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Storia, memoria ed identità Umbertide. Il sito si propone di divulgare la storia, la cultura e la memoria di coloro che hanno abitato ad Umbertide (Pg) per contribuire alla costruzione di una identità culturale comune nel rispetto dei principi Costituzionali. Questa divulgazione è e resterà senza sc HISTORY AND MEMORY UMBERTIDE Virtual place of memory and identity in motion Who we are We are a group of history lovers and scholars who want to create a space for the transmission of documents, memories and traditions of our city. The aim is the development of a shared identity that is inclusive of those who lived and those who live in Umbertide. The cultural and economic aspects, together with the Second World War, over time they have shaped the city, with its architectural elements and its spaces, but also the rural territory which for centuries has maintained its characteristic of scattered "settlement" and polyculture. For about 70 years, the scenario has been rapidly evolving. We are convinced that knowing the past, or who we were, will help understand how the life of the population will be structured, that is who we will be. Knowing allows you to have "new eyes" to see ... and think. Approfondisci la "memoria" ad ottanta anni di distanza dal bombardamento del 1944... Visita "OTTANT'ANNI" la sezione dedicata al progetto pensato da Mario Tosti con UNITRE di Umbertide, CENTRO SOCIO-CULTURALE S. FRANCESCO, UMBERTIDESTORIA e con il Patrocinio del COMUNE DI UMBERTIDE. Il racconto del passaggio del fronte durante la seconda guerra mondiale ad Umbertide, per riattivare la memoria, riflettere e non dimenticare. Progetto nato in collaborazione con il Dipartimento di Filosofia, Scienze umane e Storia della scuola secondaria superiore “Campus da Vinci” di Umbertide, in funzione della trasmissione e crescita della memoria tra le giovani generazioni, che ha visto già diversi incontri con le classe terze dell’a.s. 2023-24. Azioni che hanno portato alla ricerca e sistemazione delle informazioni poi diventate libro e pagine web. OTTANT'ANNI Il 1944 In questa sezione il progetto "Ottantani" per il ricordo della tragedia che colpì la nostra città il 25 aprile 1944. Tragedia che si lega in modo più vasto al territorio dell'alta Umbria per il periodo del passaggio del fronte nel 1944. Un progetto che ha permesso la pubblicazione di un libro cartaceo e ora la versione digitale, nata per far crescere la memoria in maniera collettiva. Un progetto a cura di Mario Tosti, Unitre di Umbertide, Centro Culturale San Francesco, Umbertidestoria, con il Patrocinio del Comune di Umbertide; con la collaborazione di Pietro Taverniti, Massimo Pascolini, Sergio Bargelli, Corrado Baldoni, Francesco Deplanu, Sergio Magrini Alunno, Antonio Renzini, Luca Silvioni, Romano Vibi. Gennaio La situazione al 31 dicembre del 1943... Aprile APRILE 1944 - L’ Umbria ed Umbertide nel mirino degli aerei inglesi... Luglio Luglio... distruzione e liberazione... Ottobre 1° ottobre: è morto Fabio Fornaci combattendo con la RSI... Febbraio 4 febbraio: Nuovo bando di arruolamento. La RSI ordina la chiamata alle armi per le classi 1922/1923/1924... ... Maggio 1° maggio. Dovrebbe essere la festa dei lavoratori, ma non si festeggia niente... Agosto Agosto... Le condizioni a Umbertide migliorano nettamente... Novembre 2 novembre . Gli americani hanno sferrato un attacco aereo su Tokio... Marzo Umbertide, già sconvolta dalla guerra civile, sta per trovarsi nel cratere del fronte del fuoco che avanza... Giugno 4 giugno: Liberazione di Roma... passaggio del fronte in altotevere... Settembre 2 settembre: nomina del nuovo Sindaco... Dicembre 1° dicembre: Morti umbertidesi: Piccioloni, artigliere, soldato della RSI... OTTANT'ANNI Il 1945 Continuiamo a raccontare, mese per mese, i piccoli fatti locali (ma coraggiosi e lungimiranti) che hanno caratterizzato il 1945, anno drammatico ed al tempo stesso esaltante, dopo la catastrofe della guerra in casa. Per superare le difficoltà è necessario rivitalizzare la forza con cui la comunità è riuscita, allora, a rinascere e prosperare in ottant’anni di pace. Gennaio Dopo il 6 luglio 1944, quando gli Alleati sono entrati a Umbertide, il nostro territorio passa formalmente dalla Repubblica Sociale Italiana (RSI), regime collaborazionista con la Germania nazista, al Regno d’Italia (cosiddetto Regno del Sud)... Aprile Il 24 aprile il sindaco Renato Ramaccioni comunica che, per ragioni di studio e di famiglia, dovrà assentarsi dalla sede per circa 20 giorni. Sentito il parere favorevole del locale Comitato di Liberazione e della Giunta comunale... Luglio Il sindaco Astorre Bellarosa, con la sua Giunta, non perde tempo per dare un forte segnale politico con l’intitolazione della Piazza a Giacomo Matteotti, simbolo dell’opposizione al fascismo... Ottobre Il Comune concede gratuitamente un loculo al cimitero per la salma della medaglia d’argento Giuseppe Starnini, caduto combattendo nella guerra di liberazione il 30 aprile 1945. Il Sindaco mette a disposizione della società sportiva Tiberis quanto rimane dell’attrezzatura del gioco pallacanestro... Febbraio Il 6 febbraio, Fausto Fornaci cade nel cielo di Thiene. Allontanatosi un po’ dalla sua formazione, è circondato da caccia americani. Dopo aver abbattuto uno degli avversari, viene attaccato da tutte le parti... Maggio Dopo le dimissioni del sindaco Ramaccioni, si insedia la nuova Giunta, formata in gran parte da comunisti e socialisti: Astorre Bellarosa (il nuovo sindaco)... Agosto La Giunta comunale, con il sindaco falegname e il vicesindaco meccanico, ha la sensibilità di perseguire l’apertura di un liceo scientifico, seppure in presenza di scuole senza vetri, distrutti dalle onde d’urto delle bombe, e senza sedie per gli insegnanti.... Novembre L’amministrazione Bellarosa segna un passo decisamente positivo nel difficile cammino della ricostruzione, anche morale, coinvolgendo quanto più possibile i cittadini che, responsabilizzati da una partecipazione dimenticata da anni... Marzo Il 3 marzo muore Rino Pucci del “Gruppo di combattimento Cremona”. Giuseppe Rosati, rimasto gravemente ferito, spira il 5 marzo all'ospedale canadese di Ravenna. Con essi cade anche la loro mascotte, un ragazzo di 15 anni, Giuseppe Battiglia di Roma, colpito alla testa, il cranio svuotato... Giugno L’urgenza di affrontare le condizioni disastrose, lasciate dalla guerra, non impedisce di impostare la soluzione del problema della ricostruzione... Settembre Il Comune si trova a fronteggiare gravi situazioni di necessità ed assistenza per diversi soggetti. Prende in carico la retta di refezione, a favore di 10 bambini poveri, per i pasti forniti nel locale interrato dell’ala posteriore della scuola elementare di Via Garibaldi... Dicembre Il 4 dicembre le salme di Quirino Pucci, Giuseppe Rosati e Giuseppe Starnini sono traslate ad Umbertide, dove si svolge un funerale solenne, con la partecipazione di tutta la popolazione... Scopri le nostre pagine dinamiche Ogni pagina è un percorso, un grande contenitore dinamico, anche con decide di approfondimenti, sempre in possibile crescita perché la ricerca non deve avere una fine. Ogni pagina è un piccolo "sito" specifico all'interno di "Umbertidestoria". Pagine strutturate in modo da facilitare la navigabilità e quindi la fruizione. La Fratta di Carta Prima della progressiva standardizzazione della cartografia tra '700 ed '800 si sono prodotte rappresentazioni del territorio e di città mosse da diverse esigenze... Memoria e Tradizioni La sezione delle nostre tradizioni e della memoria da preservare, curata da Sergio Magrini Alunno... Ricordi umbertidesi Nuova pagina del sito nella quale intendiamo dare spazio a tutti coloro che vorranno condividere con noi i loro ricordi e i personaggi caratteristici nella Umbertide di una volta anche con documenti e foto d’epoca... Montecorona Sabbianiani Estratti a cura di Giuliano Sabbiniani sulla storia, vita e produzione della Tenuta di Montecorona dal suo libro “Montecorona – la Tenuta e la sua gente”, Gruppo editoriale locale, Digital Editor srl, Umbertide - 2021"... Video di Storia e Territorio Raccolta di pagine con video si luoghi storici architettonici e particolari fonti storiche della storia e del territorio di Umbertide... Fratta del Quattrocento Prima pagina dinamica che raccoglie i vari aspetti del sito su uno specifico periodo storico: il XV secolo dell'antica Fratta... Le storie di Pascolini Prima pagina dinamica che raccoglie i vari contributi con ricerche di archivio di Massimo Pascolini... .... o visita le nostre pagine tematiche di raccordo... ... o scopri le nostre pagine tematiche tradizionali , strutturate come raccordo degli articoli singoli, a volte ancora da sistemare, da dove puoi accedere a specifici approfondimenti.. Nel tempo sostituiremo le pagine tradizionali con quelle dinamiche... "work in progress"! STORIA vai alla pagina STORIA PER TEMI vai alla pagina MEMORIA vai alla pagina TRADIZIONI vai alla pagina ARRIVI E PARTENZE vai alla pagina CALENDARI vai alla pagina TESI DI LAUREA vai alla pagina ALBUM vai alla pagina The information from the birth of the first residential agglomerations to the first archive news, The rapid time of political changes from the Middle Ages to the history of the twentieth century, the architectural remains, our monuments and works of art, the slow pace of changes in the territory that have come to define our landscape, the structuring of traditions, family memory ... all this defines the identity of a place and of the people who live there. Please help us to remember by sending photos (with date and place if possible), reporting errors on our texts, suggesting improvements or writing your memoirs, possibly with historical and contemporary sources, to build a vision of our future. Those who choose to send us images can choose to do overwrite, with the "water mark" technique, your "name and surname" or "family archive ..." on your photos, this to prevent the images from being used once on the web beyond the cultural purposes that we aim. For the same reason we have applied the " umbertidestoria " watermark over the historical photos of Umbertide which have been on the web for some time and in various private archives; in this way we try to avoid that further disclosure on our part favors purposes that are not consonant with our intentions. We come out publicly with parts that are incomplete and to be improved. Ours is an ongoing project that needed to be shared in order to grow. For now, thank you ... Adil, Adriano, Alberto, Alessandro, Alessandro C., Andrea Levi, Anna, Anna Maria, Brunella, Diego, Dritan, Fabio, Federico, Francesco, Giovanna, Giovanni, Giulio, Imperia, Isotta, Mario, Miriam, Loredana, Kalida, Paola, Silvia, Simona, Tiziana, Valentina RV, Valentina P. and all those who have sent us photos or supported. Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com EH Carr "Change is certain. Progress is not "

Architettura rurale nell'Alta Valle del Tevere - Boldrini Fratta (ora Umbertide) dal 1796 al 1814 - Giovannoni La Rocca di Umbertide centro espositivo per l'arte contemporanea- Pannacci Umbertide dall'Unità d'Italia alla caduta della destra storica (1860-1876) - Rondini Lo sviluppo locale del Comune di Umbertide - Simonetti Museo Mercato Città di Umbertide- Restauro e riuso di un'area ferroviaria dismessa - Venturelli Thesis In this section you will find some degree thesis in history, geography, art history, architecture or in any case centered on the Umbertidese and neighboring territory. The research works, in part or complete, are kindly granted by the authors. The lyrics they appear as they were made at the time of the thesis defense and have not been revised. The works are visible by clicking on the relative image but are not downloadable either printable. However, we believe that creating a space to make individual studies made so far visible can help the development of historical and social interest in our country and our environment. Thanks at the moment in chronological order: Anna Maria Boldrini with her work on the rural architecture of the area, Daniela Giovannoni for the work of her sister Cesarina Giovannoni on the Fratta from 1796 to 1814, Valentina Pannacci on the Rocca di Umbertite and its use for contemporary art, Diego Simonetti who took care of the development of our municipality from agricultural to industrial, Alessandro Venturelli who attempted to develop a project for the eventual reuse of an abandoned railway area. Their theses can be reached from the vertical menu below (version for desktop and tablet). Architettura rurale nell'Alta Valle del Tevere - Boldrini Fratta (ora Umbertide) dal 1796 al 1814 - Giovannoni La Rocca di Umbertide centro espositivo per l'arte contemporanea- Pannacci La committenza di Luca Signorelli in Umbria - Ricci Vitiani Umbertide dall'Unità d'Italia alla caduta della destra storica (1860-1876) - Rondini Lo sviluppo locale del Comune di Umbertide - Simonetti Testimonianze artistiche medievali ... Valdambrini Museo Mercato Città di Umbertide- Restauro e riuso di un'area ferroviaria dismessa - Venturelli "Rural architecture in the upper Tiber Valley: Umbertide in the 16th century" by Anna Maria Boldrini Academic year 1990-91 University of Perugia "Events of an Umbrian village in the French age. Fratta (now Umbertide) from 1796 to 1814" by Cesarina Giovannoni Academic year 1968-69 University of Perugia "Introduction and Chapter 1" extracted from "La Rocca di Umbertide exhibition center for contemporary art" by Valentina Pannacci Academic year 2005-2006 University of Perugia "Umbertide dall'Unità d'Italia alla caduta della destra storica (1860-1876)" di Gioia Rondini Anno Accademico 1979-80 Università degli Studi di Perugia "Local development of the Municipality of Umbertide" by Diego Simonetti academic year University of Perugia taken from “City Market Museum of Umbertide. Restoration and reuse of an abandoned railway area " by Alessandro Venturelli academic year 2012/13 School of Architecture University of Florence NB: The work is a study on the possible reuse of the railway workshops with internal technical tables when the disposal was thought: - Complete historical table where the historical vicissitudes of the structure are reconstructed with the expansion over time of the Mechanical Workshops. - extract from the table SURVEY OF THE STRUCTURE SECTIONS CURRENT - extract from the table URBAN ANALYSIS AND FLOWS CONNECTION - CON PLANIVOLUMETRIC Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com La committenza di Luca Signorelli in Umbria - Ricci Vitiani “LA COMMITTENZA DI LUCA SIGNORELLI IN UMBRIA: NUOVE INDAGINI E RICERCHE” di Valentina Ricci Vitiani, Anno Accademico 200 2-03 (estratto pp. 1-6: "Premessa" e pp. 179-196: "Deposizione della Croce di Umbertide" ) Università degli Studi di Perugia taken from “City Market Museum of Umbertide. Restoration and reuse of an abandoned railway area " by Alessandro Venturelli academic year 2012/13 School of Architecture University of Florence NB: The work is a study on the possible reuse of the railway workshops with internal technical tables when the disposal was thought: - Complete historical table where the historical vicissitudes of the structure are reconstructed with the expansion over time of the Mechanical Workshops. - extract from the table SURVEY OF THE STRUCTURE SECTIONS CURRENT - extract from the table URBAN ANALYSIS AND FLOWS CONNECTION - CON PLANIVOLUMETRIC Testimonianze artistiche medievali ... Valdambrini

