Livio

Ham, football, diving… the carefree childhood was replaced by war in Pula. Livio spent 1944 as a refugee in Vrsar, and then in 1947, his father decided to leave Pula forever.

They travelled by steamship to Trieste, like many people from Pula, and finally, with the help of relatives, they settled in Villaggio Giuliano-Dalmata in Rome. Pula was left almost empty.

The city was completely emptied within a month and there was fear for the future, a great uncertainty. Such a reality made my parents decide to leave. No one from my family remained.

Although Livio adapted relatively easily to the new situation, his father never came to terms with the departure from Istria. In Rome, he tried to open a delicatessen shop, similar to the one he was forced to leave in Pula, however, the business did not go well.

He felt less valuable, he tried to overcome the difficulties, but he no longer felt comfortable anywhere. He missed the familiar surroundings because he was uprooted from his birthplace.

Livio often returned to Pula, but he never found the courage to go to his birthplace in Kandlerova. Today, he is the president of Circolo Istria in Trieste and the author of many publications and projects in which he advocates for the intercultural dialogue of Croats, Italians and Slovenes.