Speeches, photo galleries, and videos from our 25th anniversary

Here are the speeches, photo galleries, and videos from this special day.

Adele Scarani Pesapane, Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio

Adele Scarani Pesapane - Basilica Sant'Ambrogio 2026

Good morning, everyone.

I would like to thank all the authorities present here today.

Today, we mark an important anniversary: 25 years have passed since the accident. And once again, we are gathered here, not only to remember, but also to reflect on the positive things that have emerged from this tragedy.

Over these years, we, the families of the October 8 Committee, have made a choice: we have transformed our grief into a commitment to society.

We have worked to make aviation safer, so that similar accidents may never happen again. We have collaborated with institutions and civil aviation authorities, making our voices heard wherever aviation safety decisions are made.

And we can proudly say that the culture of safety in Italy has improved.

For us, this is our greatest achievement.

We have planted the seeds of living memory. We have created places full of life, such as the Beech Tree Grove. It is not a cemetery, but a growing woodland where children play and life goes on.

Remembrance has spread far beyond this place. Over the years, we have inaugurated squares, streets, parks and classrooms named after October 8. Every plaque is a seed of remembrance, kept alive in people's everyday lives.

Taking part in so many conferences has been a source of great pride for us.

We have invested in the future by establishing scholarships and awards for young students.

We ask them to study and to act responsibly, because knowledge and competence save lives.

We have brought our story into schools, not to speak of sadness, but to teach the importance of professional ethics and respect for rules, because one rule that was not followed changed the lives of 118 families forever.

The book Non è colpa della nebbia (It Wasn't the Fog's Fault), published also thanks to our contribution, has been included in the educational programmes of many schools. The recent documentary La memoria e il debito (Memory and the Debt) revisits this terrible chapter of our history.

All these projects help us keep awareness alive and ensure that we never forget.

I therefore encourage the young people here today to be responsible and aware citizens.

The memory we entrust to you is full of energy and hope. This is the most meaningful way to honour those who are no longer with us.

The National Day of Remembrance that we commemorate today belongs to you as well.

For us, this means that October 8 is not only a day of personal remembrance, but also a symbolic date for the whole of Italy.

Over the years, the Committee's work has been recognised through prestigious awards and honours. We receive them with gratitude, but we know that they do not belong to us alone.

We dedicate them to our loved ones and share them with everyone who has supported us along the way.

Today, we are focusing on another extremely important area of our work: family assistance, making our experience available to support families in emergency situations.

This commitment reached an important milestone last February, when, together with the Italian Transport Regulation Authority, we presented a formal proposal to Parliament and the Government, calling for Italy to establish a National Assistance Plan for victims and their families in the event of an accident, regardless of the means of transport involved.

This request comes from our own experience, but its purpose goes far beyond our personal story.

That is why, on this National Day of Remembrance, we once again strongly emphasise the importance of achieving this goal.

Thank you to everyone who has walked alongside us over these past 25 years.

And above all, thank you to those who continue to believe, every single day, that remembrance also means taking action.