A MILLENNIUM FLIGHT ON THE FRATTA The Umbertide section of the UNIVERSITY OF THE THIRD AGE (UNI3) is making available the summaries of the local historical topics that will be deepened during the upcoming meetings. A preview of the syntheses of the cycle “The Story of Umbertide in the stones”, curated by Mario Tosti , will be presented, which will exhibit the reconstruction of the plausible images of the town in its stages of development, from its origins to the twentieth century. The sequence of events was reconstructed - according to logic and imagination - on the basis of archival documents, mainly collected by Renato Codovini , of information from general history, finds and local historical-architectural emergencies. Antropizzazione del territorio della Fratta La Fratta Bizantina La Fratta Longobarda Origini geologiche della Fratta La Fratta Toscana Origini geologiche della Fratta Antropizzazione del territorio della Fratta La Fratta Bizantina La Fratta Longobarda La Fratta Toscana

Street Games (edited by Francesco Deplanu) The Ruzzolone The "Ruzzolone" is a popular game much followed by Umbertine until a few decades ago, its origins seem ancient, practiced throughout Italy as "tumbles" or "ruzzica" some author makes it descend from classical antiquity with the passage then to Etruscan world seeing in the iconography of the "discus thrower" or "thrower" in the tomb of the Necropolis of the Monterozzi di Tarquinia because of the launching position that does not conform to the classic iconography of the thrower. Detail of image from: https://www.etruscopolis.com/tomba-delle-olimpiadi However, news about popular games is rare, with the revival of the interests of the traditions of the Volk in the romantic period the search for information began. In Umbria, in Perugia, according to what prof. Sciurpa in his "blogspot", quoted in the sources, the news comes mainly from the official news aimed above all at delimiting its use. Launch of the tumbler It was played on feast days, dressed in good clothes, from the Easter period onwards. The Ruzzolone could be a form of aged and very hardened cheese or in wood, often of rowan according to what prof. Sciurpa . It had a diameter of about 30-40 cm and could weigh from 2 to 5 kg. It was launched thanks to a rolled tape that ended with a wooden spool. It was launched with force and so the "tumbler" could cover more or less long paths; we started again from where the “tumbles” stopped, we played in pairs or one against one. It was played in pairs Games of the twentieth century Costa Muro "Costa Muro or" Touch the wall "to play before the war we went to Tiber, it went down after the porta di "caminella", at the end of Piazza di San Francesco to reach the "schioppe" on the banks of the Tiber to search The tiles". The "tiles" were river stones smoothed by the flow of water, and they had to be sought "even", that is to say similar and beautiful. It was played one on one then on the walls of the house, whoever came closest won those of the others. In the 1960s and 1970s, the "figurines" of the players replaced the stones. Wall Ball A "Wall ball" was played by drawing a circle with chalk on the wall, with the ball then the drawing had to be centered. Those who did not take us had a "penance" to pay. Castelletto In "Castelletto" they played with glass balls (marbles) or more often, because they were less expensive with balls from shard, usually brown in color. They had to be put together next to each other in number enough to make the "plan" (3-4-5 floors) above and then build another series on top. The "castelletto" became a kind of "skittle" (up to 6 castles in a row) to hit with the "tick" of other marbles or balls. Greasy tree At the "tree of the cuccagna" they played on the plants of the Tiber by attacking on the branches the discarded jute bags from the "Consortium". Jute sacks tied together with the “vetriche”, very elastic branches of plants that were born on the Tiber; inside were put stones, flour, pieces of mixed cake. The bags were prepared by all the "players" together but then they were placed on the tree only by some, the others remained blindfolded, the game happened in the areas of "Schioppe" or al "Patollo". Sources: - http://robertosciurpa.blogspot.com/2010/01/il-ruzzolone-tra-le-tante-attivita-di.html?m=1 - https://www.etruscopolis.com/tomba-delle-olimpiadi - https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruzzola - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carlo_Fontana_e_Enrico_Mascagni_campioni_di_ruzzola_fine_%27800.jpg - https://www.danielemancini-archeologia.it/i-giochi-olimpici/ - oral source: Imperia Guardabassi - Photo: historical photos of Umbertide from the web and from various private archives to which we applied the " umbertidestoria " watermark in this way we try to avoid that the further disclosure on our part favors purposes not consonant with our intentions exclusively social and cultural. Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com

Testimonianze e documenti di chỉ ha vissuto il dramma della Seconda Guerra Mondiale A cura della prof.ssa Claudia Picottini e della classe III A a.s. 2004-2005 Scuola Secondaria di I grado "Mavarelli - Pascoli" Umbertide Project Name To connect this element to content from your collection, select the element and click Connect to Data. Read More Project Name To connect this element to content from your collection, select the element and click Connect to Data. Read More

Filippo Bottaccioli and the "great war" Curated by Francesco Deplanu and Isotta Bottaccioli Filippo Da Bologna a Doberdò La ferita e l'ospedale La Prigionia da Udine alla Polonia Dal Parisgeschutz alle bastonate Lamberto ed il padre ufficiale Lamberto e le lettere alla nonna Anna Filippo e la reazione all'ingiustizia Filippo racconta la Fame La stanza di Filippo Filippo Bottaccioli was born in 1895 into a very poor family, sharecroppers in San Benedetto. Last alive of 7 brothers and 3 others died shortly after birth. He went to France in 1914 in search of work but returned in 1915 for the call to arms. He was included in the Royal Army in the 15th Bersaglieri, 8th company. From there he wrote to his future wife Elvira Floridi. The postcards he sent from the front had a space to write a message, while those of the Habsburg Empire, multi-ethnic and multilingual, only had space for the name and surname with writings printed in more than 10 languages to greet loved ones. Elvira Floridi and some postcards sent by Filippo. Filippo wrote to Elvira in the space subjected to "military censorship", and then in agreement with her, words of love in the space under the stamp. Stamps that have all been detached. A form of communication to overcome the "moral censorship" of the time. In a rediscovered audio, recorded on an old cassette, Filippo, known as Pippo, told his story participation to the "great war" and his imprisonment. The audio was recorded in 1983 by Lamberto Beatini , Filippo's son-in-law having married his daughter, Isotta. In the recording, in addition to Isotta, also his consu-in-law Giannina, married to Orlando (Guido) Medici , one of Niccone's "stonecutters". Giannina used "you" to refer to Philip. During the first part of the conflict his health conditions made him unable to military activities for 13 months, he remained in the rear in Bologna due to the famous "flat feet", a feature that prevented him from being able to march quickly. With the continuation of the difficult conflict, however, he was judged completely skilled and sent to the trenches. It was the moment of the effort for the conquest of Gorizia, the sixth battle of the Isonzo. He was wounded in the foot in Doberdò on 08/16/1916. Da Bologna al ferimento a Doberdò 00:00 / 02:30 I remain little, therefore, in trench warfare; he was hospitalized and operated on with a 45-day convalescence. The story then becomes confused, subsequently he was captured near Udine and we are convinced that it was in the period of the defeat of Caporetto, in fact in the recording we hear "that arrived revolution ”which certainly alludes to the defeat and the chaos that followed, subsequently defines it as a“ great encirclement ”. Dalla ferita all'ospedale 45 giorni 00:00 / 02:55 This was followed by imprisonment in Austria, Poland, Germany, between France and Belgium at the time of the "Spanish", then between March / August 1918, and then again in Poland with the worsening of the conflict for the central empires. Da Udine alla Polonia 00:00 / 01:49 What we do know is that he was employed at one point as a railway worker on the line from where he fired the great German cannon at Paris. In fact, the prisoners were taken to concentration and labor camps both in the areas of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and in the areas of the front in the hands of the central empires, such as between northern France and Belgium as happened to Philip. This is due to the forced labor of prisoners functional to war strategies. In the case of Bottaccioli he was taken to the north of France or south of Belgium to work on the railway that allowed the cannonade of Paris: the “Parisgeschütz” . From Wikipedia in French a representation of the effectiveness of Parisgeschütz. The Kaiser Wilhelm Geschütz, or the Kaiser Wilhelm cannon was a weapon that was used for mainly psychological purposes, to hit the enemy's capital. It fired from a great distance, at night, from the St. Gobain forest area. Dal cannone alle bastonate 00:00 / 02:19 Lamberto tried to help the story of Philip, who was suffering and was 89 years old, but also fits in with his memories. He told some facts about his father, Antonio Beatini, always involved in the "great war": war and personal stories. The hunger he suffered only once, when as sergeant major he captured 12 "Austrian" prisoners and gave them the Italian lunch to feed them; but also a memory that became familiar: his father, in fact, was writing correspondence for a friend of the same department, whose name we do not know, who could not write. Lamberto racconta la "fame" del padre An 00:00 / 00:30 He was in love with Anna Gregori and Antonio wrote letters to this girl for him. They were hit by an avalanche and the other died. Back after the war Antonio Beatini married in second marriage, Anna Gregori ... the mother of Lamberto; there his first wife, in fact, had died away from him during the conflict. Anna Gregori Lamberto racconta della nonna Anna 00:00 / 00:42 Returning to Philip of the imprisonment he told the hunger, which we will talk about below, and the severity of the jailers, the better the "Bulgarians" the worse the "Germans" even if for one of them who hit him with sticks, and Philip reacted by hitting him with a mess tin, reports in dialect an illuminating phrase "he was more nervous than cativo". La prigionia, la reazione... la tazza di 00:00 / 02:43 They weren't the extermination camps that will be seen 30 years later, here people were actually dying of hunger and disease. It is thought that of the 600,000 Italian prisoners, 1 out of 6 died in that period in various concentration camps and while traveling. The difficulties of a conflict that became "total war" and economic not only changed the battlefield and gave birth to the "trenches" but subjects the economies of the countries involved to an exceptional effort. Germany and the Austrian Empire did not even manage to feed their own population in the continuation of the war. For prisoners, hunger is therefore a daily reality. Thus the Central Empires will ask the Countries of the Entente to contribute to the survival of their military with military aid. France and England will accept while the Kingdom of Italy will refuse. In fact, for Cadorna those who had already been captured were guilty of having been not very combative, and also, then, to avoid that the rumors of a "good" treatment of the enemy could influence those who were still fighting. A hundred thousand died ... A story of cowardice was also propagated which gave rise to a hostility towards these "cowards". The "hunger" was recurrent in the memories that Filippo even after a long time: elaborazione audio nonno pippo fame 00:00 / 00:20 His daughter Isotta wrote other memories on paper: “ And you told of your imprisonment, when hunger was daily bread. One day, a prisoner in Germany, when your stomach was being torn apart by excruciating bites, you set out in search of something to eat. You happened upon a compost heap and saw potato skins among the garbage. Regardless of the smell and the place, you collected them, washed them and after a quick boiling in a rusty jar, you devoured them and the hunger subsided for a while ". And again “You told us again, and always with great emotion, that freed from captivity, with one of your companions, you came across a tub full of barley. You had a backward hunger and you considered this a blessing. With your head bowed, you began to eat handfuls, filling your long-empty stomach. At some point your common sense told you to stop, because you knew that the cereal, softened by the gastric juices, would increase its volume and the stomach would suffer. You also advised his friend to stop but the poor man did not have the strength and during the night his stomach "cracked" and he died in excruciating pain ". Eventually he returned home albeit with frozen feet. Philip, known as "Pippo" was a simple man, but rational and intolerant of injustices. In 1966, by now in his seventies, he briefly wrote down his life in a diary that his daughter Isotta wrote down; here is a passage: “ Having some free time, I am going to tell you about my life. You will pity my ignorance because my school stopped in the first grade and a few months from the second evening. I was born in 1895 in S. Martino, near San Benedetto. I try to describe my home where I was born. A kitchen all black with soot. A large fire, a chamber. A grain-free barn. The Furniture: a small table, a very thick wooden table. No chairs at all, but two long oak benches instead of chairs. The room: two trestles with relative tables on which there were the mattresses. On the ground a tablet with a trap to kill ... what can you imagine. We had straw mattresses. A good thing was the wool coltrone. In the mattresses besides the straw there were also the maize leaves. In the kitchen, pots, pans, a few plates and glasses, forks and spoons. There were two large caissons. One box belonged to my mother who is still here in the house, the other has been destroyed. There were two looms for making the canvas. Some shoemaker and carpenter tools. I could write a lot, but it would take a writer and I know so little about it . ". Pippo Bottaccioli outside his house at the "Fontanelle". Photo of Niccone from the 60s where he lived for a long time. Poverty and the inability to study were his concern, the importance of culture was a requirement that became a value and pushed all his children to graduate and many of his grandchildren to graduate. A pride for him. From being the son of a sharecropper in San Benedetto, after the Great War he became a barber in Niccone. The twenty years and the second world war arrived that saw him anti-fascist and communist. He opened a wool shop right in the historic center of Umbertide. He died on June 14, 1985. Pippo Bottaccioli came back, he was lucky ... but many boys did not come out alive from the collective experience that was the "great war". For years, the historian of Città di Castello Alvaro Tacchini has reconstructed the human losses that our area of the Upper Tiber Valley suffered on his personal website www.storiatifernate.it . He also took care of taking a census of the 268 fallen of Umbertide. Thus he writes: " The list of names of the 268 fallen of Umbertide. Of them, 63 died of disease, 17 in captivity, 20 are missing ". We highly recommend that you read it. Inside the page you can see the day of death, the reason and the place of burial of each individual deceased. At the end of the page you can download an attachment with the same data but with some images of documents related to Pupils Ernesto Tullini, Domenico Caldari, Ciocchetti Olinto and Spinalbelli Achille. http://www.storiatifernate.it/pubblicazioni.php?