Sunday, May 22 , 2022, in Piazza Carli in Asiago, will be held the Interregional Meeting of the Autieri d'Italia on the occasion of the 106th anniversary of the battle of the Highlands of 1916 and the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the ANAI Section of Treviso.
The event will start at 10:30 am at the Monument to the Autieri in Viale degli Autieri in Asiago.
THE PROGRAM OF THE MEETING
10:30 am - A delegation, made up of Mayors, Military Authorities, National Vice President and Regional Delegates, will take to the Monument to the Autieri in Viale degli Autieri.
10.35 am - Honor to the Fallen with laurel wreath deposition
10.30 am - Gathering in Piazza Carli
10.45 am - Honor to the Banner City of Asiago decorated M.A.V.M. and War Cross to the V.M. Flag raising, Transfer in procession direct to Piazzale degli Eroi: (Piazza Carli, Piazza II Risorgimento, Piazza Mazzini, Via Marconi, Viale Matteotti, Viale della Vittoria, Piazzale degli Eroi)
11.15 am - Celebration of Holy Mass outside the Shrine to follow the prayer of the Autieri
12.00 pm - Honor to the Fallen with laurel wreath deposition
12.15 pm - Intervention of the Authority
12.30 pm - Visit to the Shrine
13.00 - Lunch Restaurant
4.00 pm - Optional visit to the Astronomy Festival in the center of Asiago
THE DRIVERS RETURN TO ASIAGO AFTER 56 YEARS
After coming in 1956 to place the Roman column in Via Autieri d'Italia, they returned in 1966 or in the fiftieth anniversary of 1916 to make their national gathering. Now they return to Asiago after 56 years. A curiosity: during the First World War, President Sandro Pertini was part of the Autieri.
In 1921 in Milan, at the end of the First World War, a group of veterans, Milanese motorists driven by the desire to meet with other comrades, formed the National Association of Motorists on Leave (A.N.A.C.). On January 10, 1922, the first president was appointed, Senator Giovanni Agnelli and on September 7, 1923, his son, Cavalier Edoardo Agnelli also joined the Board of Directors. Between the two wars, the A.N.A.C. associates brought mutilated and disabled people on cars and trucks to the parade, while their commitment to civil life turned in particular to motor activities. The newspaper "L'Automobilista" was also born.
On March 20, 1927, the A.N.A.C. and the Automobile Club Italia (then Regio A.C.I.), joined their efforts to start courses for motorists. Great consensus, also advertised by the press, had the free courses for learning the technique on diesel engines. The proximity between the two associations was such that, in 1935, the general presidency of the A.C.I. decided to establish in its own ranks the "Groups Autieri in Congedo", making available its social offices.
In the same year the "Autieri on leave" were included in the "provincial groups" of the Reale Automobile Club d'Italia. These "Autieri Groups" were transformed in 1940 into "Autoraggruppamento Emanuele Filiberto Duca d'Aosta".
At the outbreak of the Second World War, the activity of the association was interrupted, many members were recalled to the war and some of them never returned. After the war the veterans met in 1946 in the house of Count Gaetano Besana and there they laid the foundations for the reconstruction of the Association. ANAC was reborn in Milan on 23 May 1948 and on 12 May 1951 the Associazione Autieri d'Italia was established by public deed and, from the merger of the two associations on 23 November 1952, the Associazione Nazionale Autieri d'Italia (A.N.A.I.) was born with headquarters in Rome and on 12 February 1954 the authorization to publish "L'AUTIERE".
Since then, ANAI has always been active and participating in the events of national life, with the sole purpose of implementing the statutory purposes as well as carrying out, at local, regional and national level, activities that have the aim of collaborating with institutions and with the community. Among the associative purposes there are the activities of:
- road safety education and motor training. For this activity, in 2012 the National Presidency signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Sustainable Mobilization and in 2016 with the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) which allowed the A.N.A.I. to fully enter the schools of the national territory and in particular in primary and kindergarten schools, to compete with its qualified representatives to carry out an innovative road education project, entitled "THE GOOD ROAD TO SAFETY". The Memorandum of Understanding was renewed on 28 February 2018;
- civil protection. For this activity, the National Presidency has been registered since 2009 in the National Register of the National Department of Civil Protection and is equipped with a "National Mobile Column of The Autieri", with 200 volunteers, 45 vehicles of various types, a canine nucleus, a mobile kitchen complex and a considerable amount of work materials (fire-fighting, equipment for hydrogeological interventions, electogenerators, light towers, tents). There are 13 Civil Protection groups and more than 350 volunteers. All groups are engaged in local activities, at the request of municipal and regional administrations.
The A.N.A.I. intervened, from the first moments, for the COVID-19 emergency, carrying out the delivery of food and medicines to families who did not have the opportunity to meet their primary needs on their own; distributed masks; set up tents near the Emergency Room to aid the pre-triage activity of health personnel; transported people on dialysis; provided support for the control of compliance with the rules of distancing passengers. The A.N.A.I. Volunteers have been employed, carrying out various interventions, also to combat forest fires at national level, on the activation of the Department of Civil Protection. Today ANAI has 70 Sections distributed throughout the country and a representation of members in the United States of America, Europe and South America.
This year, the celebration of the feast of the Arma dei Trasporti e Materiali which, inheriting the values and traditions of the Army Automotive Corps, commemorates the 106th anniversary of the first major strategic transport of troops and materials, over 120 thousand men engaged on the Asiago Plateau to stem the advance of the Austro-Hungarian army, now about to spread in the underlying Po Valley.
This extraordinary action, innovative for the time, saw the simultaneous use of over 1,000 trucks and created the basis for the birth of the Army Automobile Service.
