Modica, a significant day against the mafias

Tomorrow, Saturday, March 21, the city of Modica will pause to reflect. On the occasion of the “Day of Memory and Commitment in Remembrance of the Innocent Victims of the Mafias”, the local section of Libera and the State Professional Institute “Principi Grimaldi” have promoted an initiative that places students at the center of building a collective consciousness.

Since 1995, the first day of spring has become the symbol of the rebirth of legality. This year, in Modica, the event takes on a renewed form: not a city parade, but an internal workshop path within the school to transform memory into active participation.

The event, scheduled from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM, represents the culmination of an educational path that has involved the fourth-year classes. Through texts, videos, and artistic performances, students will give voice to the stories of those who paid with their lives for opposing the mafia power.

At the center of the morning will be symbolic figures of the civil struggle:

Antonio Esposito Ferraioli: killed for reporting irregularities at work.

Federico Del Prete: a symbol of resistance to extortion. Geographic consultation material

Lia Pipitone: an emblem of women's right to freedom.

Rita Atria: the young witness of justice who chose legality over her own family.

The morning will not be a simple frontal commemoration. An “speakers’ corner” is indeed planned, an open space where students, teachers, and representatives of Libera can discuss current social issues. The goal is to stimulate an authentic dialogue that starts from the school desks and reaches civil society.

“Through these testimonies, the day aims to transform memory into concrete commitment, inviting young people to reflect on their role as citizens,” explains the school principal, Claudia Terranova. “March 21 thus becomes an opportunity to renew a daily commitment against all forms of illegality.”

To close the meeting, there will be three symbolic messages entrusted to a student, a teacher, and a member of Libera, as a testament to an educational pact that binds educational institutions to the territory. In a complex historical moment, Modica chooses to start again from its young people to reaffirm that memory is not just an exercise of the past, but a tool to write a present free from the mafia.