&cat=48&subcat=104&group=234&id=374 Alternatively, you can search individually or by municipality from the site https://www.cadutigrandeguerra.it on the page https://www.cadutigrandeguerra.it/CercaNome.aspx. To find all the members of the Municipality it is enough indicate in the box "Comune in Albo", for example, the term ... Umbertide . https://www.cadutigrandeguerra.it/CercaNome.aspx The young Umbrians who died in the "great war" were, however, really many more, about 11,000. To be exact 10,934, of these almost a thousand died in captivity, exactly 964 people. At this link you can have news on the complete list of the Umbrian dead in the war: http://www.gualdograndeguerra.com/images/stories/pdf/prigionieri-umbri.pdf Image of Italian prisoners in Germany during the second world war. Notice the jailer's staff. Image from: https://www.raicultura.it/storia/articoli/2019/01/Lodissea-dei-prigionieri-094ea220-5eba-4b49-af34-3a64c831649d.html (photo 8) Sources: - Oral and written sources Isotta Bottaccioli - Audio cassette from 1983, Isotta Bottaccioli / Beatini archive - https://www.raicultura.it/storia/articoli/2019/01/Lodissea-dei-prigionieri-094ea220-5eba-4b49-af34-3a64c831649d.html - https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parisgesch%C3%BCtz - http://www.storiatifernate.it/allegati_prod/02-caduti-umbertide.pdf -http: //www.gualdograndeguerra.com/images/stories/pdf/prigionieri-umbri.pdf - https://www.lagrandeguerra.net/Presentazioni/Isonzo/isonzob.html - http://www.esercito.difesa.it/storia/pagine/f6-offensiva-isonzo.aspx - http://www.deportati.it/static/pdf/TR/2001/marzo/14-01%20marzo.pdf Photos and postcards: Isotta Bottaccioli / Beatini Archive Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com Da Bologna a Doberdò La ferita e l'ospedale Filippo La Prigionia da Udine alla Polonia Dal Parisgeschutz alle bastonate Lamberto ed il padre ufficiale Lamberto e le lettere alla nonna Anna Filippo e la reazione all'ingiustizia Filippo racconta la Fame La stanza di Filippo

Arboreal archeology: the "married vine" Le viti maritate di Sagraia (video) La "vite maritata" nella storia La persistenza nel tempo Il perché della durata La "vite maritata" ad Umbertide La "vite maritata" negli archivi Approfondimento viticultura da Ottavi Ottavio - 1885 Aggiornamento presenza vite maritata nel 1920 Le viti maritate di Sagraia (video) La "vite maritata" nella storia La persistenza nel tempo Il perché della durata La "vite maritata" ad Umbertide La "vite maritata" negli archivi Approfondimento viticultura da Ottavi Ottavio - 1885 (edited by Francesco Deplanu) In the hilly area where the Etruscan tomb of Sagraia is located, between Preggio and Umbertide, there are still some examples of " Married vine" . Cultivation that for a very long time characterized the method of cultivation of the vine and determined the appearance of the landscape of our areas. Video : last married vines in Contini, San Bartolomeo dei Fossi (Umbertide). The married vine has a history of about 3000 years; the use of the vine with the field maple as a living tutor was functional to a subsistence economy, the only one possible in the pre-Roman world, but which in our areas continued to substantially dominate and merged, starting from the sixteenth century, with the system from indirect management of the land, later structured in sharecropping. The maple with the vine "married" to it was often arranged in series within the cultivated fields to constitute the "tree-lined", characterizing our rural world until after the Second World War. Agricultural system functional to an agriculture that was aimed more at self-consumption than at the market, for this reason the mixed use of fields, vines and arable land, and polyculture. Since the post-war period, the use of the hubby vine has disappeared and with it that characteristic ordered landscape of our rural landscape has vanished. The vine ( Vitis Vinifera L. ) Is a liana shrub which, to better cultivate it, was grown on a live support, has a very long history of use, therefore, which was interrupted only in the century. XX, in the face of a more profitable vision of economic exploitation of the land. In fact in Umbertide and in northern Umbria there were not even the arrival of the specific diseases of the vineyards of the '900, such as "phylloxera", or those of their supports, as for the elms of northern Italy, which managed to "eradicate" this type of cultivation. Most likely, in fact, the distance between the plants in the typical promiscuous culture also favored their protection from diseases or pests. Fig. 1: first married life identified in Contini locality, San Bartolomeo dei Fossi (Umbertide). Photo by Francesco Deplanu To lead to their removal or replacement with vineyards, or systems of other structures, were the needs, already visible at the beginning of the 1900s, for an improvement in production and use of agricultural land increasingly aimed at the market. The end of sharecropping, then, led to the definitive loss of this type of cultivation and almost of the very memory of the very long presence of the "married vine". Fig. 2: second located married life in Contini locality, San Bartolomeo dei Fossi (Umbertide). Photo by Francesco Deplanu There "married life" in history This type of cultivation concerned the territories formerly inhabited by the Etruscans or, further north, by the Celts. For this reason this method of cultivation, and culture, is also called "Etruscan vine" or "Etruscan-Celtic vine". It was found mainly in Liguria (where it seems to have started), Tuscany, Umbria, part of Campania, Emilia, Veneto; examples of similar cultivation, moreover, due to trying to give a solution to the same problem of grape ripeness and to the better resistance of the vine, are found in some parts of Europe. Over time, the association of the vine with a tree-lined support was named differently. In the Etruscan language it was called "àitason", "arbustum" in Latin, which was then distinguished in "arbustum gallicum" term to designate a connected series of married plants, later defined as "planted", and “Arbustum italicum” to indicate the isolated plant with the vine, an agricultural use subsequently defined by us as “tree-lined”. The terms "alberata" and "Piantata" came into vogue, however, in the mid-seventeenth century. with Vincenzo Tanara in the work " Economy of the citizen in the villa " of 1644. Fig. 3: third located married life in Contini locality, San Bartolomeo dei Fossi (Umbertide). Photo by Francesco Deplanu Starting from the 1st cent. Finally, also thanks to the poets Catullus and Ovid, the metaphor of love began using the image of the vine and its support, which led to the current definition of "married vine". Persistence over time Certainly in the Etruscan era the possibilities of agricultural techniques did not recommend a different method of cultivation in colder and humid climates compared to those further south, areas where the Greeks, on the other hand, had brought the method of cultivation of the vine to the ground. Emilio Sereni, in "History of the Italian agricultural landscape" (1961), was the first to explain, thanks also to the etymology, how it was the Etruscans who introduced the married vine into the Po valley and how the "roosters" learned its cultivation. Consistently with his hypothesis, the persistence of lives married to tall trees up to the Etruscan domination, that is to say in Campania, is also explained. The persistence of cultivation, however, continued for a long time over the centuries in many areas. In fact, this type of production continued both in the Roman period, although other techniques for viticulture reached a considerable evolution, and in the long medieval period, as well as in the period of sharecropping production. Marrying the vine to a living support, however, at a certain point, after tens of centuries, became not convenient. With a management of agriculture that was abandoning the sharecropping system, economically subsistence, to move to a market one, there was also the transition to methods of cultivation with fixed (or "dead") support, or to specialized crops, such as the vineyard, and no longer promiscuous. In addition to the production reason linked to the economic element, which led to the exit from subsistence agriculture, it should be pointed out that the married vine in modern times certainly had some disadvantages: you had to work much more for pruning than what could be done on the row system; the foliage of the brace made the grapes ripen later; finally, the inconvenience during harvesting was certainly greater, considering the height of the live brace. Fig. 4: fourth located married life in Contini locality, San Bartolomeo dei Fossi (Umbertide). Photo by Francesco Deplanu But why did this type of cultivation last so long? It should be remembered that although the crown of the stanchion tree slowed down ripening, at the same time it protected the fruits of the vine from bad weather. Its leaves served as fodder. On the branches of the maple, often pruned to "candlestick", to facilitate the subsequent harvest, it was also possible to preserve the material cut during pruning (see in this regard the photos of the "Museum of Wine" of the Lungarotti Foundation, cited in the sources ). In short, it was an example of a productive association. In addition to producing grapes, leaves were obtained to be used as fodder, firewood, material for tying vines and also for weaving baskets and then… bottles and demijohns. In fact, a survival crop, which characterized our areas for a very long time, preferred a mixed use of the land. Furthermore, it should be considered that once the “marriage” was built, for decades the aspect of caring for the vine and the guardian could be left in second order; this was precisely a characteristic favorable to the management of works in polyculture linked to sharecropping. With a suitable stake, such as our "field maple", this cultivation seemed the best, especially for hilly and low soil. The maple has a slow growth, and also has shallow roots and thus did not enter into competition with those of the vine. These elements allowed the success of this cultivation system. Fig. 5: Maples in Contini locality, San Bartolomeo dei Fossi (Umbertide). Photo by Francesco Deplanu In 1885 in a text on "viticulture" Ottavi Ottavi, professor of agricultural sciences, analyzed from a technical point of view how the "married vine" was still cultivated, indicating, however, at the same time the reason for its future disappearance. Ottavi was careful to specify how he, compared to the agronomists of his time who pushed for an exclusively specialized production of the vine, had "granted" a space in his "technical-practical" manual to this type of cultivation. This is because he recognized the numerous advantages of this method for certain types of areas: “ unlike other authors of viticulture, we dedicate a chapter to the cultivation of vines married to trees. We condemn the principle as they do; we admit, however, that in certain plains it can be tolerated, that in some cases the vines cannot be protected differently from freezing temperatures, and that there are some vines that do not tolerate the pruning of low-vine systems, [...] we finally admit that many for now they cannot or do not want to transform. Here are sufficient reasons why we have to deal with this theme, and to study ways of making the product of vines married to trees less intermittent, more abundant and more chosen. " Thus we learn, among the various live supports used, of the advantages of our “field maple”: “ We therefore think that those trees whose root system is very little extended and which can hardly exploit the soil seem rather advisable. In this condition we find the wild cherry and the maple which Gasparin called a living stake. The field maple (acer campestre) is much less developed in height than the others (acer pseudoplatanus and acer platanoides), has slow growth, is satisfied with arid soils and also comes up from the seed. With the exception of tuffaceous soils it thrives everywhere. The seedlings they are suitable to be planted after 4 or 5 years. The maple has short and shallow roots and easily lends itself to being pruned into different shapes. ". For those who are interested, we report an appendix at the bottom of the text which is more extensive than Ottavi's reflections and explanations relating to his chapter XXIV: “ The married lives and the pergolas ”. The " married vine " in Umbertide before his disappearance As mentioned, the last great examples of "Etruscan vine", or "married" remain visible in the hill above the tomb of Sagraia, but if you look carefully at the images that have come down to us from the 1900s of our city, you can see the Umbertide countryside with the dominant "tree-lined" structure right up to the houses. Image 4: Detail of an image from the Municipal Archive of Umbertide. Panorama of Umbertide in the 1930s from the former Convent. In the foreground there are plants arranged in an "alberata" manner, most likely field maples alternating with arable land. This cultivation is also visible in the images of the darkest period of our history, the bombing of 1944, where in the photos, which show the cloud of explosions in the center of the city, you can see both the trees and some festoons of connections between guardian trees as happened in the more structured "plantation", often present with trees but along the edges of the road so as not to hinder agricultural work in the fields. Image 5: Detail of an image taken immediately after the bombing of 25 April 1944, from “Mario Tosti:“ Our ordeal ”- Ed. Petruzzi - Città di Castello, 2005, p. 213. As you can see in the following shot, while the cloud moves carried by the wind, the dominant type of cultivation was still the vine married to the maple, but times had already changed and you can also see the coexistence of vines in linked rows to fixed and non-live supports. Image 6: Detail of an image taken immediately after the bombing of 25 April 1944, from “Mario Tosti:“ Our ordeal ”- Ed. Petruzzi - Città di Castello, 2005, p. 213. The photo was taken in the area of the current via Fratta at the intersection with via Martiri dei Lager. In the map of the Military Geographical Institute (IGM), made on the 1941 relief, Tablet of "Umbertide" (here linked to that of "Niccone", because the city was divided into two different "tablets", scale 1: 25,000) we have marked with an "X" the probable place of the shots, with the red arrow we have indicated the area of the San Giovanni district, which can still be seen in its entirety