The first generation of Officers from the “Rostro” course of the Air Force Academy met at the Air Force Foreign Language School. The reunion attendees, together with their course leader General Mario Arpino, came together for their traditional annual gathering to relive the times when, as young academy cadets, they began their careers in the Armed Force on Nisida (Naples) under the emblem of the Rostro course on 28 October 1956. Upon arrival at SLEAM, the approximately 40 participants, accompanied by their families, were welcomed by Colonel Angelo Balestrino, Commander of the School. Over the three days spent in the Marche region, a place of aeronautical traditions but above all of great religious significance, past experiences were recalled in the evocative setting of the Sanctuary of the Madonna di Loreto, to whom aviators worldwide have been devoted as their Patron Saint since 1920. The reunion programme included various activities, such as attending Holy Mass at the Basilica of Loreto, laying a wreath at the monument to the Fallen, in memory of fallen course colleagues, a tour of some locations in the Marche region, and a visit to the exhibition “Italian Wings – Between Sky and Sea Across Five Continents,” featuring history and documents on the air cruises and transatlantic flights undertaken by Italian aviators between the 1920s and 1930s. The exhibition, in particular, curated by the Air Force Historical Museum of Vigna di Valle (Rome), is housed within the Loreto Institute, in the prestigious villa that belonged to the tenor Alessandro Bonci in the early 1900s, and is open to the public for free guided tours until December 10th. In the heraldry of the Academy courses, the ‘Rostro“ course, originally ”Rex,“ is characterised by the motto ”Adverse face fracture”and it is represented by an eagle swooping down from the sky as a beam of light illuminates the target of its attack.
