A NEW plaque in Padula, Italy commemorates Czech and Slovak soldiers. The plaque is located at the Cartesian monastery of St Lorenzo, in Padula, southern Italy, and was ceremonially unveiled last December, the SITA newswire wrote, citing information by the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A total of 10,000 Slovak and Czech soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army were interned during the First World War between 1916 and 1918 in the monastery, which dates back to the 14th century, and which is also a historical and cultural site inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Milan Rastislav Štefánik formed one of the Czechoslovak Legions from this group of soldiers, who later fought alongside Italian troops at the Battle of Piave River.
By acknowledging them in May, 1918, Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando acknowledged the right of Slovaks and Czechs to create an independent Czechoslovak republic.
