Italian sport does not forget. Sixty years have passed since the Bremen tragedy, the darkest day in the history of Italian swimming. Time has not dulled the pain; rather, it has fixed the strength of that memory, one to be honoured and entrusted to eternity. Among the 46 victims of the air disaster at Bremen airport—when a Convair Metropolitan flying from Frankfurt crashed during its landing—were members of the Italian national swimming team: Bruno Bianchi (22), Amedeo Chimisso (19), Sergio De Gregorio (19), Carmen Longo (18), Luciana Massenzi (20), Chiaffredo Dino Rora (20) and Daniela Samuele (17). They were travelling with head coach Paolo Costoli (55) and journalist Nico Sapio (36), the RAI voice of Italian swimming on its biggest occasions.

The delegation was en route to the Bremen Meet, the most prestigious event of the winter season, broadcast via Eurovision and featuring athletes from beyond Europe, including competitors from the United States, Australia and Japan.

The tragedy struck deep into the public consciousness. National mourning was declared, and the funerals were attended by Prime Minister Aldo Moro and Defence Minister Giulio Andreotti, alongside thousands of mourners.

To mark the anniversary, the Italian Swimming Federation (FIN) has organised a series of initiatives to honour the memory of the Azzurri.

FIN President Paolo Barelli will commemorate the fallen at the Chamber of Deputies at 1.30pm. All affiliated clubs have been invited to observe a minute’s silence at 6.50pm—the moment of the crash—by suspending all activity in swimming pools, accompanied by a reading in remembrance of the young lives lost.

In Bremen, at 2pm on Nordelander Strasse, where two memorial stones stand to honour the Italian and German victims, a federation delegation led by national team technical director Cesare Butini and multi-medal international champion Luca Dotto will take part in a commemorative ceremony alongside Italy’s Consul General in Hanover, Piero Vaira, representatives of COMITES (the committee of Italians abroad), a member of the local ecclesial community, as well as relatives and citizens.

At the federal centre in Trieste, at 10.30am, Bruno Bianchi—after whom the aquatic centre is named—will be remembered. In Bologna, at the “Carmen Longo” pool, a ceremony at 10.30am will honour the Bologna-born athlete and all those who perished. In Florence, at noon, FIN Vice-President Andrea Pieri, also President of RN Florentia, together with the city’s sports councillor Letizia Perini, Tuscany Region President Eugenio Giani and regional committee president Roberto Bresci, will lay a wreath at the entrance to the Costoli Pool, named after the unforgettable champion and coach. Later in the afternoon, Pieri will again commemorate the fallen during an event at the Salone dei Cinquecento in Palazzo Vecchio.

From 8am, Sky will broadcast a 30-minute documentary by Riccardo Re and Silvia Vallini, directed and edited by Flavio Chioda, entitled “The Fatal Coincidence. Italian Swimming in the Skies over Bremen ’66”.

The federation also honours the Azzurri through the Coppa Caduti di Brema, the team championship named in their memory, which since 1981 has been part of the national competitive calendar, bringing together memorial events previously held across the country. FIN also takes part each year in the Nico Sapio Trophy in Genoa, elevated to a qualifying event for the season’s flagship international winter meet.

In 2016, on the 50th anniversary of the tragedy, commemorative plaques were installed at pools named after the victims.

The Azzurri lost in the Bremen tragedy are also remembered with a memorial stone at Rome’s Stadio del Nuoto and at the Memorial Temple of Aquatic and Nautical Sports on the road to Brunate.

CONI President Luciano Buonfiglio has joined the commemorations, underlining their significance. “The memory does not fade; it lives on in the example they gave to the world of swimming and to our entire movement. We have a duty to nurture it with the same passion, enthusiasm and sense of belonging with which they expressed their talent. I am grateful to the Italian Swimming Federation and to President Barelli for the initiatives promoted—a fitting tribute to the memory of those who will live forever in the hearts of the entire sporting family”.