In October, Campana travelled to Trieste to attend a significant commemorative ceremony held in the Salotto Azzurro in Trieste’s City Hall.
The event honoured the sacrifice of Deputy Brigadier Gerardo Campana of the Guardia di Finanza—Denis’s grandfather.
During the ceremony, attendees heard a detailed reconstruction of the tragic events of the morning of May 1, 1945, which ultimately led to Gerardo Campana’s death.
According to the story, he returned home to retrieve his Guardia di Finanza cap, which he had accidentally left behind. When he did, he was captured by Tito’s partisans.
He was deported in 1945 to the Borovnica camp, where he died after enduring torture and hardship.
As announced during the ceremony, the cap is now destined to be preserved at the Documentation Centre of the Foiba of Basovizza, as a permanent tribute to Gerardo Campana’s sacrifice.
The cap, which Denis and his cousin Shane discovered during a move, was handed over to the Regional Commander of the Guardia di Finanza, General Fabrizio Nieddu.
“My grandfather Gerardo’s cap,” Denis said, “was handed over to the authorities because we want his memory to be safeguarded in the city where he lived and served as a member of the forces, and where one day our children will also be able to come and remember their great-grandfather—an extraordinary person, a brave fighter, a symbol to look up to.”
The official handover ceremony took place in the presence of Mayor Roberto Dipiazza, City Council President Francesco Di Paola Panteca and Nieddu.
The cap is now kept and displayed at the Foiba of Basovizza Museum, in memory of Gerardo Campana’s sacrifice and of all those who suffered the same fate.
“For us grandchildren, being present at that ceremony was a great honour and a great joy,” said Denis, who for several years also served as a representative of the Associazione Giuliani nel Mondo.
“One of the memories that struck me the most,” he added, “was the story of our grandmother Giuseppina, who for years after our grandfather disappeared would still step out onto the balcony of their apartment in Via Ponziana, hoping in her heart to see him return—as if by miracle.
“From what we heard, it emerged that that morning Grandpa Gerardo was determined to reach his post, even though the situation in the city was chaotic.
“Grandma Giuseppina tried to stop him, but she couldn’t. In the confusion of those moments, he forgot his cap and, as he went back to retrieve it, he was captured, deported to Borovnica and, after a period of severe physical and psychological suffering, died on July 7, 1945, at the military hospital in Škofja Loka.”
General Nieddu highlighted the symbolic weight of the cap, saying it represents the person who wore it: “A man of the institutions, faithful to his uniform.”
For official Sartos Albertini, Gerardo Campana was “a martyr, together with all those who suffered the same fate”.
