Commander Pier Paolo Bergamini, Honorary President of the Association, passed away on 5 October 2019. He was a point of reference for all of us, an inexhaustible source of information and of wonderful humanity. With emotion, we wish to remember it by leaving published the presentation of the Association who wanted to write for the site
I am the commander Pier Paolo Bergamini, son of Admiral Carlo Bergamini who, at the proclamation of the armistice (at 7.45 pm on 8 September 1943) was the Commander in Chief of the Naval Forces from Battaglia.
My father, on that date, raised his sign on the battleship Roma.
In compliance the armistice clauses, the Naval Forces from Battaglia left the port of La Spezia at 03.00 on 9 September for a short stop in La Maddalena and then in "Bona", in Algeria.
At 3.40 pm our ships were attacked by German planes and the "Roma", after bloody aero-naval combat, was hit twice by German bombs. The second bomb was deadly and at 16.11, the "Roma" sank.
My father and 1392 crew members disappeared at sea; the survivors were 628
In October 2002, Vittorio Catalano Gonzaga di Cirella came to see me, to whom I am very attached because the son of my dear friend, the commander Arturo Catalano Gonzaga di Cirella, survivor of the "Roma", and Andrea Amici, nephew of the famous marò for us. Italo Pizzo, a man gifted with a lot of ingenuity and virtue. I immediately fell in love with Andrea Amici.
Vittorio and Andrea had become an active and enthusiastic part to create the "Associazione Regia Nave Roma", presenting me with its aims and their programs.
Their proposals were concrete and worthy of the best attention. I joined with enthusiasm.
So on December 16, 2004, in my home, the "Association" was established.
Vittorio and Andrea are now dedicating themselves to this partnership with passion and particular care.
Their activity - highly commendable - has ensured, ensures and will ensure the due success to remember our loved ones who have passed away, the survivors who are no longer with us and the living ones always strongly linked to their beauty " Ship "and its tragic end.
Pier Paolo Bergamini
I am the son of the Captain of Frigate Arturo Catalano Gonzaga di Cirella. My father was embarked on the Roma a few months before her sinking, ensign in command of the 152 mm left aft tower at 4.00 pm on 9 September 1943.
He left me, along with his memories, on October 5, 2000.
He never wanted to tell me directly what happened that day and what followed. What I learned, I owe it to the archive he built (actually not very organized) for the editing of the book that came out with the Mursia characters with the title "for the honor of the Savoy". In its first version, of which I was the IT auditor, it was called "per la pelle dei Savoia".
I have always respected his silence: reading his pages, I understood the shocking drama, and the youthful reaction in reacting and removing as much as possible. Its history is covered in another section of the site.
On 9 September 2003 I was invited, as a relative, to the commemoration that took place in the waters of Asinara in honor of the fallen of Roma, Noli and Vivaldi, united within hours by tragic destinies.
It was during this solemn and engaging event that I met Andrea Amici. Together we began to think about how to honor the memory of those men and our loved ones. It took us a long time, but this period of time allowed us to get to know each other, meet, talk, understand each other.
And on December 16, after several visits to our friend Pier Paolo Bergamini, we founded the association.
Vittorio Catalano Gonzaga of Cirella
After months of projects, I still remember when Dr. Vittorio Catalano Gonzaga put his coffee cup in a bar in the capital and said to me: "So Andrea, shall we found the association?". A partnership was finally born that became friendship and collaboration between two descendants of survivors of the Regia Nave Roma, slightly anticipating the official meeting in Casa Bergamini.
In the summer of 1943, my grandfather Italo Pizzo was a very young stoker recently embarked, catapulted from the quiet life of the small Sanremo to the exciting activity on the largest and most modern ship of the Italian Navy.
A few days after his embarkation, the war took a different and unexpected course and the great battleship left one night on a journey without arrival. For my grandfather, the details of how his ship sank were never important, in fact he was often inaccurate on these points. However, the terrible experience, which we will be able to illustrate in our work, marked his soul throughout his life.
Strange character Italo Pizzo, able to take on the role of Santa Claus for children and transform a piece of iron into a wonderful sculpture with the hammer and forges it.
Carelessly he put down the rough tools and held the pen with which he wrote beautiful lines, simple but deep. I could go on and on…
But in this eclectic man who emanated cheerfulness in every moment, a very sad and lonely heart was beating. Inside him the memory of the dramatic sinking of the Nave Roma and of many of his companions ended up at the bottom of the sea with it, accompanied him throughout his life, until, in February 1999, only a few grains remained in his hourglass. I was the last and only witness of his weary words: an unpublished anecdote about the sinking of Roma.
It had to pass some time before I realized that he wished to leave me his moral testament: "Never forget what we have lived!".
I dedicate my commitment to founding this Association as respecting your wishes.
I thank all those who, like us, have long believed that the history of the Nave Roma is
an indelible historical heritage of all of us Italians
Andrea Amicthe