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March 10 2014 | ROME, ITALY

A better city is attentive to the last. The plaque in memory of Modesta Valenti, homeless woman

Inaugurated at the Rome Termini station by Mayor Ignazio Marino, Marco Impagliazzo, the president of the Community of Sant'Egidio, Mons. Matthew Zuppi and Mauro Moretti, CEO of FSI

 
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La Targa in memoria di Modesta Valenti, donna senza dimoraFrom today at track 1 of the Termini Station there is a marble plaque that will help Rome to be more attentive to the last, to those that live on the edge. It is the one dedicated to Modesta Valenti, an elderly homeless woman that died on 31 January, 1983 in a state of abandonment in the place where she took refuge at night to sleep after she had been refused relief due to the unhygienic conditions in which she found herself.

In recent years, Modesta Valenti has become the symbol of those that lose their lives due to poverty but also to the indifference or intolerance that surround them; but in her memory, and through the efforts of the Community of Sant'Egidio and other groups and associations that foster hope a fabric of solidarity has grown to provide relief and possibilities of inclusion to many disadvantaged people. "Modesta died because she was considered a person to be discarded - said president of Sant'Egidio Marco Impagliazzo during the ceremony - but now her memory passes from a condition of discard to one of election, and all homeless that have died in recent years are elected with her, those whose history is written in the history of Rome, and whose memory remains in the heart of a city that has improved in recent years".

la targa in memoria di Modesta Valenti, donna senza dimoraThe inauguration of the plate, together with Marco Impagliazzo, was attended by mayor Ignazio Marino, President of the Italian Ferrovie dello Stato group Mauro Moretti, auxiliary bishop of Rome Matthew Zuppi and councillor for social policies Rita Cutini. Marino remembered that "Rome goes through many difficulties including economic, but must find a soul and can find it in solidarity, because economy is important but only if it is at the service of the person. The globalization of indifference killed Modesta Valenti in 1983, but today Rome is on the other side".

Mons. Zuppi said the plaque commemorates the story of a victim that has become a symbol, but also speaks of many that today are asking to be accepted and helped not as symbols but as real people that live on the streets but are knocking at our door. And the CEO of Railways Moretti spoke of a "monument to the unknown homeless", a sign of visibility for the "invisible" that live on the edge of the stations and find shelter there.


La targa in memoria di Modesta Valenti, donna senza dimora