This year, the Les Avellanes Memorial has been brought forward by a week, to March 27 and 28, 2026, due to the concurrent celebration of Easter.
On Friday, the Italian delegation, composed of Alpini representatives from the National IFMS Commissions and the ANA Turin Section, and from the Testona, Moncalieri, Pianezza, and Caselle Torinese Groups, was greeted with the usual warm welcome by the Veteran Mountain Artillery Corps of Lleida. Our Spanish friends organized cultural events, including visits to the fortress and the cathedral, and convivial gatherings.
On Saturday, a solemn ceremony was held at the Monastery of Les Avellanes, commemorating the Spanish Fallen and celebrating the Italian-Spanish Brotherhood. It included the song “Signore delle Cime,” the Alpini Prayer, read in Spanish by Esteban Calzada, former president of the Spanish Mountain Soldiers, and Silvio Caramello of the Testona Group, and the IFMS anthem.
Colonel Cesar Garrido, Delegate of the Spanish Ministry of Defence, and Colonel Marcelino Mateos of the Mountain Troops Command, Chief of the Galicia 64 Hunter Regiment, participated.
During the ceremony, certificates of merit from the Mountain Artillery Veterans were presented to Giuseppe Bombara, Group Leader of Moncalieri, and to Nino Gorgerini of the Pianezza Group.
After twenty years of Brotherhood, we can say we are Brothers who grew up with the same ideals: love for the mountains, for peace, remembrance of those who gave their lives, and the desire to share these values with young people, soldiers, and institutions.
The new IFMS statute, approved at last year’s Turin Congress, reinforces these concepts and objectives.
We meet at three main events: the IFMS Congress, the Adunata, and here in Avellanes. Of all of them, this is the event that most unites the Spanish mountain soldiers and the Alpini.
See you in Genoa for the Adunata, and long live the Spanish Associations of Mountain Soldiers and Artillerymen, and long live the Alpini.
Marcello Melgara
IFMS National Commission
