Italy has always been closer to Russia than any other European country. It is difficult to say why, but funny and cheerful hitryugi-Italians once won a sincere love of many Russian. The Italians paid the same. Moreover, Few know that even in Sicily, which by and large, not even Italy, and in fact – a separate state for help often came just Russian. For example, in the terrible earthquake in 1908, when it was destroyed by almost entirely Sicilian town – Messina. The earthquake was powerful – just a few seconds – the whole city turned into a pile of rocks, beneath which were buried more than 160,000 …
The first to help the people of Messina ships came Baltic squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Vladimir Litvinov. Anchors have been absolutely impossible – the ground shook under the sea went like otplyasyvaya lezginka, but it has not stopped the fleet. Letvinov ordered to pull the first doctors and nurses to provide emergency first aid to the needy, and already gave orders for the reception on board the women, children, elderly and seriously wounded. Directly on the site were built some similarity of hospitals with operating rooms, right in the middle of the street, where the doctors sat down during the day and night on his feet, without succumbing to sleep, still feeling the shaking of the earth under their feet, and – operated on (at night to replace the sun came sveu torches). Later, an Italian journalist Mathilde Seurat wrote: "In the history of Messina were thousands of pages of human kindness and generosity. But the very first, most eternal and imperishable page in the very story they have written – blond Slavs, so restrained in appearance and less responsive to business … "And all the newspapers in Italy have written about Russian sailors, calling them" our Russian brothers …
our saviors. " One witness, an Italian wrote: "Nice guys! That's really Three days later I watched them as they dismantle the ruins of houses, taking from them, people fussing around each of the injured. Their hands are unaware of fatigue after 10-14 hours of terrible work. "