On 27 January 2011 in the Council Hall of the Municipality of Pescara a ceremony on the occasion of the Memory Day was held. The celebration was dedicated to the memory of rotamaster Witold Pilecki. As the author of the first Italian book on Pilecki, a local historian and journalist dr Marco Patricelli says, Pescara is the first West European city that has officially commemorated the Polish hero.

Representatives of local authorities headed by the mayor Luigi Albore Mascia and the prefect Vincenzo D`Antuono took part at the ceremony. Poland was represented by the First Counselor of the Polish Embassy in Rome, Wojciech Unolt and Krzysztof Olszewski from the Nicolas Copernicus University. There were also many students from high schools of the Province of Pescara.

During the event a film about the Holocaust, directed by Roberto Olla from the Rai Uno, was presented. Also a splendid and moving clip depicting the fate of Witold Pilecki, made by Umberto Femminella, was shown. Apart from this, there was a reading of a letter to the participants of the ceremony, written by the children of Witold Pilecki - Andrzej Pilecki and Zofia Optułowicz-Pilecka.

The celebration was held under the patronage of the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napoletano.