Choice of the body The body of the Italian unknown soldier was chosen on 28 October 1921 in the
Basilica of Aquileia by
Maria Bergamas, the mother of Antonio Bergamas, an
Italian irredentist volunteer in the
Royal Italian Army whose body was not recovered during
World War I. Maria Bergamas chose the body from among 11 unidentified bodies of members of the Italian Armed Forces whose remains had been retrieved from various areas of the front. The other ten bodies remaining in
Aquileia were buried in the military cemetery. The side of the tomb of the Unknown Soldier that gives outward at the Altare della Patria is always guarded by a guard of honour and two flames that burn perpetually in braziers. The allegorical meaning of the perpetually burning flames is linked to their symbolism, which is centuries old, since it has its origins in
classical antiquity, especially in the
cult of the dead. A fire that burns eternally symbolizes the memory, in this case of the sacrifice of the Unknown Soldier moved by patriotic love, and his everlasting memory of the Italians, even in those who are far from their country: not by chance on the two perennial braziers next to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier a plaque is placed whose text reads "Italians Abroad to the Motherland" in memory of donations made by
Italian emigrants between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century for the construction of the Vittoriano. ==Notes==