The massacres were committed mainly against the local ethnic Italian population by Yugoslav communists who occupied the Istrian peninsula during the last two years of the war.
Up to 15,000 Italians were killed, with many of them tortured, shot or pushed to their deaths into the deep, natural sinkholes or chasms known as foibe.
The killings occurred in 1943 and again in the weeks before and after the end of the war in 1945.
The exact number of victims of these atrocities is unknown, in part because Tito’s forces destroyed local population records to cover up their crimes.
The Giorno del Ricordo, marked annually on February 10, commemorates the victims of the ethnic cleansing as well as the exodus of Italians who left their homes in Dalmatia and Istria in the years after 1943.
An official ceremony took place on Thursday in Palazzo Madama, with speeches by senate president Maria Elisabetta Casellati, followed by the speaker of the chamber of deputies Roberto Fico and concluded with an address by Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
The ceremony was broadcast live on state television channel RAI 2 and attended by the newly re-elected Italian president Sergio Mattarella.
“It is a commitment of civilization to preserve and renew the memory of the tragedy of the communities who had their roots in those lands, so rich in culture and history and so stained with innocent blood,” Mattarella said.
“The survivors and exiles, together with their families, waited a long time for their suffering to be recognised.”
