Cannobio, barracks named after Angelo Spagnulo (cross-border guide)

Context

In brief

• Cannobio dedicated the barracks to Angelo Spagnulo
• Spagnulo was killed at 25 during a robbery
• The ceremony took place on September 24

Key facts

• What → dedication of the Carabinieri Station barracks
• Where → Cannobio
• To whom → Carabiniere Scelto Angelo Spagnulo
• When → September 24
• Killing → 2005, at 25, in the province of Taranto

On September 24, Cannobio dedicated the Carabinieri Station barracks to Carabiniere Scelto Angelo Spagnulo, who was remembered during a brief but heartfelt ceremony. The choice links the city outpost to the memory of a member of the Carabinieri Corps who was killed at 25, in 2005, while trying to stop a robbery.

Spagnulo was off duty and was in the province of Taranto. During an attempted robbery, he placed himself between a robber and a young woman. A shotgun blast killed him. He also had a broken leg and was unarmed: the sense of duty, recalled during the ceremony, was stronger than the conditions in which he found himself. The act is thus associated with an intervention carried out despite being in a situation of great difficulty.

Twenty years have passed, but the pain has remained, together with the profound dignity of the family members. In Cannobio were his mother Nunzia, his sister Camilla and his brothers Alessandro and Francesco. Their presence accompanied the remembrance of the Carabiniere Scelto and gave the brief ceremony the face of the family.

The act remembered during the ceremony

With the dedication, Spagnulo's name is now linked to the Carabinieri Station in Cannobio. The ceremony did not only commemorate the death in 2005, but also the choice made by a young carabiniere who, while off duty, intervened during a robbery.

The reference to Cannobio is concrete: the dedicated barracks is that of the Carabinieri Station, while the 2005 incident occurred in the province of Taranto. Spagnulo's memory was entrusted to a Carabinieri facility where his name is linked to the daily work of the service members. The dedication brings together the personal memory of the man and the significance of his act. In the account of the ceremony, Spagnulo was unarmed, had a broken leg and nevertheless tried to place himself between the robber and the young woman.

Operational details

The bond between Angelo Spagnulo and Cannobio also goes back to the months spent in the city before the transfer to the Provincial Command of Verbania. His memory is still alive in the place where he spent that period and where the current commander of the Station, Giuseppe Rossini, knew him personally. Rossini strongly wanted the dedication ceremony.

Mayor Gianmaria Minazzi did the honors, together with his fellow mayors of the area. In his speech, Minazzi indicated the Cannobio station as a fundamental garrison. He linked the dedication to the responsibility of not forgetting those who served the State to the ultimate sacrifice, explaining that Spagnulo's name recalls the highest values ​​of the State.

The meaning for Cannobio

The mayor also presented the dedication as a source of pride for Cannobio. Linking the name of the municipality to that of a man who dedicated his life to the highest values ​​of the State, according to Minazzi, means leaving a call for solidarity. The ceremony combined the function of the barracks and the memory of a sacrifice made during an attempted robbery.

The presence of family members accompanied the memory on the day of the dedication. Mother Nunzia, Camilla, Alessandro and Francesco participated in a moment described as short but heartfelt, together with the institutional representatives present. The pain, after twenty years, was indicated as still present, despite a profound dignity.

The subsequent transfer to the Provincial Command of Verbania has been recalled as part of Spagnulo's history. The Cannobio station has chosen to link its name to that of the chosen carabiniere, keeping at the center the sense of duty that led him to intervene despite being free from duty, wounded in the leg and unarmed. The value of the dedication arises from the facts remembered during the ceremony and from the personal relationship that Spagnulo had with the commander Giuseppe Rossini.

Key points

The name on the barracks now enters the work of the force through the daily life of the Carabinieri station. The provincial commander, Colonel Loris Baldassarre, recalled that those who give their lives for others are alive forever and stated that Spagnulo is present today together with the military. In his reading, the department named after the hero of the force must represent a constant stimulus for all the carabinieri who work there.

Baldassarre also recalled the role of the Carabinieri Station as a fundamental garrison and place for a community to listen to on a daily basis. The reference concerns the work carried out every day within it. Spagnulo's memory is thus connected to the task of the military and to the daily listening of the community, according to the message entrusted to the ceremony.

The message from the Carabinieri leaders

General Andrea Paterna, commander of the Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta Carabinieri Legion, also spoke at the ceremony. Paterna described the job of a policeman as exhilarating, but often ruthless. His speech recalled the responsibility of those who work today in a barracks that bears the name of Spagnulo.

«The only real way to honor Angelo Spagnulo is to make him feel proud of having given his name to a barracks where carabinieri animated by his same courage work. It is a daily model to follow, to close the circle that it has opened, to make this world a better place."

Paterna's message links the dedication to an everyday example. The model to follow is that of carabinieri animated by the same courage as Spagnulo, with the objective indicated by the general of closing the circle opened by his gesture and making the world a better place. For the Cannobio Station, the name thus becomes a constant reminder of the sense of duty and courage remembered during the ceremony, for the soldiers who work there.

Source: vconews.it