before the destruction due to the bombing; with the red circle, finally, we have highlighted the symbol of the cultivation of the vine, which when presented alternating with the symbol of the "circles" indicates the "promiscuous culture of the vine". Image 7: Extract of "Tablets" 1: 25.000 joined to present the city that was "cut" in two. 1) "Niccone", Sheet 122 I, NE 2) "Umbertide": Sheet 122 I, NE of the Italian Map (relief of 1941). The overlap was discarded, preferring to leave both representations in the margin area of the two "tablets". Also from the book by Mario Tosti, "Our ordeal" p. 260, you can see some details by enlarging the photos like this one in Coldipozzo where you can see the maple and the tied vine before the apparatus of the branches made to grow with the "candlestick" pruning. In the following photo shown in the book you can see the landscape of the trees in the background of a souvenir photo. In the same period of the photograph the promiscuous culture of the vine alternating with fields cultivated, is clearly visible in the locality of "Col di Pozzo": it is in fact reported in Tablet 1: 25.000 Sheet 122 I, NE of the Map of Italy, and is visible in the excerpt shown below (see image n. 10) in the upper right corner, even if in the excerpt shown the toponym “col di Poz…” is partially cut. Image 8: Detail in the background of a photo taken in Coldipozzo in 1944, from “Mario Tosti:“ Our ordeal ”- Ed. Petruzzi - Città di Castello, 2005, p. 260. The symbols of the mixed cultivation of the vine completely “embraced” the city, like all the plains of Umbria. Still in the 60s in the area north of Umbertide, under the current cemetery of the city, one could very well see an expanse of field maples, arranged in an "tree-lined" manner, characterizing the landscape. Image 9: Photo from the Guardabassi archive. March 1960. Even if it is not possible to see, due to the quality of the photo, the presence of the vine connected to the field maples, this can always be seen from the "tablets" of the IGM shown below, again relief 1941, which indicate the entire area below the cemetery ("Petrella above", "Petrella below", "Lame", "Fornace", "Molinello" and "CS Croce") cultivated with "mixed cultivation" of the vine. Finally, even admitting the possibility that at that moment, 20 years after the IGM survey, the cultivation of vines was no longer carried out, the field maples, arranged in a row, continued to completely characterize the agricultural landscape. In 1964 the “economic” end of sharecropping was sanctioned (here we can learn more) , the trees quickly disappeared even in the Umbertidese area, increasingly relegated to marginal, hilly and sloping areas. Image 10: Extract of "Tablets" 1: 25.000 joined to present the city that was "cut" in two. 1) "Niccone", Sheet 122 I, NE 2) "Umbertide": Sheet 122 I, NE of the Italian Map (relief of 1941). The overlap was discarded, preferring to leave both representations in the margin area of the two "tablets". Searching for news on the "married life" in the modern and contemporary age. Following the spread of the cultivation of the vine married to live supports in pre-Roman cultures, during the Roman period a specialization of the cultivation of the greater vine was added, in accordance with the mass use of the use of the drink. In the period following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the cultivation of the vine certainly retreated in quantity of cultivated land but remained very present, because it was the cornerstone of the Christian religious ritual. In the centuries following the fourteenth-century plague, with the increase of the population and the resumption of trade, a slow recovery of the production of the vine began which, above all for the mixed cultivation, "married" with the indirect management of the land, what became our "sharecropping". We know for the long period up to the modern age of its existence from archaeological remains of the arboreal type (seeds etc….) And above all from the literary and iconographic sources of Italian art that the “married vine” cultivation was recurrent in our peninsula. For example, already in the modern age, the vine is clearly visible in Jacopo Clementi's "Drunk Moses" made in the early 1600s. Here we can see the presence of the vine "clinging" to the living tutor in the background of the central theme. iconographic representations that can serve as historical sources, but if the information is sought more accurately, both for the quantity and for the place of use of this type of cultivation, various problems arise. Image 11: “Drunk Moses" by Jacopo Clementi. Image from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Drunkness_of_Noah_by_Jacopo_Chimenti.jpg In fact, how extensive was the cultivation of vines in promiscuous form in our areas? As for the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the written, archival sources known for our territory seem truly non-existent. Perhaps the problem, however, is only to return to the archives in search of specific indications, or to re-read the sources available for the Umbertide area in search of terms relating to the cultivation of the vine, paying attention to the 16th and 17th centuries, for example, rather than looking for the term "vinea", which indicates a vineyard, to those of "pergulae" or "pergola". These last terms certainly indicate the arable alternating with the cultivation of the vine. In fact, reading Anna Boldrini's thesis " Rural architecture in the Upper Tiber Valley: Umbertide XVI century " of 1991, it is found in an inventory of 1572 of the "Book where all the stable assets of the Abbey of San Salvatore are described and of the churches close to them "(note. 13, page 51) the reference to the mixed cultivation (" pergola ") of the vine appears in reference to two dovecote towers of particular shape, round, one of which in the locality of Colle San Savino, characterized as “a piece of land… working pergola with fruit trees serque and elms with a round diver… voc. the diving camp ". We also underline that the "vulgata" on the typology of dovecote towers in Umbria, relegated only the round-shaped dovecote towers to the Spoleto area. This reinforces our belief that studies on our territory in this vast area of the rural world are insufficient. At the end of the eighteenth century the terms to search for in search of the "married vine" are different. They can be found in what are the documents of the agricultural "companies" of the time, often of noble possessions, such as the "country brogliacci". Here it is " arativo pergola ", for example, which indicates a land with mixed cultivation of the vine alternating with arable land, which must be sought. Examples of how it is possible to find similar information on the culture of the vine can be found "looking" along the territory of one of the tributaries of the Tiber, on the left this time, just above Umbertide, or in the narrow valleys of the Carpina catchment area (Carpina and Carpinella). Precisely in the documents of the County of the Della Porta, a County that extended from the foot of Montone to Pietralunga. Here in the " Brogliardo di Campagna della Contea delle Carpine ", of 1782, it is often found, despite the increasing average altitude and the " gengato " soil ("genga" kept washed away from the ground where the underlying "marl and sandstone" emerge) the wording of the “ arativo pergola ” is not favorable to agriculture. Term that we can identify with the presence of married vine with live support. Note in the image the land (n.14 and following) near the famous "Tre ponti", under Montone, precisely in the Molinaccio area and nearby owned by Mr. Natal Migliorati: " arativo pergola " ... "a rative with pergolas "," Plowed part pergola ". Image 13: Details from “.SG, Fondo Della Porta, Title II, G 27/15. "Il Brogliardo di Campagna della Contea delle Carpine", 1782, in an unpublished degree thesis by F. Deplanu, "Evolution of a high hilly landscape of northern Umbria: the importance of the Della Porta company in the territory of the Carpini County since '700 to date ”, ay 2002/2003. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the sources began to become more structured and fortunately for us, too, more usable. In the Gregorian Cadastre of Fratta, present online, this time you can search for the term " arable land ", which differs from " arable land ", but also from the real vineyard which, most likely, is indicated with " vineyard " or " bushy vineyard "... with the addition of a characteristic of the cultivated variety:" sweet ". The Land Registry, built between 1815 and 1835, was equipped with a " Brogliardo " with indications of the owner, the place, the main characteristic and the extent and value of the land or property. Image 14: “Brogliardo di Fratta” of the “Gregorian Cadastre”: Fratta, 1915-35. Imago project: http://www.cflr.beniculturali.it/Gregoriano/mappe.php?fbclid=IwAR3SPsbhE0yDSOzPk5MrT3LVf77oKvYwwqFhUhZzDbdA4DHi4DWrz-9JHdA Here, for example, in parcels no. 700 and 701, 704, 705, 706, 708, 709, almost all owned by Domenico Bruni in “Pian di Bottine”, we have the news and, thanks to the Cadastre map, the "geometric-particle" representation of the real crops. The largest parcels were cultivated with "mixed cultivation", that is, with " arable land " and those closest to the banks of the Tiber, more productive but small and narrow, cultivated in a more specialized way with " sweet bushy vineyard ". Image 15: excerpt from the “Gregorian Cadastre”: Fratta, 1915-35. Imago project: http://www.cflr.beniculturali.it/Gregoriano/mappe.php?fbclid=IwAR3SPsbhE0yDSOzPk5MrT3LVf77oKvYwwqFhUhZzDbdA4DHi4DWrz-9JHdA Certainly the cultivation of "married vine" in the rest of our Umbria was already considerable. In various and precise studies of the agricultural world in the nearby Marche, a term often recurs to indicate a '"alberata" with the trees arranged in a checkerboard pattern in the field between the arable areas, or " alberata Folignata " to attest to the typical existence of this type of use of agricultural land in southern Umbria. We hope that this initial attempt at reconstruction that we have presented, may be useful to focus attention on the need for more in-depth research for all aspects of arboreal archeology or history of the productive structures of our territory. Aspects that have profoundly characterized ways of life and still the landscape that surrounds us. For this reason we add below, after the "Sources", a "chosen study" from the text by Ottavi Ottavio, "THEORETICAL-PRACTICAL VITICULTURE", CASALE, TIPOGRAFIA DI CARLO CASSONE, 1885 (pp. 750-760) on the specific mixed cultivation of the vine with that “living pole” which was the field maple, also typical of the Umbertidese area. Sources: Texts: - Carlo Vernelli, " The cultivation of vines in a sharecropping area" , in the magazine “Proposte e Ricerche”, nr. 60, 2008, pp. 153-174. - Unpublished degree thesis " Evolution of a high hilly landscape of northern Umbria: the importance of the Della Porta company in the territory of the Carpini County from the 1700s to today ", by Francesco Deplanu, Academic Year 2002/2003, University of Perugia. - Unpublished degree thesis " Rural architecture in the upper Tiber Valley: Umbertide in the XVI century " by Anna Maria Boldrini, Academic year 1990-91, University of Perugia. - Ottavi Ottavio, " THEORETICAL-PRACTICAL VITICULTURE ", CASALE, TYPOGRAPHY BY CARLO CASSONE, 1885. Cadastre and Brogliardi: - Gregorian Cadastre: "Fratta", in "Perugia" visible online: http://www.cflr.beniculturali.it/Gregoriano/mappe.php?fbclid=IwAR3SPsbhE0yDSOzPk5MrT3LVf77oKvYwwqFhUhZzDbdA4DHi4DWrz-9 - "Fratta", in "Perugia" visible online: http://www.cflr.beniculturali.it/Gregoriano/mappe.php?fbclid=IwAR3SPsbhE0yDSOzPk5MrT3LVf77oKvYwwqFhUhZzDbdA4DHi4DWrz-9JHdA - “ The Country Brogliardo of the County of the Carpine ”, 1782, ASG, Fondo Della Porta, Title II, G 27/15. Web Resources: - Maria Antonietta Aceto, “The representation of the married vine. Some recent identification ", in" Terra di Lavoro magazine ", year XI, n ° 1, April 2016 (also visible in: https://www.ascaserta.beniculturali.it/rivista-di-terra-di-lavoro/numeri -published / year-xi / year-xi-n1-April-2016 ) - https://www.beni-culturali.eu/opere_d_arte/scheda/-ebbrezza-di-noe-chimenti-jacopo-detto-empoli-1551-1640-09-00021770/400252 - http://www.biologiavegetale.unina.it/delpinoa_files/48_71-92.pdf - http://www.biologiavegetale.unina.it/delpinoa_files/44_53-63.pdf - https://www.guadoalmelo.it/il-vino-e-gli-etruschi-ii-la-vite-marita-tremila-e-piu-anni-di-viticoltura-ed-arte/ - http://www.rmoa.unina.it/2697/1/Gambari.pdf - https://ilvinoracconta.net/2017/01/08/la-vitivinicoltura-umbra-una-storia-appena-iniziata/ Images : - Details of images taken by Mario Tosti: “ Our ordeal ” - Ed. Petruzzi - Città di Castello, 2005 (pp. 213 and 260). - "Tablet" 1: 25.000 IGM, relief 1941, "Niccone", Sheet 122 I, NE of the Italian Charter - "Tavoletta" 1: 25.000, IGM, relief 1941, "Umbertide": Sheet 122 I, NE of the Charter of Italy - Historical photo images of Umbertide from a former convent: Historical Photographic Archive of the Municipality of Umbertide - Image "Drunk Moses": https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Drunkness_of_Noah_by_Jacopo_Chimenti.jpg - Video, photos not indicated otherwise and editing : Francesco Deplanu. Recommended insights of museum pages of the "rural" world in Umbria : - https://archeologiaarborea.com/ - https://www.muvit.it/viticoltura/ DEEPENING In-depth study taken from Ottavi Ottavio, " THEORETICAL-PRACTICAL VITICULTURE ", CASALE, TYPOGRAPHY BY CARLO CASSONE, 1885 (pp. 750-760). […] “ VINES MARITED TO TREES AND PERGOLATES There are therefore many inflexible supporters of specialization, who at any cost would like to separate the vine from every crop: on the contrary, there are others, which Marconi (2) calls opportunists, who they fight to the bitter end so that the union or consociation is maintained and extended. Among these we, although we feel that our sympathies are for specialists, we want to be conciliatory. For this purpose, unlike other authors of viticulture, we dedicate a chapter to the cultivation of the vine married to trees. We condemn the principle as they do; we admit, however, that in certain plains it can be tolerated, that in some cases the vines cannot be protected differently from freezing temperatures, and that there are some vines that do not tolerate the pruning of low-vine systems, as we have already warned on page. 616; finally, we admit that for now many cannot or do not want to transform. Here are sufficient reasons why we have to deal with this theme, and to study ways of making the product of vines married to trees less intermittent, more abundant and more chosen. CHAPTER XXIV The vines married to trees and pergolas, § 1. Choice of tree. - The trees that are used as living support for the vines are maple, walnut, cherry, ash, mulberry, poplar, olive and many others, fruit-bearing or not. Among these the least convenient are: walnut, because it casts too much shade, and in fact in the Veneto it is gradually being abandoned, whereas before it was very common; the elm which in compact, clayey lands replaces the poplar: but it has a root system that is too developed; ash and oak for the same reason. The olive tree has a wide branching, numerous and persistent leaves, and then requires care and nourishment, so while