ROME -- The Italian government has been widely criticised after not sending any representative to a commemoration marking 80 years since the Nazi fascist massacre in Sant’Anna di Stazzema, Tuscany. Eugenio Giani, the President of Tuscany and representative of the Democratic Party, said “he would have expected much better.”

 The event on Monday in Sant’Anna di Stazzema marked the 80-year anniversary of one of the most brutal attacks in Italian history. On 12 August 1944, German Nazi forces, helped by complicit Italian fascists, surrounded the village and attacked residents. 560 people were killed, including 130 children.

 Italy’s President, Sergio Mattarella, was present at the commemoration event, describing it as an important reminder of “the roots of the Italian Republic.” Around 2,000 people joining the procession to the memorial dedicated to the victims, but no government official marked the occasion in Sant’Anna di Stazzema. Maurizio Verona, mayor of Stazzema, suggested the absence from government officials showed a lack of respect.

 “Remembering the occasion is important but being here today, in person, in front of this stone monument, in front of those that saw and survived [the massacre] and are living witnesses, is fundamental.”

 “Those with important roles [in government] today should have been here, welcoming the invitation, looking into the eyes of the survivors, hugging them, and apologising for the state’s oblivion of the events of 12 August 1944.”

 It is now the second consecutive year that no government official has turned up to the commemoration in Tuscany. No public apology has yet been issued from Giorgia Meloni’s government.

 bq