Scottish Catholic Observer

Also present at the event will be Alain Economides, the Italian Ambassador to the UK, the Lady Provost of Glasgow and 91-year-old Rando Bertoia, the only living internee survivor of the Arandora Star tragedy.

The cloister garden will contain a central monument commemorated to the victims of the tragedy, in which around 100 Scots Italians died when the ship they were travelling on was torpedoed by a German U-boat during the Second World War. This will be the largest monument in tribute to the victims of the tragedy anywhere in the world.

Mr Salmond, who helped launch the project three years ago this month, said: “I am delighted to attend the opening of the Italian Cloister Garden.

“This oasis of peace and contemplation at St Andrew’s Cathedral is a magnificent tribute to the those who tragically lost their lives aboard the Arandora Star during the Second World War and to the part the Scots-Italian community plays in the rich tartan fabric of our nation.”

Archbishop Conti said that the garden’s central monument will ‘encourage us to reflect on the great mysteries of life, death and resurrection.’

“What people will see and experience on a visit to the garden is a result of the generosity of today’s Scots-Italian community who raised the funds to create the installation,” the archbishop said.

Also present at Monday’s opening will be Giulia Chiarini, the architect from Rome who designed the garden and monument and mayors of the towns from which most Scots Italians come—Barga and Pistoia in Tuscany and Picinisco and Filignano in the Lazio region south of Rome.