it would damage the vine it would suffer a lot on its part. In marshy soils some marry the vine to the poplar, the willow, the which plants can withstand moist soil; however, the vine cannot do this, and it soon saddens you. Fruit trees do not seem convenient to us, although recommended by the great Ridolfi in his Oral Lectures, because "they will produce little, he said, but it will be something, while the infertile supports do nothing but exhaust the earth uselessly. »Except that, with the exception of respect for the great master, we observe that our common fruit trees, pear, apple, plum and almond trees exhaust the soil too much, and being too leafy they would need strong and dangerous pruning. pp. 750-752 [...] Therefore, those trees whose root system is very little extended and which can hardly exploit the soil seem to us to be quite advisable. In this condition we find the wild cherry and the maple that was called by Gasparin a living stake. The field maple (acer campestre) is much less developed in height than the others (acer pseudoplatanus and acer platanoides), has slow growth, is satisfied with arid soils and also comes up from the seed. With the exception of tuffaceous soils it thrives everywhere. The seedlings are suitable to be planted after 4 or 5 years. The maple has short and shallow roots and easily lends itself to being pruned into different shapes. The field maple receives different names, according to the provinces in which it is grown as a live support for the vines: loppo, chioppo, fìstucchio, testucchio, stucchio and even poplar. The poplar of the Tuscan peasants is therefore not the common Populus, on the contrary it is known that in various parts of Tuscany the peasants usually give the name of poplar or chioppo to any living support of the vines. pp. 755 [...] § 4. Care in the early years. - We replace the trees and vines that the drought had already caused to succumb, we put some poles or branches around the vines themselves so that the new shoots can climb. If the planting was done with cuttings they, as soon as planted, are cut to 2 buds above the ground to have beautiful jets, and you must immediately begin to hoe the earth around them at least 2 times during the state. The trees are cleaned from the suckers that sprout on the trunk. This has been done since the 1st year. On the third the vines are pruned to two buds and the inter-row is spade and hoe, thus making the war against weeds. This inter-row, which in the Veneto region is called bina, wants to be absolutely clear so as not to bring a serious blow to the vitality of the vine from the early years. Leaving clear those two or three meters that form the inter-row you can have al fourth year the vines are already so robust that they can be propagated and pruned with a bud at least above ground, at a distance of half a meter from the tree. And so to the fifth one can come to possess branches of a decent length which are secured to the trunk of the tree (figure 280). In the meantime, the tree also needs care, as would be pruning, the peeling of the thin twigs, shortening even the gluttons, it is finally necessary to try to give all the branches the shape of a regular vase. The shape of a vase or glass, or basket as it is called in Tuscany, very open in the middle, is reached towards the sixth or seventh year. The trees must be cleaned annually from small useless jets, and since this rigorous cleaning causes the branches to acquire a lumpy shape, this is remedied "by leaving at the apex of each branch a couple of shoots, which attracting the activity of life towards them of the plant, in a certain way avoid the release of a greater number of buds on the branches, and maintain in milder proportions those lumpy forms on the branches themselves (1). " The vines are always pruned to two or three buds until they show that they have acquired a certain vigor, and give shoots at least one meter long. Don't be too quick to cut off all the side suckers that sprout on the vine over the course of the year. It is necessary that the juice of the vine does not go all to lengthen the shaft, but also reinforces it so that these suckers either respect each other or only sprout at four or five leaves. Once the vine has reached the height of the tree, it is arranged and arranged in the 1 'Emilia, 1' Umbria, the Terra di lavoro and the others that adopt this system of educating the vines. " Pp. 760 [...] § 7. Economy in the supports. - We must now mention to some economies that could be made in the various systems of educating the tall vine. It is well known that many also have willow, acacia and poplar poles as a subsidiary to living trees, to which the braids or garlands of the fruiting shoots are placed. In some systems (Mantovano, Bolognese) the rational distribution of these braids requires five, six often more than ten poles for each tree. Couldn't we now replace the very expensive poles with iron wire? Mr. YOU. freedmen in the Giornale d'Agricoltura, Industria e Commercio, declares from his own experience and following easy economic calculations that he is very much in favor of this modification. In addition to being cheaper, this gives rise to a perfect distribution of shoots, being able to tie along the wire all the isolated shoots and not wrapped in braids as is done in the case of the pole production. Finally, a more abundant vegetation would be obtained, because it is freer, more airy, more exposed to light and heat. Another modification is proposed by Prof. Viglietto, who hardly admits the vine married to trees and even in the conditions in which it is necessary to keep the vine very high he would like the number of living trees to be as small as possible. «A luxuriant fruit-bearing tree - he says - every 8 or 10 meters, and in between low-cost poles, linked by three or more iron wires longitudinally to the row, can generally replace the exorbitant number of living people with whom we afforest our vineyards. »And he concludes:« We therefore understand: exclusive vineyard and dry farming, or at least preponderance of this means of support. " Sources: Images from the original work (p. 755 and 757): https://archive.org/details/viticolturateori00unse/page/n3/mode/2up Full text, available online from the following address https://archive.org/stream/viticolturateori00unse/viticolturateori00unse_djvu.txt Aggiornamento agosto 2022 La vite maritata a Sagraia: nuove indicazioni di presenza nel tempo Come avviene nella ricerca storica, un approfondimento di diverso tipo può mettere in luce indicazioni per altri argomenti. E' il caso della presenza nel tempo della vite maritata a sostegno vivo nella zona della tomba di Sagraia. Sistemando il materiale edito per l'articolo "Amerigo Contini: l’aviazione nelle guerre mondiali e la scoperta della Tomba di Sagraia ", ci si è presentata una fonte iconografica significativa realizzata dallo stesso scopritore della tomba, un anno dopo, ovvero nel 1920, che ci indica la presenza della vite in loco (dove persiste tutt'ora anche se con esemplari abbandonati come si può vedere nel video iniziale): lo schizzo estratto da “Atti delle Reale Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Anno 1922, Serie V, Notizie degli scavi di antichità, Vol XIX, Roma, 1922. ". L'allora aviatore ed architetto (poi generale) Amerigo Contini disegna sopra la tomba una parte di terreno rappresentata con la coltura promiscua della vite, precisamente si vede bene l'inizio di quattro "filari" di vite maritata a supporto vivo. Immagine estratta da “Atti delle Reale Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Anno 1922, Serie V, Notizie degli scavi di antichità, Vol XIX, Roma, 1922. Pagina 110-116/532. La precisione e la cura di Amerigo Contini, proprietario dei terreni, mette in evidenza la presenza di questo tipo di coltivazione Fonti: “Atti delle Reale Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Anno 1922, Serie V, Notizie degli scavi di antichità, Vol XIX, Roma, 1922. Pagina 110-116/532 Aggiornamento presenza vite maritata nel 1920

The population over time Le linee di indagine I "numeri" del Piccolpasso Il Giorgi ed il popolamento sparso I "dati" della Diocesi nel 1808 I censimenti del Regno d'Italia Lo spostamento verso la città L'esubero dei lavoratori e la "morte" della mezzadria L'immigrazione L'immigrazione neocomunitaria The radical change in the resident population followed a growing trend motivated by the need to search for a better place to live, a possibility linked to job opportunities. Seasonal jobs and the development of engineering have laid the foundation for being an attractive place. Local emigration is the result of displacement flows from North Africa and South America but also from European "history". The fall of the Berlin wall triggered Albanian emigration to Italy, and today the second "foreign resident population" in Umbertide has Albania as its starting country. The enlargement of the EU in 2006-2007 has given way to an increase in "neucomunitari" residents from Romania, the third place of origin of foreign residents in Umbertide. The first sudden "detachment" of the resident population immigrated to Umbertide, already full-bodied because in a ratio of about 1/16 compared to the total resident, it certainly happened between 2002 and 2006. According to the survey " Umbertide Economy and society: the municipality and the territory " of the Umbra Research Agency, it went from 905 foreigners residing in the municipality to 1666. Based on ISTAT data referring to 31 December 2005, the population from Morocco it reached 501 units (299 males and 202 females). Residents from Albania reached 394 people (210 males and 184 females) ; from Algeria 140 (97 males and 43 females); From UK 77 (38 males and 39 females); from Romania 73 (29 males and 44 females); from South America 80 (32 males and 40 females). The dynamics linked to the enlargement of the European Union have also influenced the radical change in the population of Umbria, especially that relating to 2006-2007 which saw the enlargement extend to Romania and Bulgaria. The enlargement in 2007 led, in fact, to a notable increase of "neo-community" residents in the demography of the Municipality of Umbertide. Above all, the Romanian population increased exponentially: it went from 48 residents (21 males and 27 females) in December 2004 to 234 residents (108 males and 126 females) and in 2016 there were 459 residents (176 males and 283 females). Le linee di indagine (edited by Francesco Deplanu) As regards the demography of the territory, we propose a diachronic path, from the sixteenth century. to date, in search of significant trend lines even if exposed to the diversity of sources and survey times. We believe, however, that we can identify two "lines" of trend: 1) the change of an almost millennial form of settlement, from "scattered" to "centralized", 2) the inversion from being a land of emigration, starting in the 1960s, to being a "land of arrival", from the end of the 21st century. This attempt will not be able to give certain indications. This is because both for the vastness of the time considered that due to the lack of cognitive demographic interests in the surveys that reached us from the sixteenth century to the nineteenth century, as well as the differences in the forms of survey: from the castle to the countryside, from the “fires” to the “people.” As regards the sources, after the "Council of Trent" up to the unification of Italy it is above all the Dioceses and parishes that can give us important information. Only with the Kingdom of Italy and the contemporary ISTAT data of the Italian Republic can we get a less uncertain idea of the evolution of demography as a whole. For centuries the population of Fratta it remained in an extremely limited number. Piccolpasso in 1565 shows us in fact between 300 and 400 inhabitants. Giorgi's map, from a few decades later, always shows us a small amount of population within the walls, but it gives us a new "datum." That is, most of the population lived around the walls, and it was distributed in a "sparse" manner. Settlement that was consequence of an economic system, sharecropping, which will characterize the distribution of the fine population to the second half of the twentieth century. We can dare to find a line of union between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries, regardless of the increase in the population in approaching us, or in the constant division of the population between "countryside" and "city walls". scattered settlement linked to the exploitation of the territories: the system sharecropper. Since then, but concentrated in the last 70-80 years, we can identify two "revolutions" that have changed the use of the territory and the Umbertidese demography. The first great revolution was the crisis and then the end of sharecropping, which led to the abandonment of the countryside and the growth of the urban fabric, as well as the emigration of the population. Emigration lasted until the 1970s; internal and abroad. The second great revolution depended on another change in the production system: mechanization in the primary and secondary sector, which made the local production system attractive for some areas of the world, from seasonal to metalworking jobs. This second major demographic change transformed us from a land of emigration to a land of immigration. Let's start with "order": Piccolpasso in " The plants and portraits of the cities and lands of Umbria under the government of Perugia ", he spoke of 80 fires connected to the castle: " Fratta dei Sigli di Uberto fires about 80. ". Historians in general hazard a number of 4-6 "souls" for "fire", we can consequently think of a population of 320 to 480 people. Piccolpasso, "The plants and portraits of the cities and lands of Umbria subject to the government of Perugia" by G. Cecchini, Publisher of the National Institute of Archeology and Art History, Rome 1963. Image from "Central Institute for the Single Catalog of Italian Libraries and for bibliographic information": https://manus.iccu.sbn.it//opac_viewImagesManuscript.php? ID = 69561 Giorgi's Charter from the mid-16th century it is instead a "thematic map" which had the intent to represent the numerical entity of the "souls" present in the various parishes (two sheets obtained from two copper plates (475 x 680 mm each) of the Diocese of Gubbio. " Diocese of the city of Gubbio, described by the Most Reverend Don Vbaldo Georgii Clerico Evgubino ... " It is the representation of the data that the bishop Mariano Savelli, in 1567, asked to indicate to the parish priests with the number of families belonging to their parish and the distances that separated from the parish church, under the penalty of 50 florins as a fine for “reluctant” parish priests. Perhaps the final figures are at the end of 1570. The Charter (98 x 68 cm) is a real demographic census of the Diocese of Gubbio according to what was established in the Council of Trent, 1563, for the reorganization of the parishes. The Charter was created with data regarding the state of souls, with the location of parish churches, parish churches, inhabited areas, villas. On the map there is a division into squares and rectangles that roughly delimits the parish district, usually with numbers indicating the distance in miles from the parish. In the southern area, where our "Fratta" insists, we see that the percentage of dispersion of the rural population is