is losing pieces”. Cgil Palermo and the Portella della Ginestra association wrote a letter today to the councilor for Cultural Heritage Francesco Scarpinato to urge the expected interventions. “Our appeal goes to the Sicilian Region so that the conservation intervention project is started and completed as soon as possible – say the general secretary of Cgil Palermo Mario Ridulfo and the honorary president of the Portella della Ginestra association Serafino Petta, a survivor of the massacre – During a conference on May 3, 2023, in the Mattarella room of Palazzo dei Normanni, the need to protect and restore the important site, a heritage of the Sicilians, as well as a collective cultural and historical asset, was shared. After more than a year, unfortunately, no recovery and restoration project has been defined or financed, while the situation of the memorial is desolate”. Cgil has attached photos of the state of the work to the letter, also sent to the mayor of Piana di Piana degli Albanesi Rosario Petta and for information to the Superintendency, requesting a meeting. “It seems superfluous to underline that – Ridulfo adds – not only is a rapid intervention of safeguard needed, but also that any project and intervention can be started and completed as soon as possible, considering first of all the serious state of conservation of the site and secondly the approaching of May Day 2027, the day on which we will celebrate the eightieth anniversary of the massacre”. Last April, an inspection was carried out at the memorial by the Superintendency, to verify the state of the sculptures and evaluate the interventions to be made. (ANSA).