There are strollers, young people and grandparents. No one is ever missing at the Circo Massimo for Family Day. The flags of La Manif pour tous are waving and likewise those of life movements, parishes and associations. The banners of Lombardy, Veneto and Liguria stand out, and many mayors wearing their tricolor sashes, representatives of the Evangelical Church and the Orthodox, Islamic and Jewish communities are present. The crowd in the square loudly repeats "No Cirinnà", and the posters are clear: "Wrong is wrong, even if it were to become a law," "Cirin-No! Cheers to the children and the family," "Children do not pay," "The only civil union is marriage," "I want Mom and Dad."
They've come from all over Italy, by train and bus, for the march "to say that the family is beautiful," explains Lucia, from Casale Monferrato, who has 10 children between 6 and 23 years old: "We can't leave our children an unjust world. We want more for their future." The goal is to "defend the family and the children against the disturbance of nature," insists Nicola Lovison, 28, of the association "Tradition and Beauty" who has come to Rome from Padua. Piero, who has 8 children and 9 grandchildren, is also from Padua: "From me and my wife other families have been born. Is that not beautiful?" The "reaffirmation of the traditional anthropological model of society" is evoked by Giancarlo Frare dell'Agesc, from Treviso; and the eyes of Giuseppe, from Potenza, shine as he talks about his nephew: "The economic power tends to undermine the bonds; we have to defend the family and its center: the children."
Marina, eleven children—all present—runs after them on the Circo Massimo: "I'd like to bring all of the eleven from Cagliari, where we live," she says breathlessly. "We are asking that the law not be adopted: the basis is business, that dirties everything. The woman is the bearer of life, not a slave," said David Lorenzo Garcia, 25, directing a smile at his wife Rita, 22, who is sitting on a stool, nursing their 3-month-old Perla.
According to Philip, from Florence and father of 4 children, between 4 and 14 years old, "the best thing about being a family is knowing how to forgive each other," while James, father of four, admits with disarming simplicity: "At least once a day, I think I'm lucky."