very high, this suggests to "sharecropping". In contemporary documents there is also talk of "vinea" which indicates the cultivation of the vine practiced on the ground. Surely this spatial distribution of the population, with scattered settlements, speaks to us of a new tranquility of being able to live outside the city walls compared to past centuries and of a productivity of such places. It does not describe the territory, where it is cultivated or wooded, but the distribution of the population. With some precision, however, it is also possible to obtain the number of inhabitants of the various places, as well as of the entire diocese which had more than 20,000 inhabitants, taking into account that each "house" indicated 5 people. In the quadrant of the parishes around “La Fratta” they are identifiable 42 “houses” outside the walls and 22 inside. Within the walls of ancient Fratta, with the parish of San Giovanni in good evidence, considering this "rule" to be true, there are 22 "houses", or about 110 people. walls in the countryside. Since the houses in the quadrant are 42. For the same counting system there are 210 people outside the walls, about 320 people in the parishes of Fratta. Very similar to that of Piccolpasso. "Diocese of the city of Gubbio, described by the Most Reverend Don Vbaldo Georgii Clerico Evgubino ..." Image from "Lithographic copy of Giorgi's map published in 1574" by the Flag-waving Group of Gubbio with the contribution of Enrico Passeri Financial Advisor of the Azimut Group ", 2005 Until the Kingdom of Italy we have no univocal and easy to interpret data while the contemporary age, with its large population movements from the countryside to the city in the post-war period and the immigration flows of the last decades, can be investigated in more detail. These will be the events on which we will focus in order to better understand in which direction the identity of our country can go. For this at the end of the page you will find the references to the subsections of "arrivals", with the first stories of the people who arrived with the immigration phenomenon and of the "departures", with the first stories of our emigrants especially in the period 1950-70. However, we know, for example, that in the register of souls of the Diocese of Gubbio of July 1808 it appears that in the "Fratta" there were 346 inhabitants in the parishes of San Giovanni Battista and of Santa Croce (with Sant'Erasmo) 1051 inhabitants, both urban and rural, there were therefore 1397 souls in total. The source is a post by the local historian Cece di Gubbio . However, it is impossible to compare these data with those of about 50 years later, with the Kingdom of Italy, which present more than 10,000 inhabitants in the municipality of Umbertide. This is because the Diocese does not correspond to the whole territory of the "Comunità di Fratta" Institution (denomination of 1808) and there should be other parishes under the Dioceses of Città di Castello or Perugia, with the relative documents. Other information on the settlement of Umbertide in the nineteenth century comes to us from Renato Codovini thanks to the reworking made by Fabio Mariotti in our section on " Fratta-Umbertide 800 ". During the Napoleonic rule, in 1812 the" Maire "Magnanini communicated as a population of the Community of thicket "about 1,000 inhabitants", to specify after a few days a smaller number, 790 inhabitants. The first more precise indications in the following decade they do not come from a secular source, but from a religious one. Codiovini informs us: " In 1833 we have a first" state of souls ", a statistical survey wanted by the bishop, made by the parish priests house by house and therefore quite reliable. From this we learn that the inhabitants of the town are 825 gathered in 205 families, with an average of 4 people per family. Of these, 140 belong to the parish of S. Erasmo and S. Croce united and 65 families to that of S. Giovanni Battista. ". The fluctuations of the population, however limited, may depend on which parishes or settlements are counted. Certainly the population was not only minor, but was still mainly present in the rural settlements and in the smaller villages of the surrounding area. The evolution of the population from the Kingdom of Italy to today However aggregate, why total, these are the general data of the Umbertidese population from the unification of Italy to today. They serve as a basis for reflecting on the population movement of the last 150 years, even if they do not give us the measure of the significant movement of inhabitants from the countryside to the city. Year Residents 1861 10.184 1871 11.174 1881 11,537 1901 13.007 1911 13,248 1921 14,588 1931 15,647 1936 15.146 1951 16,077 1961 14,497 1971 13,498 1981 14,183 1991 14,379 2001 15,254 2016 16.607 According to prof. Bruno Porrozzi who dealt with it in his book " Umbertide and its Territory. History and images. " In the 1950s our town began to develop towards the south-east of the still well-defined central nucleus near the "Fratta" as the city center is still called by older people . The majority of the population was still in the countryside but would later move to the urban area. In the countryside characterized by polyculture "p greased " from farmhouses, farms and modest hamlets, it was inhabited essentially by families of sharecroppers and other nuclei, linked to some extent with agriculture (blacksmiths, farriers, carpenters, masons, small traders, brokers, etc.); everyone worked to provide the citizens with supplies . "With the birth of an artisanal and industrial development in the 1960s, together with the change in the rules on sharecropping in 1964, the population shifted towards the center. At the beginning of the 1980s, prof. Porrozzi " In the Municipality of Umbertide, sixty-one sharecroppers with one hundred and fifty-nine units currently operate in agriculture, thirty companies with one hundred and twelve permanent employees, fifty-six companies with temporary workers, three hundred and seventy-nine companies directly managed with seven hundred and sixty units. Five cooperatives have been set up (CAU , Molino Popolare Altotiberino, Fratelli Cervi, CIZAUP, Alto Tevere Tobacco Producers), which employ a few dozen permanent workers. ". In this modernized context, the population had chosen to move towards the city center. The synthesis more significant than the changes, however, is not only the doubling over twenty years of downtown population from 4780 a 8629 people, out of about 15,000 inhabitants of the Common, but they are data concerning the work sector from the primary sector compared to the secondary sector . Within 30 years, this relationship is reversed completely; these are the numbers: we passed by 4957 agricultural workers in 1961 just 1359 in '71, and even a 1104 workers in 1981. While in the face of 1363 workers in industry in 1961, you grow up to 1960 employees in '71 and 2249 in 1981; with a clear shift of workers in the service sector not taken into consideration by the data of prof. Bruno Porrozzi, in “ Umbertide and his Territory. History and images ". To understand which sector of the primary sector was affected, let's insert a new graph between sharecroppers and direct farmers even if with only the data of 1970 and 1982: in 1970 there were 1340 sharecroppers and in 1982 alone 159, in 1970 they were counted 918 direct farmers which will be reduced slightly in 1982 or a 760 direct workers. In short, it was the sharecropping that died. The resident population of Umbertide which had reached 16,077 units in 1951, began to abruptly decline. In 1971 only 13,498 residents were registered ("Umbertide economy and society: the Municipality and the territory ", p. 22. AUR data processing on ISTAT data). The need for emigration from 1950 to 1970 If you also consider Giovanni's studio De Santis " Anthropo-geographical features of the << Alta Valle del Tevere >> area" in " The upper Tiber Valley ", extracted from " Umbria Economica" , year III, n. 4 - 1982 printed thanks to the then "Banca Popolare di Spoleto", we can see how from 1951 to 1971 the population of the Municipality of Umbertide decreased by 14.4 percent, from 16,077 to 13,498 a significant migratory flow towards foreign destinations and the Roman area generated by the inability of the production system to "maintain" the population. It influenced greatly in the precarious agricultural production system, innervated for some time from the cultivation of tobacco, the "peronospera tabacina", second Paola Laura Ciabucchi " Shadows and lights of industrial development in the Upper Tiber Valley " which reduced the cultivated area in the Upper Tiber Valley by 50% and reduced the number of employees from 1664 to 217. From that moment there was a need to grow industrial areas in our areas, allowing the current industrial development. Industrial development, which together with seasonal agricultural work and the normal tendency of emigrants to move to where they exist emigrated nuclei of the same areas has favored an inversion of trend in the population leading to the current situation of more than 16,000 inhabitants, substantially identical to 1951. In particular, the evolution of the engineering system, born connected to agricultural production already before the war, saw the birth of several companies and in 1963 the birth of Metalmeccanica Tiberina. The agricultural production system first, with seasonal jobs also linked to the cultivation of tobacco, and today the engineering and "automotive" sector, which grew alongside several large companies in the area, have acted as a catalyst for many people coming both from abroad and from other Italian regions. Current Population Growth: Immigration In fact, in recent decades, in this Umbertidese population has increased the number of "foreign" families; the definition that follows is that of the ISTAT legislation which identifies foreign residents without "citizenship": this research it does not identify the situation of naturalized immigrants, a recent phenomenon. In about 15 years it has rapidly gone from less than a thousand resident foreigners to more than 2700 according to the latest Census which was also distributed with a division by nationality of arrival. For 2020 we only have the aggregate data of 2611 people residing in Umbertide with non-Italian citizenship: Foreign resident population on 1st January 2002- Total 905 Foreign resident population as of January 1 - 2016 -Total 2703 Sources http://demo.istat.it/str2002/index03.html http://demo.istat.it/pop2019/index.html http://www.comuni-italiani.it/054/056/statistiche/popolazione.html Also from the same Istat source of the 2016 census it is possible to know which are the different nationalities of origin of resident foreign citizens: four, Moroccan, Albanian, Romanian and Algerian are over 100 units. In short, a substantial part of the resident population in Umbertide is the bearer of varied histories and cultures. The awareness of how the past has structured the traditions in addition to the rural and urban territory in which they live today should be everyone's heritage, especially from the second generations who, in addition to bringing their own cultural and experience baggage, will have to feel part of the social fabric general as completely as possible. If it is possible to trace a synthesis of these last 40-50 years, it can be seen that in the last decade of the last century, 1980-2000, a stable community residing in Umbertide has materialized, in order of magnitude, Moroccan, Albanian, Algerian and the United Kingdom. In the following twenty years the Moroccan and Albanian communities have grown, while the Algerian ones have remained stable and the United Kingdom; the Romanian community, on the other hand, ranks third in terms of total attendance. As for the flows of the largest community, that of Morocco, emigration to Italy, rather than to France as had traditionally occurred previously, developed after the oil crisis of the 1970s. On the basis of the general indications that should be compared with those of Umbria, there are two main regions from which to leave for Italy: Chaouia and Tadla, located in the central area of Morocco, two of the 16 regions then abolished in 2005. The Moroccan community in our territory has grown steadily, in 2005 there are 501 residents, in 2016 the residents are registered 757 people. Different speech, as written above, for the Algerian community which appears to have decreased since 2005, where there were 126 residents, while to date are indicated in number of 140. Stable in absolute numbers, but relegated by one "place", it now ranks fifth among the nationalities of foreign residents, it is Great Britain, with 77 people in 2005 and 78 residents in 2016. After the data and numbers of the demographic change we can continue in the "memory", with the singles screw e stories of the old and new people from Umberto I. By clicking on the "hot words" highlighted in yellow the first stories of who left and who arrived . SOURCES: - Bruno Porrozzi, Umbertide and his Territory. History and images. Ass. Pro Loco Umbertide, publishing Cartolibreria 10+ 10 of Venti Maurizio, Umbertide - Simona Bellucci, Umbertide in the 20th century: 1943-2000, Nuova Prhomos Editions, 2018. - Paola Laura Ciabucchi " Shadows and lights of industrial development in the Upper Tiber Valley " in " The Upper Tiber Valley ", extracted from "Umbria Economica, year III, n.4 - 1982 print of the "Banca Popolare di Spoleto" (p. 87 -89) - John De Santis " Anthropo-geographical features of the << Alta Valle del Tevere >> area" in " The upper Tiber Valley ", extracted from "Umbria Economica, year III, n.4 - 1982 print of the "Banca Popolare di Spoleto" (p. 55) - AA. VV., “ Umbertide Economy and society: the municipality and the territory ” of the Umbra Research Agency (AUR), 2008. - “Lithographic copy of Giorgi's map published in 1574”, by the Flag-waving Group of Gubbio with the contribution of Enrico Passeri Financial Advisor of the Azimut Group ”, 2005. - Maria Oda Graziani, "The Georgi card", Municipality of Gubbio and Ass. Sbandieratori Gubbio with the contribution of Enrico Passeri Financial Advisor of the Azimut Group, Graphic Art Gubbio, 2005 - http://demo.istat.it/str2002/index03.html - http://demo.istat.it/pop2019/index.html - http://www.comuni-italiani.it/054/056/statistiche/popolazione.html - " THE MOROCCAN MIGRANT AS DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION AGENT IN THE COMMUNITIES OF ORIGIN ", European Commission - Directorate-General for Justice and Home Affairs, Exodus edizioni srl, Milan 2002 (pp. 96 and following can be downloaded at the link: https://www.puntosud.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/migrante-marocchino_ITA.pdf) - h ttp: //leg15.camera.it/cartellecomuni/leg14/RapportoAttivitaCommissioni/testi/14/14_cap05_sch04.htm - https://www.umbertidestoria.net/fratta-umbertide-dell-ottocento - https://manus.iccu.sbn.it//opac_viewImagesManuscript.php?ID=69561 Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com Marc Bloch: «The good historian resembles the ogre in the fairy tale: where he smells human flesh, there he knows that he is his prey. " I "numeri" del Piccolpasso Il Giorgi ed il popolamento sparso I "dati" della Diocesi nel 1808 I censimenti del Regno d'Italia Lo spostamento verso la città L'esubero dei lavoratori e la "morte" della mezzadria L'immigrazione L'immigrazione neocomunitaria

