The Embassy of Italy and the Italian Cultural Institute in Prague have paid tribute to Italian patriot Silvio Pellico, two hundred years after his imprisonment in the Hapsburg fortress of Spielberg. The event included a varied programme of ceremonies and other initiatives.
It was opened by the Ambassador of Italy to the Czech Republic, Mauro Marsili, who declared: “In the two hundredth anniversary of his imprisonment, we commemorate Silvio Pellico, as well as Piero Maroncelli and the other Italian patriots who shared the experience of detention in the Austrian prison of Spielberg. An experience that cost some of them their lives. We remember them because they are still today examples of courage, the spirit of sacrifice and a yearning for freedom. And because these two Italian revolutionaries, who are present in the city’s place names, have always been admired by the Moravian patriots with whom they shared not just imprisonment but also the desire to restore independence and dignity to their country”.
During the three days of celebrations the city of Brno and its museum welcomed visitors to the cells where the revolutionaries spent their imprisonment and organised debates, lectures, concerts, and screenings of films and documentaries.