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22. 11. 2006 El Alamein (EGYPT) Morning spent on the beach among darts, archery, beach soccer, beach volleyball... There was also the first revolt of the so-called "prisoners of Alcatraz", as the village was nicknamed, since they don't give us the chance to go out, to visit anything, to do anything outside the village, except with them! After many arguments and clarifications, at last, thanks to aunt Anna, we may have reached a compromise and tomorrow we should go to Alexandria in Egypt on our own! 23. 11.

2006 Alexandria (EGYPT) After so much chaos, we managed to get from the village general manager a minibus complete with driver and bodyguard to visit Alexandria in Egypt! This city, in the past a very important port, was made famous by the very famous "lighthouse", counted among the seven wonders of the world, but which no longer exists today! Founded by Alexander the Great, Alexandria is the second most significant and populous city in all of Egypt after the capital Cairo, with as many as six million inhabitants! Although it was fundamental in antiquity, today it seems not to be valued all that much; in fact, apart from a miserable little group of Indo-Canadian tourists who, being on a Mediterranean cruise, had decided to make a stop here, we didn't meet any other tourists! Not even street vendors of postcards or souvenirs, except one of fake watches, who even wanted to sell me a knock-o

ff Rolex for 5 euros... Even though this is the second time I've visited Egypt, I can say that for the first time I've really felt "inside" an Egyptian city! Far from any tourist route and completely immersed in their everyday life! Surrounded by many girls "adorned" with the so-called "hegheb" (the veil) who watched us curiously; some, bolder, even attempted a smile or a "Hello! How are you?" and ran away, while in the background, from the minaret, you could hear the mournful prayers of the Muslims, almost like a brainwashing, every 4 hours if I understood correctly, the whole city was invaded by those "litanyings"... Religion! Precisely that religion, so extremist and intolerable, that kills its own followers by having them sacrifice themselves with the mirage of "promises" that who knows whether it will really keep...

How strange these Arabs are; they consider women less than nothing; even our driver and the bodyguard, for everything, addressed me or Jerry; the three women who were with us (my aunt, Claudia and Virgy) were completely invisible in their eyes! They didn't exist! But I read in the deep glances of the dark eyes I met along my way a desire to escape, to get away, to throw off that cursed veil and show themselves, as is in the vain nature of women. Back to our "tour": we visited the summer residence of the royal family, now of President Mubarak, a palace set in greenery but nothing special! Then the modern structure that houses the famous Library of Alexandria, but which has now become a sort of museum of modern art.

Right there we were surrounded by dozens and dozens of schoolgirls with their multicoloured veils who, curious about us, came closer and paradoxically asked to be photographed in turn! It was very strange; I would never have expected it; I thought they were shy in this case, but I was wrong! Who knows, perhaps future generations will be different, more emancipated. I hope so for them! [Nick]: I filmed with the video camera a young Egyptian girl who struck me, really pretty with her red hagheb... I got her to blow me a kiss while I filmed her, and after a while she showed up with some friends and a camera in hand because she wanted to have her photo taken with me! I expected them to be more closed off...

I was also wrong when I thought McDonald's didn't exist in the Arab world, and yet, here it is! I get the whole little group involved and against all expectations I eat the best McChicken Menu I've ever tasted! I'm positively struck by both the cleanliness and the courtesy of the staff, strictly wearing the veil! But let's decidedly change the subject, as some journalist would say; today, 23 November, is a very important day for my military life, because exactly one year ago, on this very date, I took the final exam for the competition for second lieutenant, and being at the El Alamein Military Shrine is too particular a coincidence, especially me who, as deputy course chief, should have gone there as tradition during the second year of the academy (but that very year it was cancelled!) Yet here I am all the same! The Shrine envelops you completely; in the silent Egyptian desert it is mov

ing to see our flag waving next to the Egyptian one, and it seems the wind "intones the silence". I think of that story of heroes that I studied with such passion, or the film that so fervently struck my heart. I still have before my eyes the words of the General of the German troops, Rommel, who stated: "The German soldier astonished the world. The Italian bersagliere astonished the German soldier". This and many other phrases read in that place filled my heart with pride and emotion and made me feel even more proud to be an Italian soldier! Long live Italy. [Nick]: What an emotion! It was worth coming all this way... they are places that make you think... courage... honour... sacrifice but above all love of country which lately doesn't seem to belong to the soul of Italians, or at least a good part of them, unfortunately...

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