Tuesday, November 3, 2026, 9:00 PM – “The Legacy of the Resistance and 1946. Duccio Galimberti, Piero Cosa, and Active Memory in Our Democracy”
with Gianfranco Pagliarulo, National President of the National Association of Italian Partisans (ANPI), and Roberto Tagliani, National President of the Italian Federation of Liberal Liberation Army (FIVL).
Duccio Galimberti, whose birth anniversary is celebrated 120 years ago, a hero of the Resistance and recipient of the Gold Medal for Military Valor, left behind a highly relevant ideal and political legacy, with his coherence between ideas and actions, his active defense of rights and legality, the centrality of the rule of law, his European vision, and his commitment to overcoming nationalism.
Piero Cosa, who left us on November 5th, 30 years ago, Commander of the partisan band that went down in history as the "rebel" band of the Pesio Valley, remains today a point of reference for ethics and civility for his humanity, moral rigor, and rejection of violence for its own sake.
The example of the Resistance of 1943-1945 urges us to rediscover our own sense of responsibility through active participation, so as not to give in to indifference and to oppose a world marked by growing conflict. Authoritarian regimes exploit new technologies to perfect social control and disinformation, along with the rhetoric of "us against them," which becomes the primary tool for consolidating internal consensus and justifying the suppression of civil and political rights. Economic insecurity, perceived inequality, and the loss of centrality of the middle class in Western democracies fuel demands for greater protection, while distrust of institutions has opened the door to charismatic leaders who promise quick and direct solutions, often at the expense of democracy itself.
The diaries and letters of Galimberti and Cosa, as well as all the writings and testimonies of those who fought in the struggle for Liberation, help us to understand the original spirit of unity with which the Italian Constitution was born from the Constituent Assembly and to continue today on a common ground of fundamental values despite starting from different world views.
