Page:Cesare Battisti and the Trentino.djvu/7



Having the pleasure of being in America as a representative of the Italian regions now redeemed from Austria, together with Colonel Pizzarello and Dr. Furlani, I have had the opportunity of realizing that the American public is greatly interested in the problems of the Trentino and the Adriatic, because of which Italy mainly entered the war.

But I also noticed that the English literature on those problems was very scant. On this fact mostly depends the rather limited knowledge the English-speaking people have of the principal dates and episodes concerning our war and the part taken in it by the population of the then unredeemed provinces.

Having had the privilege of knowing Cesare Battisti since his youth and of having been one of his friends, I was induced to publish this pamphlet on him. This work is an amplification of a lecture that I gave on this subject in some American cities. I have reproduced in it several of Cesare Battisti's letters, which were already published by me in the "Nuova Antologia" of July 15, 1916, and some others which became known to me afterwards.

I would be really glad if this modest work of mine could contribute towards intensifying the interest that the great and noble people of America have for our sacred cause, which is, at the same time, the cause of all the Allies.

Sixty-six times the barbarians invaded Italy when in control of Venezia Tridentina (Trentino and Upper Adige). From now on this must be stopped. For that purpose Italy must possess her natural frontier, the high wall which divides the north from the south, the watershed between the Black Sea and the Adriatic Sea, right and left of the Brennero Pass where, since last November, our victorious flag is floating. Page five