1859 :   Castiglione - Solferino  the idea for the Red Cross is born

Amongst the grand buildings decorating the charming town of Castiglione delle Stiviere, in the province of Mantua ( 10 km.from the Lake Garda ), there is a palace which recalls one of the most significant pages in the history of human solidarity and international human rights. It is the elghteenth-century noble palace Triulzi-Longhi, in wich, thanks to the initiative of Enzo Boletti, in 1959 The International Museum of the Red Cross has been installed, to witness that one hundred years earlier, in Castiglione delle Stiviere the idea of what today is the most important humanitarian organization in the world found its origins thanks to the bright sensibility of a young businessman from Geneva, Henry Dunant. This Museum includes not only documents, surgical instruments, litters and camp equipment witnessing past and present activities of the Red Cross in the World, but a message is delivered as weil. The message of solidarity and brotherhood that the people from Castiglione conveyed unknowingly to whom founded the great Organization, after witnessing the excruciating human slaughter following the battle of Solferino in 1859.

From the nigth of 24th of June 1859, a few hours following the furious battle that confronted the French-Italian and the Hapsburg armies, the people from Castiglione saw thousand of wounded soldiers coming to town from all parts. Before the heart-breaking view of 9000 mutilated bodies, the people from Castiglione, and especially the women, started to assist the wounded men, piously accepting “ human” pain beyond banners, uniforms and incomprehensible languages. Soon streets, squares, churches and homes became improovised aiding posts. As Dunant himself described later in the book that moved the world, < A memory of Solferino> , everybody was put to work: elderly and children, and the girls did not hesitate to tear up their wedding trousseaus sheets to make bandages for the wounded.

The young businessman from Geneva had come to Castiglione to ask Napoleon for concessions for his business in Algeria: he found himself overwhelmed by the tragedy and by that wave of spontaneous generosity and thus tried to oganize with the local curate, Don Lorenzo Barzizza, a team of improvised, but also generous and tireless team of helpers and he himself rolled up his sleeves and forgot the reason for his presence in Castiglione. One idea penetrated that sensitive soul, which was already moulded in the ideals of universal brotherhood: unknowingly, the people from Castiglione were responsible for its emergence: the idea of the International Red Cross, which would be founded in Geneva a few years later ( 1863 ) and which now counts more than 270 milion active members all over the world.

<......the women of Castiglione, seeing that I made no distinction between nationalitie followed my example, showing the same kindness to all these men whose origins were so different, and all of whom were foreigners to them. - Tutti fratelli ( all brothers ) they repeated feelingly.  All honour to these compassionate women, to these girls of Castiglione......>

( from the manuscript of the book by Henry Dunant: “ A memory of Solferino” )

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A GREAT IDEA

“ Would it not be possible, in times of peace and quiet,to form relief societies for the    purpose of having care given to the wounded in wartime by zealous, devoted and thorougly qualified volonteers? “On 22 nd August 1864 this far-sighted idea, arising from Henry Dunant’s moving experience in Italy in 1859, became reality with the dawing up of the “ First Geneva Convention “, an agreement in which twelve Nations undesigned the first ten articles giving origin to International Humanitarian Law. In this context the Red Cross on a white background, inspired by the Swiss flag, was recognised as an international symbol of neutrality, aid and protection during war-times.

A few years later other Nations undersigned the Geneva Convention and the Cross was bached up by the Red Crescent, which with the same spirit and the same objective was extended to Muslim countries.

Today the symbols of the Red Cross and Red Crescent epitomize the ideals of brotherhood and solidarity of over 270 million members and accompany the effort of tens of thousands of volonteers world-wide, representing the largest humanitarian organisation active on an international level. Committed with great competence to bringing help and support to the weak in extreme conditions such as war and natural disasters, the Red Cross is present wherever health, safety, civil rights and human dignity are threatened or precarious.