Who is Daniele Rossini?

If there is one thing we Italians sin in, it is the lack of interest towards those who leave our country. And yet, many Italians have helped the progress of the country they went to and have distinguished themselves for their merits.

Did you know that in the European Parliament there is a room dedicated to Daniele Rossini? But who is Daniele Rossini?

We could say that Daniele Rossini is the man who created workers' rights in Europe, managing to change the legislation thanks to his cases won before the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. Daniele was the coordinator of the Patronato ACLI in Belgium and his work was so important that he can be considered one of the fathers of European Social Law.

He was born in Isola del Liri, a beautiful place like few others thanks to its waterfall in the center of the city and the streets full of young people in the clubs along the river, and he went to Belgium like many young people in search of fortune.

Those were the years of Marcinelle and of workers’ rights being denied, so after a period spent teaching, Daniele felt the duty to dedicate himself to social causes to create a Europe that was fair and respectful of its citizens. The ACLI – Italian Christina Workers Association (https://www.acli.it/cosa-sono-le-acli/ ) are the perfect organization to fight for justice issues. His sentences not only help Italian workers but, thanks to European law, his victories bring benefits to all workers in the European Union.

While in Europe and Belgium his name is still respected and honored, in Italy we had completely forgotten his figure, even in his country of origin where he willingly returned every year and as soon as possible.

Daniele Rossini’s family always remembers him, and so Marino Freddo and Debora Bovenga of Scorrendo con il Liri decided to organize an evening in his honor in Isola del Liri and invited me to talk about the role of Italians abroad and our Town Ambassador Award (www.townambassador.org).

I must admit that the date of December 21st had left me perplexed and I thought that there would be only four friends. And instead, to my great surprise, the municipal theater was packed with people and the mayor Massimiliano Quadrini and the councilor Stefano Vitale were present the whole time.

The real surprise was the speech by Matteo Bracciali, vice president of the International ACLI Federation who came by car from Arezzo with a mind-blowing journey together with the hundreds of thousands of cars that were going for the Christmas long weekend in the south.

“I couldn’t miss this appointment for Daniele Rossini to whom we of the ACLI owe a lot. For us young people he is an example to look to in order to continue his work as a builder of European citizenship”.

To help us get to know Daniele Rossini and his work better, Matteo read us some of the titles of the sentences he won and that changed the backbone of European social justice. We were almost moved and thanked Debora for organizing this very revealing meeting in which her son and the whole family of Isola del Liri also participated. There are the right people who fight for everyone, and we must take an example from them.

After the conference we went to see the beautiful lights of Sora and to have an aperitif to exchange Christmas greetings.

But how beautiful is Ciociaria?