MIRAVALLE: MONUMENT COMPLEX

Still in May 1966 - on the 13th - a bill was presented in Parliament for the acknowledgement as "a monument complex" of the Castel Dante area, site of the Ossuary of the Fallen, and the Miravalle Hill, home to the Bell. The bill was passed unanimously by the Senate in June the following year.

Moreover, with a decree by the President of the Republic, Giuseppe Saragat, dated 18 January 1968, the Opera Campana dei Caduti Foundation was given the status of "Ente Morale" or no-profit organisation, established on 5 October 1965 with its own statute.

This measure, published in the Official Gazette on 25 March 1968, effectively removed the Bell from the patronage of the Order of Malta, to which Don Rossaro had entrusted it in 1940, since its new status placed the Foundation under the control of the administrative system of the Italian State, thus making it incompatible with the Order of Malta, an international body. The elevation of the Foundation to a no-profit organisation achieved another of the goals Father Jori had set himself when he took on the role of Regent.

In an attempt to have the presidential decree revoked, on 22 May 1968 the management of the War Museum presented an appeal to the Italian Council of State, but the highest administrative body rejected this on 25 June 1969, stating "lack of evidence". In the meantime, however, four more appeals had been submitted to the President of the Republic by various groups: "Committee for the recognition of Don Rossaro", "Historic War Museum", Heirs of Don Antonio Rossaro" and "Rovereto Group occupying public positions".