In his message, published on the official website of the Presidency of the Republic, Mattarella referred to the “violent and bloody attack” on May 23, 1992, against the anti-Mafia magistrate, followed by the July 19 attack against fellow judge Emanuele Borselino, which he described as “among the deepest wounds in our republican history.”

“My first thought, as shaking today as it was then, goes out to those who lost their lives,” he said, referring to Falcone and his wife, fellow magistrate Francesca Morvillo, as well as officers Antonio Montinaro, Rocco Dicillo, and Vito Schifani.

Their deaths, he said, are linked to those of Borsellino and other victims of the subsequent Via d’Amelio massacre in Palermo, including Emanuela Loi, Agostino Catalano, Walter Eddie Cosina, Vincenzo Li Muli, and Claudio Traina, “servants of the state, whom the Mafia killed with brutal violence to subdue the civilian community.”

These tragedies led a rebirth in society and institutions, according to the statement from the Italian president, who noted that these massacres highlighted “the threat to the freedom of all citizens,” which is why “the fight against the Mafia intensified.”

“In the living memory of Falcone and Borsellino, May 23 has become the Day of Legality, because it is necessary to always maintain high vigilance, involving new generations in the responsibility of building a future free from criminal ties,” Mattarella added in his statement.

abo/jdt/ro/ort