Superga tragedy. “Mourning is atrocious. The tragedy appears to us as a biblical curse, not deserved by Turin or Italy. [...] Meanwhile, those wonderful guys are no longer with us. And the bitter regret has no end. " The Republic, Gianni Brera.
The Superga tragedy: May 4, 1949
It is the 4 May of the 1949. Ecosystem's staff is three-engine Fiat G.212 of the airline ALI, flying from Lisbon, is bringing home the team of Great Turin after the friendly match with Benfica. Turin is shrouded in bad weather. Puffs of clouds, showers of rain and fog obscure the sky. It's 17pm. A deafening roar bursts in forcefully. One a frightening roar overwhelms the city of Turin. The Basilica of Superga, a jewel and architectural masterpiece, draws a broken profile. Black smoke rises upward, dense in rapid swirls.
From the field of Aeritalia, someone wonders why he still doesn't hear the noise of the triple engine. A voice rises, then another. They wonder why no one answers from the radio. At 16.55 pm the radio operator had communicated zero visibility. At 16.59pm the answer was "Quote two thousand, QDM on Pino, then we cut on Superga". An error, an inaccuracy perhaps caused by a failure of the altimeter. The plane, unfortunately, is only 600 meters above the ground. The G212 wasn't flying over the hill, it was about to hit it. At 17.03, in fact, the plane makes the landing maneuvers and it happens the crash with the rear embankment of the basilica of Superga.
The budget is 31 victims. Footballers, managers, coaches, journalists and crew. Mourning is excruciating. Never before had an entire team died like this. The pain is Italian. The Grande Torino, above the partisan cheering, was the symbol of rebirth. The pride of Italy, a wonderful hymn to youth and loyalty.
May 4, 1949 - May 4, 2018: Turin in memory of the Invincibles
No football team has managed to represent football like the Grande Torino. That legendary team, compact and winning. Loved by all. The Grande Torino, born from the rubble of the war, had managed to restore Italy to the glory of the world. Torino, led by Valentino mazzola, had set unrepeatable records. How can we forget the Roman match in which the team, trailing a goal in the first half against the Giallorossi, managed to score 7 goals? And again ... how can we not tell how in 1947 ten grenades wore the blue shirt for a match against Hungary?
69 years have passed since the Superga tragedy and mourning is still alive among Italians. The city of Torino, he decided to remember those guys with an exciting event. The Mole Antonelliana will light up with a grenade on the evening of 4 May 2018. "On the sixty-ninth anniversary of the Superga tragedy, the City and the Torino Football Club pay tribute to the team that left an extraordinary memory in the history of Italian football, which also for its feats became a reference for a country struggling with reconstruction, after the end of the war», So underlines Roberto Finardi, the municipal councilor for sport.
In our hearts and as Indro Montanelli said, we like to think that that Grande Torino is not dead. That Turin is still away. Heroes are always immortal in the eyes of those who believe in them.
