Codogno, a memorial for the victims of Covid “where it all began”

It is the day of Codogno. Of the memory of February 21, 2020, when the first case of Covid was confirmed in Italy: patient 1. It was Mattia, 38, from Codogno. Thus a small town unknown to most has become the epicenter of the Covid epidemic in Italy. In Europe. And everything has changed.

Today, a year later, a memorial for the victims was inaugurated in Codogno to commemorate those hours, which became days, then months and celebrate the whole town, together with its losses and the pain that does not change.

“We are where it all started a year ago”, said the president of the Lombardy Region Attilio Fontana. «The collective memory linked to the tragedy of the pandemic is entrusted to the Memorial which is inaugurated today. A place not to forget the suffering and sacrifices of the first red zone but also a permanent recognition of the values ​​of humanity and solidarity “.

Present, among others, the vice president of the Lombardy Region and councilor for Welfare Letizia Moratti and the regional councilor for Civil Protection Pietro Foroni, who in his speech recalled the difficulty in deciding to close the borders with the army. «Here, among other things, all my affections live, but we knew that it was the most appropriate choice. The red zone, although dramatic, worked, but the suffering remains for all the people who have passed away. This tsunami has overwhelmed us all and today we are working with confidence to reach the “new normal” ».

Also Vo’Euganeo, a town in the Padua area, which counted the first victim of Covid in Italy, Adriano Trevisan, closed in Codogno in a virtual embrace that ended with an olive tree planted in one of the access roundabouts to the town. In memory of all the victims. Next to the olive tree, a plaque mentions Ugo Foscolo: “A man never dies if someone remembers him.”