Garden of the Righteous at Farnesina
to honour the Righteous Italian diplomats
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Address
Viale dei Giusti della Farnesina
00135 Roma
Province of Roma (Lazio)
Show map -
Contacts
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
+39 06 36911
The Garden of the Righteous at Farnesina, situated in front of the Italian Foreign Ministry, pays tribute to diplomats who have exemplified values of responsibility, tolerance, and solidarity, often at the risk of their own lives. Its inauguration ceremony took place on March 12th, 2024, resulting from the collaborative efforts of the Gariwo Foundation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and the Municipality of Rome. This initiative follows the 2021 inauguration of Avenue at the Farnesina, named after the Righteous, reflecting Italy's commitment to honoring such individuals.
"Italy can play a significant international role in promoting Gardens worldwide and engaging international institutions in Raphael Lemkin's vision for genocide prevention and the defense of human dignity. We are a nation renowned for beauty, creativity, humanist culture, and the arts. We can export the concept of the beauty of moral goodness to the world," stated Gabriele Nissim, President of the Gariwo Foundation.
The journey to the inauguration of the Garden of the Righteous of the Farnesina began in 2015 when Rummo High School in Benevento honored Ambassador Emilio Barbarani on the European Day of the Righteous. Barbarani had courageously sheltered and rescued hundreds of political refugees fleeing the Pinochet regime in Chile, facilitating the safe passage of 750 Allende government supporters abroad.
This tribute, initiated by Enza Nunziato, Gariwo ambassador, sparked the idea of commemorating all Italian diplomats who, throughout history, stood firm in defending human dignity during crises, from the Armenian genocide to the Shoah, Stalinist gulags, the Rwandan genocide, and ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia. These often-forgotten stories embody the moral essence of Italian diplomacy and merit remembrance.
An ad hoc committee, established by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Italian Cooperation (MAECI), meticulously selected the honored diplomats' names. Subsequently, various Italian Embassies abroad, including those in Sweden, Jordan, Tunisia, and France, collaborated with Gariwo to establish Gardens of the Righteous within embassy premises and support initiatives promoting the legacy of the Righteous.
People honoured in this Garden
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| Name |
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| Guelfo Zamboni he opposed the Nazis in order to rescue Italian and Greek Jews |
| Lucillo Merci the captain who helped Guelfo Zamboni rescue Jewish lives |
| Vittorio Castellani The diplomat who protected the Jews in Croatia |
| Giuseppe Castruccio the consul who set up the "rescue train" |
| Luca Attanasio the Ambassador peacemaker |
| Pierantonio Costa consul and enterpreneur who rescued 375 children during genocide in Rwanda |
| Tomaso de Vergottini Saviour of "asilati" in Chile |
| Vittorio Iacovacci the carabiniere who died in an attempt to protect Ambassador Attanasio during the ambush of 22 February 2021 |
| Mustapha Milambo the Congolese driver who died during the ambush at Ambassador Attanasio |
