Eighty years since the Liberation, music and remembrance at the Castle: "Let's reflect on the present."

Milan, July 14, 2025 – “This celebration is an opportunity for us to reflect on the world around us . And to remember how much it cost to overcome 1945, after a war, now that we talk about it every day,” says Primo Minelli, president of ANPI Milan (National Association of Italian Partisans). Tonight, at 8:30 pm, the Cortile delle Armi of the Sforza Castle will transform into a stage for Memory and Freedom with “ Bella Milano! ”, the Partisan Festival organized by ANPI Milan and the national ANPI as part of the Estate al Castello festival, promoted by the City of Milan. Two thousand people have already booked (booking is required on eventbrite.it).

Eighty years after the Liberation, "Bella Milano!" pays homage to the spirit of that historic celebration of July 14, 1945 , initiated by then-mayor Antonio Greppi with the motto "Free to sing and dance." Greppi's mission was to rebuild Milan, but also to lift spirits and restore the entire social fabric of a heavily damaged but vibrant city.

And what could be better than a celebration? Today, for memory to live on, it must be celebrated . Poetry, too, will be performed through music, in a large collective event, free and open to all. The artistic direction is by Andrea Satta ("I chose artists from different generations") and the hosts are Paola Piacentini and Matteo Villaci, voices of Radio Popolare. Also attending will be Culture Councilor Tommaso Sacchi, whose grandfather was a partisan. And, of course, Primo Minelli and Gianfranco Pagliarulo , the latter national president of the National Association of Italian Partisans (ANPI). On stage, the protagonists of the contemporary music scene will each perform a 'Resistance' song and one from their own repertoire: Anna Castiglia, Giovanni Truppi, Alessio Lega, Giulia Mei, Sade Mangiaracina & Giuseppe Anastasi, Motta, Area, Andrea Satta with Giorgio Maria Condemi. All the 'Resistance' songs will end up "on an album of songs born in the Resistance and inspired by the Resistance," Satta specifies. During the evening, films from 1945 will be shown, accompanied on the piano by Angelo Pelini of the Têtes de Bois. There will also be readings by Benedetta Buccellato and Vincenzo Calò (National Secretariat of the National Association of Italian Partisans) and poems by Maria Grazia Calandrone, performed by the author. St.Con.

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