THE PATHS OF MEMORY Curated by Fabio Mariotti 1944 is remembered in Umbertide as the most dramatic year in the history of the city. World War II brought with it a long trail of blood, destruction and despair due to the tragic events that preceded the liberation of the city on July 5th. The allied bombing of Borgo San Giovanni, in the heart of the city, with 70 dead; the retaliation of Serra Partucci, with 5 dead; the massacre of Penetola, with 12 deaths; the massacre of Monsiano, with 8 deaths. Another 6 civilians lost their lives between 3 and 15 July in the territory between Preggio, Monestevole and Montemigiano. Sigifrido Bartocci, killed by German soldiers on May 8 near Civitella Ranieri and then many other civilian victims of bombings, cannonades and the explosion of grenades in Umbertide and in the surrounding areas (for details see "the Atlas of Memory" by Alvaro Tacchini) . To all of them, involuntary heroes of human madness, and to their families, we dedicate these paths of memory, so as not to forget and to pass them on to new generations. The bombing of Borgo San Giovanni Twelve British Curtiss P - 40 Kittyhawk aircraft departed from the Cutella field airport in Puglia to destroy the road bridge over the Tiber and make it more difficult for the Germans to retreat. It was April 25, 1944. A date that the people of Umbria will not forget. Between 9 and 9.30 the allied squadron flew over the sky of Umbertide, with its load of two large-caliber bombs per plane (a total of about 4 tons of explosives). After several vaults above Romeggio, the planes headed towards Serra Partucci, in favor of the sun, from which they swooped down towards the bridge over the Tiber. But the bombs (as Roberto Sciurpa wrote in his volume “Umbertide in the 20th century 1900 - 1946) were not yet“ intelligent ”(if ever there will be intelligent bombs) and they often missed the target. This unfortunately also happened to Umbertide. The bombs, dropped at regular intervals of about 30 seconds between one couple and the other, instead of hitting the bridge, all but two ended up above the houses in the historic center. It was a massacre. 70 people, including 46 women, were buried under the rubble. The spectacle that presented itself to the first responders was tremendous. Hideously mutilated bodies lay on the square and the hamlet of San Giovanni was a heap of smoking rubble from which moans and invocations for help rose. Despite the fright and the risk of new bombings, the people did their utmost to help the wounded and extract the bodies of the fallen from the rubble, placing them temporarily around the Collegiate Church. It was a race against time because the bridge remained intact and the planes could reappear at any moment. This happened in the afternoon, at 4 pm, and this time the bombs spared the town but did not succeed in destroying the road bridge whose north arch was only destroyed on April 30th. So many deaths, so much pain, a devastated community, due to a military action which is probably useless and which has not even reached the set goal. This is war. These are what we now call "side effects" that always and inexorably affect civilians, the most defenseless people. To avoid these effects too, there is only one universal system, stop wars and always work for peace. The list of the 70 victims: Pupils Pierucci Antonio, Arrunategni Rivas Mario, Baiocco Giulia, Banelli Anna, Banelli Amleto, Barattini Scartocci Neodemia, Barbagianni Antonio, Bartoccioli Giulia, Bebi Ceccarelli Elda, Bebi Luciano, Bebi Fileni Maria Domenica, Bebi Banelli Tecla, Bendini Annunziata, Bernacchi Maria Anna, Bernacchi Benedetto, Bernacchi Raffaele, Bernacchi Valentino, Boldrini Cecilia, Boldrini Bellezzi Elisabetta, Boncristiani Tommasi Rosa, Borgarelli Armede Gina, Borgarelli Ester, Cambiotti Amalia, Caprini Selleri Assunta, Ceccarelli Marianella, Ceccarelli Rosanna, Ciocchetti Fausto, Ciocchetti Giuseppe, Cozzari Galmacci Veronica Cozzari Verginia, Donnini Domenico, Donnini Gianfranco, Fagioli Franca, Ferrari Alfonso, Galmacci Realino, Gambucci Ubaldo, Grandi Giuseppina, Leonessa Licinio, Bernacchi Marianna manuals, Anna Paola screeds, Mastriforti Cambiotti Marianna, Mazzanti Graziella, Merli Mazzanti Argentina, Mischianti Angelo, Mischianti Ida, Monfeli Galeno, Montanucci Fiorucci Felicia, Mortini Elvira, Orlandi Sonaglia Augusta, Palazzetti Bernacchi Angela, Palazzetti Assunta, Pambuffetti Giovanna, Perini Giuseppe, Pierotti Coletti Giulia, Porrini Elisei Assunta, Renato Simonucci Bergasina, Renga Rosalinda, Renzini Pazzi Maria, Romitelli Rina, Rondini Mischianti Luisa, Sabbiniani Santini Leopolda Batazzi Letizia, Scartocci Mario, Selleri Angelo, Selleri Giuseppe, Selleri Pasquale, Tognaccini Delma Beans, Tognaccini Barbagianni Zarelia, Violins Lina, Villarini Bruno. Sources: - Mario Tosti: "Beautiful works" - Ed. Municipality of Umbertide - 1995 - Mario Tosti: “Our ordeal” - Ed. Petruzzi - Città di Castello 2005 - Roberto Sciurpa: "Umbertide in the 20th century 1900 - 1946" - Ed. GESP - 2006 Photo by Roberto Balducci from the volume by Bruno Porrozzi "Umbertide in the pictures - from the 16th century to the present day - Pro loco Umbertide - 1977 The plaque commemorating the victims On the rubble in search of survivors On the right, the ruins of the hamlet of San Giovanni Right, below, via Cibo after the bombing Left, below. the ruins of the sacristy of the Collegiate La rappresaglia di Serra Partucci L'eccidio di Penetola Vittime civili ad Umbertide - A. Tacchini La strage di Monsiano (Preggio) Il bombardamento di Borgo San Giovanni Le battaglie prima della liberazione - A. Tacchini La Liberazione di Umbertide - A. Tacchini Partigiani di Umbertide Il Diaro di Rino Pucci La storia di Palazzoli Natalino di Massimo Pascolini La storia di Ciro Monsignori Atlante della Memoria di Alvaro Tacchini Il bombardamento di Borgo San Giovanni The retaliation of Serra Partucci June 24, 1944 was Saturday. In Serra Partucci, St. John the Baptist was celebrated and the day before, according to the ancient custom, the petals of the wildflowers were collected and soaked in a basin. With that scented water the next morning we washed. So did the inhabitants of the Serra who that Saturday had gathered in the small church for the mass celebrated by Don Giuseppe Filippi. Suddenly some Germans with their commander had entered the church and, screaming, they had made everyone go out into the open, arranging them in a row in front of the soldiers with their weapons drawn. The German officer, in broken Italian, explained what was happening. A German soldier on a motorcycle nearby had been injured on the road the day before. So, although he was not dead, the inhuman law of retaliation had taken place which provided for the shooting of 5 hostages for the wounded German (in case of death there would have been 10). Since four "banditen" had already been arrested, they had come to take the fifth. It must be said, to tell the truth, that the Germans had already arrested five hostages but one of these, Quinto Centovalli, was without a hand and the Germans had decided to exclude him from being shot. The choice among those present at the mass fell on Domenico Cernich , a young 26-year-old tailor from Gorizia who was in Umbertide, together with his brothers, awaiting the arrival of the allies. Domenico, together with Radicchi Mario (24 years - farmer), Radicchi Giuseppe (17 years - farmer), Centovalli Natale (20 years - student) and Ciribilli Domenico (26 years - tailor) were taken to the tobacco dryer and tricidated here. from a few bursts of machine gun. At eight in the morning, the five bodies were transported to the Serra cemetery on two oxen-drawn treks. A stele and a stone commemorate the terrible retaliation. In the memorial stone, built in the twentieth anniversary of the Resistance, these words are written: “Here the German barbarian left gruesome memories of unfair retaliation. Five innocent young people fell victim to his fury on June 24, 1944. Justice, prayer, peace invoke the missing from the survivors. " Domenico Cernic La rappresaglia di Serra Partucci The door of the church The wall of the shooting The massacre of Penetola What is exposed in these pages is the story of an Umbrian family and its tragic encounter with history. Aspects and circumstances will be common to many other Italians and the story is one that all those who lived in 1944 can bear witness. In recounting the particular experiences of some individuals unknown to them, I hope to pass on to my children and those of my peers a less sterile and more aware knowledge of the final stages of the Second World War and of the positive social and democratic transformations of Italian society. Because, even the humblest of Italian citizens, emerging from the war and the fascist dictatorship supported by the values of democracy and the Republican Constitution, were able to overcome grief and injustice, free themselves from medieval social practices and, in just two generations, provide children and grandchildren all the opportunities that only a free and democratic society can offer. The great story, the one known to all of us in broad or broad terms, is a set of small, sometimes very large, personal stories. They constitute the shared collective memory or, in other cases, divided, of a nation. Putting order and seeking the objective truth in each of these little stories will prevent anyone who has a petty interest in them from mystifying the irrefutable reality of events and, for the younger generations, from forgetting what has been, drawing the necessary teaching from it. In the night between 27 and 28 June 1944, in the Umbrian high Tiber, in a farmhouse called Penetola di Niccone, six kilometers north-east of Umbertide, twelve people were brutally killed by soldiers belonging to the 305th engineers battalion of the army. German stationed in the Niccone valley. The operational dynamics of the massacre are today to our knowledge, while strong doubts and perplexities remain about the causes and modalities of the massacre itself, in many respects atypical compared to the many others that the German army stained itself during the retreat towards the line. Gothic in the summer of 1944. One of the most atrocious episodes among those that occurred in Umbria during the Second World War took place in Penetola. As with many "hidden" massacres of the war on civilians that broke out in Italy after 8 September 1943, even in the survivors of the Penetola massacre the anger of not knowing the culprits burned and in that of their descendants, like me, the desire to appease that same anger which, after so many years, prevented the definitive overcoming of mourning. Never, not even for a moment, in the course of the search for truth, was I driven by a desire for revenge against the moral or material perpetrators of the massacre. I just wanted and had to replace those who should have investigated and have not done it, not knowing or not wanting to do it. The former also belonged to my family, who lacked the strength, the education, the boldness and the money to open doors that they should have found wide open. To the latter, to those who have preferred to remain silent, to those who have chosen not to choose, to those who have disinterested themselves by evading their duty, I can only say that they would have known and could have done better and more at the moment and in the right place. ............... (Introduction from the book "Tre Nuts" by Paola Avorio) Sources: - Paola Avorio: “Three walnuts” - Ed. Petruzzi - Città di Castello - 2011 - Giovanni Bottaccioli: "Penetola, not all the dead die" - Municipality of Umbertide, 2005 The victims: Ivory Antonio, by Mario, 11 years Ivory Carlo, by Mario, 8 years Ivory Renato, by Mario, 14 years Forni Canzio, by Edoardo, 58 years Forni Edoardo, from Canzio, 16 years Forni Ezio, from Canzio, 21 years Luchetti Guido, from Avellino, 18 years Nencioni Conforto, from Menotti, 36 years old Nencioni Eufemia, from Menotti, 44 years Nencioni Ferruccio, from Menotti, 46 years Ferrini Milena, wife of Ferruccio Nencioni, 41 years Renzini Erminia, widow of Menotti Nencioni, 68 years The cottage, the memorial stone and the plaque commemorating the massacre Paola Avorio during the presentation of her book On the right, the inscription on the memorial stone the massacre (1974) Below, two internal images of the farmhouse theater of the massacre L'eccidio di Penetola The massacre of Monsiano (Preggio) In 2015, on the occasion of the centenary of the beginning of the First World War, throughout Italy and also in Europe, the need was felt to witness the tragic events, especially those still unknown, of missing and forgotten innocent people. For this reason it was decided to commemorate with a plaque a little-known massacre that took place in our territory in Monsiano, not far from Preggio, on 4 July 1944, during the passage of the front and the retreat of the Germans to the north. A bombardment by the allied forces hit a cottage where a couple of fleeing Germans were hiding. The entire rural building, now rebuilt, was razed to the ground, exterminating an entire family, the spouses Gelindo Braconi and Isolina Bellezzi and their six children, Maria (4 years), Anna (8), Lorenzo (11), Francesco (14 ), Rina (16), Luigina (19). The plaque commemorating this terrible event was applied to a small rocky boulder, located at the intersection of the provincial road with the local road that leads to Monsiano. The Municipal Administration and the population of Preggio thus wanted to bear witness to all those who, by stopping in front of the plaque, will be able to learn about the history of this family from Preggio and its tragic destiny. The ceremony was attended by the mayor of Umbertide Marco Locchi, Alberto Bufali, president of the Pro loco di Preggio and promoter, together with the Municipality and the Città di Castello section of the national association for fallen and war missing families, of the commemoration, the regional president Rosanna Tonnetti, Gianfranco Braconi, family member of the victims of the massacre, Paola Milli and Pierino Monaldi from the “Venanzo Gabriotti” Institute of Political and Social History in Città di Castello, of the National Association of Families Fallen and Missing from War. The inauguration was accompanied by the blessing given by the parish priest of Preggio Don Francesco Bastianoni and by the deposition of a crown at the foot of the tombstone on the notes of the trumpet of the master Galliano Cerrini. During the ceremony, Mario Tosti and Alvaro Tacchini were also thanked for their valuable historical research on the events that occurred in Preggio on July 4th seventy-one years ago. Sources: Alvaro Tacchini: "Tiffernate history and more" website The memorial stone that commemorates the tragic event The manifesto for the inauguration of the cippus La strage di Monsiano (Preggio) LE BATTAGLIE A MONTE MURLO, MONTE ACUTO E MONTE CORONA (2-3 luglio 1944) Dal libro “Guerra e Resistenza nell’Alta Valle del Tevere (1943-44) di ALVARO TACCHINI, Petruzzi Editore, Città di Castello 2015 I combattimenti stavano per investire le montagne a meridione della valle. In seguito allo sfondamento della Linea Albert da parte degli Alleati, i tedeschi si ritirarono lungo la successiva linea difensiva Monte Murlo - Monte Acuto - Monte Corona - fiume Assino - Montelovesco. Nutrivano la convinzione di poter resistere accanitamente su quelle alture. In effetti l'attacco scatenato dalla 10ª e dalla 25ª brigata indiana nella notte tra il 2 e il 3 luglio ebbe un esito contraddittorio. Il battaglione gurkha della 10ª, appoggiato dall'artiglieria, da uno squadrone di carri armati degli Hussars e dalle mitragliatrici dei Northumberland Fusiliers, si mosse da Castel Rigone e riuscì a conquistare Monte Murlo difeso da una settantina di tedeschi, resistendo poi a un loro contrattacco. Invece i reparti garhwali e beluci delle due brigate non furono in grado di sopraffare le difese germaniche a Monte Acuto e Monte Corona. In particolare l'attacco dei beluci a Monte Acuto si risolse, per ammissione degli stessi britannici, in un "costoso insuccesso" (1) , con 32 perdite. Si resero così conto di aver sottovalutato, per errate informazioni, la forza dei tedeschi. Quanto a Monte Corona, quel 3 luglio un reparto attaccante dei garhwali fu inchiodato sulle sue posizioni dal fuoco di sbarramento tedesco per oltre nove ore. Fonti germaniche forniscono ulteriori dettagli sulla battaglia di Monte Acuto. Un reparto di 120 inglesi e indiani riuscì in un primo momento a occupare due basi del 132° reggimento della 44ª divisione presso il villaggio di Galera, a Monte Acuto. Ma la reazione tedesca fu immediata: "Visto il valore di queste posizioni in un territorio molto frammentato e molto difficile, il comandante del reggimento colonnello Hoffmann decise di fare subito un contrattacco. 