Two Red Benches in Faetano: a message from the community against violence towards women, a message of light.

On 28 November 2025  Faetano Castle inaugurated “two Red Benches”, a concrete and symbolic sign against violence towards women and in favour of mutual respect. The initiative was promoted by the San Marino National Fair Play Committee, in collaboration with the Agorà Day Recreation Centre and the Faetano Primary School, with the support of the Castle Council.

Each of the two benches bears a special plaque:

– the first bears the phrase written by the children of the third grade of the Faetano Primary School:

'You who sit next to me, stay close to me. Take care of me and my identity: that is where my freedom lives. Respect me."

– the second bears the phrase donated by the elderly people of the Agorà Day Centre:

‘This bench tells stories of traditions, personal histories and... silence!’

Two messages that, in dialogue between generations, create a bridge of shared values: care, dignity and freedom.

During the ceremony, poet Milena Ercolani moved those present by reading and recounting the true story of ‘Celesta’, a woman born in 1899 who was a victim of domestic violence and rape by her husband, even in the days before giving birth: a story that serves as a necessary reminder of how the fight against violence must remain alive, concrete and collective.

Adding further significance to the event was the welcome participation of Chetti Mina, president of San Marino Nordic Walking Sport & Fun, who “step by step” reached Faetano to join the community in the ceremony of light, giving us the gift of her anti-violence T-shirt “.....Love without bruises”.

It was an emotional moment, dedicated to the lighting of our Olympic flame, to celebrate the lighting on 26 November 2025 in the sacred city of Olympia of the torch for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.

That light was born from a very simple and very big dream to say that we can be opponents in sport but friends in life.

This is the teaching of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, and for this reason, on the day we inaugurated the Red Bench, we also lit a symbolic flame as a sign of peace, because peace begins with us, in our homes, in our territory, in our Republic.

The ‘passing of the flame from the elderly to the children’ was an intense and symbolic gesture, entrusting the future with a shared commitment to ensure that violence never again destroys the lives and dreams of women.

On behalf of the organisers of the San Marino National Fair Play Committee (CNSFP), represented by President Gian Battista Silvagni, Vice-President Maria Rita Morganti, and Vice-President of the San Marino Pierre de Coubertin Committee Riccardo Venturini, heartfelt thanks go to Castle Captain Giorgio Moroni and the entire Castle Council, the Agorà Senior Citizens' Group led by Mrs Edda Ceccoli, the Faetano Primary School and its teaching staff, Chetti Mina and San Marino Nordic Walking, poet and writer Milena Ercolani, and all the citizens who participated with closeness, sensitivity and human warmth.

The Red Benches of Faetano now remain in the area as a permanent invitation to stop, reflect and act, because only together can we say with conviction that violence is not love. Never.

29.11.2025