Day of the Righteous celebrates Ambassador Barbarani

This year European Day of the Righteous, honouring all those who have fought against genocide and in the defence of human dignity, is a bit more special, for the first time celebrating an ambassador: Emilio Barbarani, who was head of our diplomatic mission in Chile in the 1970s. The students of the “Rummo” Scientific High School have dedicated a tree to the ambassador in the courtyard of their school in observance of this yearly recurrence. “In the mid-1970s”, the students write, “after the coup by Augusto Pinochet, the Embassy of Italy in Santiago del Chile became a refuge for hundreds of opposition members who risked death. Then-Consul Barbarano arranged for the escape of approximately 750 members of the political left, supporters of Allende, men, women and children fleeing terror”. Read more, in Italian.