Exhibition "The Forgotten Massacre. Vergarolla and his hero, Dr. Geppino Micheletti" 1946-2026

Description

On Monday 9th February at 5:30 pm the exhibition dediated to che massacre of Vergarolla will be inaugurated. In 1946 the war is over, but for Venezia Giulia the present means foreign occupation: Istria, in effect, is almost entirely under Tito's Yugoslavia; Trieste and Gorizia, not lost, but under Anglo-American military administration; and Pula, also not lost, but an enclave under British military rule. On August 18th, on the beach at Vergarolla, just outside Pula, a huge crowd has gathered, there not only to bathe but also to watch sports competitions at sea—swimming, diving, sailing, rowing: they are celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of the Pietas Julia nautical sports club, a symbol of patriotism and Italianness. On the shore, piled up at the edge of the pine forest, are a pile of mines, enormous remnants of war, recovered and defused. Just after 2:00 PM, everything exploded: more than a hundred people were dead and countless injured, arriving at the Santorio hospital in Pola, where Geppino Micheletti, the only surgeon on duty, operated for hours. He didn't stop even when he was told that his two only children, Carletto, nine, and Renzo, just four, were among the dead. So were his brother Alberto and his sister-in-law Caterina, who were there with the little ones.

Geppino Micheletti (born Michelstaedter), cousin of the philosopher Carlo Michelstaedter, who committed suicide in 1910, was the son of Giuseppe and Irma Majer and was born in Trieste on July 18, 1905. He graduated in medicine in 1929, specializing, with honors, in surgery in the 1937/38 academic year. He obtained another specialization, in orthopedics and traumatology, in 1945/46. He became an assistant surgeon at the Santorio hospital in Pola starting in 1935 and continued to practice there until being called up for military service in 1941. After his discharge on June 30, 1945, he returned to service at the hospital in Pola.

​​​​​​​The exhibition is open daily from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm and from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm. Free admission.

Organized by:

I.R.C.I. - Istituto Regionale per la Cultura Istriano-fiumano-dalmata