35 uomini sotto la guida del tenente Zacke, sostenuti in modo eccellente dall'artiglieria del reggimento, riuscirono ad attaccare queste basi ai fianchi e riprenderne possesso. Il nemico ebbe 35 morti e feriti e 12 prigionieri. Il bottino: una mitragliatrice, un lanciagranate, 22 fucili, 8 machine-pistole e una grande radio-trasmittente" (2) . In un altro scontro gli uomini del sergente maggiore Eder respinsero l'assalto di una trentina di nemici, che ebbero 12 morti e un prigioniero. Qualche giorno dopo, poco più a nord, lo stesso Eder si sarebbe guadagnato la prestigiosa Croce Tedesca in Oro per il valore dimostrato in combattimento: "Nella lotta uomo a uomo, che fu molto feroce, il nemico patì perdite sanguinose, ma anche Eder subì una brutta ferita per un colpo ai reni; tuttavia continuò il contrattacco fin quando perse conoscenza". Il comandante generale del 51° corpo d'armata di montagna si compiacque per l’“eccellente comportamento” della 44ª divisione: “Granatieri! Voi avete lasciato, con la vostra gloriosa fermezza, una traccia nella storia della nostra divisione H.u.D. Le battaglie del 27 giugno, ad entrambi i lati del Tevere e l'assalto a Monte Murlo e Monte Acuto del 3 luglio 1944 sono degli esempi lampanti del vostro coraggio eroico” (3) . La tenace resistenza tedesca fu comunque vana. Soprattutto la caduta di Cortona il 3 luglio, sul fronte della Valdichiana, e i progressi degli Alleati nella pianura tiberina verso Pierantonio e lungo l'Appennino umbro-toscano verso Preggio rischiavano di mettere in trappola le truppe attestate sulle roccaforti di Monte Acuto e Monte Corona. Due brigate indiane supportate dai mezzi corazzati degli Hussars avevano cominciato a muoversi da Perugia lungo il Tevere verso nord il 30 giugno. L’indomani avevano raggiunto Colombella e Ramazzano senza incontrare resistenza. L'avanzata lungo le alture a oriente del Tevere stava invece richiedendo - e da allora divenne una mossa abituale in questo settore del fronte - manovre di aggiramento che disorientavano i tedeschi e provocavano il cedimento delle loro posizioni. Nelle prime ore del 2 luglio gli anglo-indiani erano a Civitella; al tramonto raggiungevano Solfagnano. Il 3 luglio, proprio mentre i combattimenti infuriavano su Monte Corona e Monte Acuto, potei-ano dunque attaccare Pierantonio, fortemente difeso dai tedeschi appostati sulle colline sovrastanti. Negli scontri che prelusero alla conquista del paese, il 4 luglio, rifulse il valore del soldato semplice A. J. Baldwin, del 1° battaglione del King's Own Royal Regiment. Mentre gli uomini del suo plotone erano bloccati dal fuoco nemico, riuscì a strisciare fino alla postazione della mitragliatrice nemica e a catturare i cinque tedeschi che si trovavano nella trincea (4) . Ma la conquista di Pierantonio costò un prezzo elevato ai fanti del Punjab e del King's Own, che ebbero 36 uomini uccisi, tra cui tre ufficiali (5) . A prendere Preggio, il 3 luglio, fu lo squadrone D del 1° reggimento del King's Dragoon Guards. I britannici definirono quella intorno al paese una “dura battaglia”. Aprì la strada verso la valle del Niccone, ma i carri armati ebbero a che fare con un percorso ostruito da crateri e con un intenso fuoco di sbarramento di artiglieria, mortai e mitragliatrici. Le prime pattuglie di fanti riuscirono a raggiungere il torrente Niccone il 4 luglio, “dopo aver trovato innumerevoli mine e demolizioni” (6) . Come di prassi nella loro ritirata, i guastatori germanici avevano reso inservibile la strada della valle del Niccone, da essi considerata una via di rilevanza strategica (7) . Proprio quel 4 luglio il passaggio del fronte seminò la morte per la prima volta in dimensioni drammatiche tra la popolazione civile. Avrebbe dovuto essere il giorno lieto della liberazione e della fine del conflitto per quanti erano asserragliati da giorni in ogni genere di rifugio. Non fu così per i Braconi di Monsiano, vicino a Preggio. Una granata centrò la casa dove vivevano e uccise otto componenti di questa famiglia contadina: insieme al padre Gelindo e alla madre Isolina, decedettero i sei figli, di età da 4 a 19 anni. Li seppellirono nel cimitero di Preggio, in tre bare: in una dovettero sistemarci tre bambini (8) . Altri quattro civili persero la vita per esplosioni di granate tra il 3 e il 6 luglio nel territorio che va da Montecastelli a Preggio: due donne a Monestevole e Montemigiano, un anziano arrotino a Montecastelli e un colono. Note: 1) The campaign in Italy 1943-45, Official history of the Indian Armed Forces in the Second World War 1939-45, edited by Bisheshwar Prasad, D. Litt., 1960, p. 266 (Traduzione dell’autore). L’attacco a Monte Acuto partì da Pantano. 2) Friedrich Dettmer – Otto Jaus – Helmut Tolkhitt, Die 44,. Infanterie-Division Reichsgrenadier Hoch-Und Deutschmeister, Wolfersheim Berstadt, Podzung Pallas Verlag, s. d., pp. 319-320. 3) Ibidem. 4) 1 Battalion, King’s Own Royal Regiment, The Campaign In Italy June 1944 – July 1944 (in http:/www.kingsownmuseum.plus.com/1koitaly01.htm). Cfr. anche The campaign in Italy 1943-45 cit., p. 266. 5) Claudio Biscarini, Il passaggio del fronte in Umbria (giugno-luglio 1944), Fondazione Ranieri di Sorbello, Perugia 2014, p. 313. 6) 1 The King’s Dragoon Guards (The Welsh Cavalry), in MBRS. 7) Avorio, Tre noci per la memoria cit., pp. 63-67 8) Testimonianza di Fortunato Rossi. Nel 71º anniversario della strage, per iniziativa della Pro Loco di Preggio, è stata posta a Monsiano una lapide commemorativa del tragico evento. Le battaglie prima della liberazione - A. Tacchini Titolo 6 Titolo 6 LA LIBERAZIONE DI UMBERTIDE (5 luglio 1944) Dal libro “Guerra e Resistenza nell’Alta Valle del Tevere (1943-44) di ALVARO TACCHINI, Petruzzi Editore, Città di Castello 2015. Teodorico Forconi scriveva nel suo diario il 3 luglio: Il rumore spaventoso della truppa in ritirata incute terrore. [...] Intanto saltano mine e ponti; colpi da ogni parte. [...] Sulla strada secondaria comincia il passaggio serale dei soldati e mezzi in ritirata". Quello stesso giorno, a Città di Castello, pochi chilometri a nord di Falerno, dove Forconi era sfollato, i guastatori germanici facevano saltare in aria la stazione ferroviaria e procedevano con l'opera demolitrice della linea. Dall'altra parte del Tevere, sul colle di Serra Partucci a oriente di Umbertide, i contadini recatisi di buon mattino a mietere il grano s'accorsero che il fronte bellico stava ormai incombendo: "Abbiamo dovuto abbandonare in fretta il lavoro, perché si sentivano i cannoni molto vicino; cadevano granate. Tornando a casa abbiamo cominciato a lavorare vicino a casa, ma presto anche da qui siamo dovuti fuggire. Sempre più forte sparavano con l'artiglieria: una vera offensiva". La notte dal 3 al 4 luglio nessuno riuscì a dormire: "Di notte ci ha svegliato un gran boato, tutta la casa tremava, ci siamo subito alzati, vestiti e usciti fuori. Abbiamo visto saltare in aria un ponte e poi anche altri ponti. Tutta la notte sparavano terribilmente" (1) . A crollare erano i ponti della valle dell'Assino, minati dai tedeschi. Le esplosioni si susseguivano da un lato all'altro della valle. Il 5 luglio il maestro Forconi annotava: "Un fortissimo rombo: cade il ponte che unisce Trestina a Cornetto. [...] Verso sera colpi di cannone tedesco sulla via di Montecastelli". Poco prima dell'alba di quel 5 luglio, senza incontrare particolare resistenza, la 25a brigata indiana entrò a Umbertide con il 1° battaglione del King's Own Royal Regiment e ne acquisì il pieno controllo a sera con i1 3° battaglione del 1° reggimento Punjab (2) . La notte stessa alcune pattuglie in avanscoperta entrarono in contatto con i tedeschi presso Montone. Costretti ad abbandonare Monte Acuto e Monte Corona, erano dunque retrocessi sulla linea di difesa Monte Bastiola - Montone – Carpini. Contemporaneamente gli anglo-indiani consolidavano le posizioni a ovest del Tevere, portando il quartiere generale tattico della l0a brigata a Polgeto, alle pendici di Monte Acuto. Un'annotazione nel “Diario di guerra” del 1° battaglione Durham rivela come, in una guerra che pure vedeva impiegati mezzi tecnici d'avanguardia, non si potesse ancora prescindere dall'apporto dei muli su un terreno montagnoso: "I muli sono arrivati al quartier generale tattico, in quanto è impossibile usare mezzi di trasporto" (3) . Questi umili quadrupedi si sarebbero mostrati ancora essenziali nel prosieguo della guerra sulle montagne altotiberine. Intanto, in Valdichiana, gli Alleati avevano raggiunto Castiglion Fiorentino e Monte San Savino. Invece, sul fianco destro della 10a divisione indiana, procedevano più lentamente. I mezzi corazzati del 12° Lancers stavano portando avanti un "pattugliamento aggressivo" in direzione di Gubbio, ma la conformazione del territorio permetteva ai tedeschi di tener bene sotto controllo la sola via di comunicazione attraverso i monti in quella zona: "La gola era profonda e le sue pareti ripide, così che con forze esigue si poteva controllare il passo indefinitamente. I tedeschi non subirono una dura pressione a Gubbio e difesero quel nodo viario per circa un mese dalle pattuglie del 12° Lancers" (4) . Mentre a Umbertide continuavano ad affluire truppe anglo-indiane, festosamente accolte dalla popolazione, il governatore alleato il 9 agosto nominava sindaco Mariano Migliorati, al quale sarebbe succeduto di lì a pochi giorni Giuseppe Migliorati (5) . Nella campagna umbertidese veniva rinvenuto il corpo di un carpentiere di 65 anni, Emilio Paoletti, ucciso a colpi d'arma da fuoco - presumibilmente da truppe tedesche - intorno a1 24 giugno. Note: 1) Testimonianza di Daniele Cernic, in Domenico e Daniele Cernic, “Due fratelli in un diario”. 2) Secondo Raffaele Mancini (Gruppo autonomo San Benedetto – Sue origini e attività svolte nel periodo settembre 1943-luglio 1944), il 5 luglio alcuni membri del gruppo partigiano umbertidese di San Benedetto scesero nella cittadina abbandonata dai tedeschi e non ancora liberata, costituendo “un nucleo armato per impedire furti nelle case abbandonate”; si incontrarono con gli anglo-indiani “nel pomeriggio dello stesso giorno in località Buzzacchero”. 3) Diario di guerra del 1º Battaglione Durham, 5 luglio 1944, in Tosti, “Belli lavori”; il 6 luglio il quartiere generale era avanzato al castello di Montalto. Cfr. anche “Il Passaggio del Fronte. Diario di guerra di un battaglione inglese. 1º giugno 1944-31 luglio 1944”, a cura di Mario Tosti, Rotary Club Città di Castello, per il 50º anniversario della Liberazione, Città di Castello 1994. 4) The campaign in Italy 1943-1945. 5) Entrarono a far parte della prima giunta amministrativa Nello Boldrini, Tramaglino Cerrini, Angelo Martinelli, Renato Ramaccioni, Giorgio Rappini, Aspromonte Rometti, Giuseppe Rondoni e Attilio Scannavin. La Liberazione di Umbertide - A. Tacchini LE VITTIME CIVILI DELLA GUERRA NEL TERRITORIO DI UMBERTIDE Nel 1944, con l’avvicinarsi del fronte, la guerra arrivò nel nostro territorio con il suo drammatico carico di distruzione e morte. Furono circa 130 le vittime civili che persero la vita nei mesi che precedettero la liberazione della città, a partire dalla terribile devastazione del centro storico di umbertide il 25 aprile con 70 morti. Poi la rappresaglia di Serra Partucci il 24 giugno (5 morti), l’eccidio di Penetola il 28 giugno (12 morti) e la strage di Monsiano il 4 luglio (8 morti). Oltre a questi, molti altri umbertidesi sono morti in conseguenza della guerra in modi diversi fino al 1946. Qui, vogliamo rendere omaggio alla loro memoria riportando le pagine che lo storico tifernate Alvaro Tacchini ha a loro dedicato nel suo bellissimo libro “Guerra e Resistenza nell'Alta Valle del Tevere 1943-1944”. Vittime di mine e residuati bellici nel 1944-1946 - Alunni Violini Marsilio, di Dario, nato a Umbertide il 3 marzo 1910, bracciante, coniugato con Antonia Contadini, deceduto il 13 marzo 1945 a Sant'Orfeto per scoppio di ordigno esplosivo. - Mannucci Letterio, di Annibale, nato a Montone il 22 dicembre 1912, residente a Santa Giuliana, bracciante, coniugato con Zaira Ceccagnoli, deceduto il 13 marzo 1945 a Sant'Orfeto per scoppio di ordigno esplosivo. - Pannacci Francesco, di Antonio, nato a Montone l'8 maggio 1915, residente a Umbertide, fabbro, deceduto il 13 marzo 1945 a Sant'Orfeto per scoppio di ordigno esplosivo. L'esplosione della mina che uccise Alunni Violini, Mannucci e Pannacci avvenne alle ore 11.30 presso il ponte sul torrente Mussino. - Arcelli Vittorio, di Luigi, nato a Perugia il 2 agosto 1887, residente a Pierantonio, coniugato con Cecilia Borchiellini, deceduto il 12 febbraio 1945 presso il ponte sul fiume Mussino di Pierantonio per scoppio di ordigno esplosivo. - Bacini Pietro, di Attilio, nato il 24 aprile 1930 a Umbertide, dove risiedeva, colono, deceduto il 6 maggio 1946 a Felceto (Città di Castello) per scoppio di residuato bellico. - Lisetti Vincenzo, di Leopoldo, di anni 19, colono, coniugato, deceduto il 13 marzo 1945 all'ospedale di Perugia forse per ferite da scoppio di ordigno bellico esploso a Romeggio. - Broncolo Lazzaro, di Filippo, nato il 28 febbraio 1874 a Umbertide, dove risiedeva, colono, vedovo di Clelia Mochi, deceduto il 29 luglio 1944 a San Bartolomeo, presso Preggio, per scoppio di ordigno esplosivo. - Iposolfito Margherita, nata il 7 marzo 1894 a Umbertide, dove risiedeva, casalinga, coniugata con Luigi Ambrosi, deceduta il 18 marzo 1944 a Romeggio per scoppio di ordigno esplosivo. - Moroni Renato, di Sante, nato a Umbertide il 25 ottobre 1924, residente a Racchiusole, colono, deceduto il 30 agosto 1945 a Lugo di Romagna per scoppio di ordigno esplosivo. - Picottini Amedeo, detto Vittorio, di Mariano, nato il 19 giugno 1915 a Umbertide, dove risiedeva, colono, coniugato con Ines Montanucci, deceduto il 12 dicembre 1944 a Camporeggiano (Gubbio) per esplosione di mina. Mitragliamento aereo di Montecastelli Il 28 maggio 1944 morì a Montecastelli per mitragliamento aereo Carlo Belardinelli , di Vincenzo, nato il 20 novembre 1909 a Umbertide, dove risiedeva, bracciante, coniugato con Iolanda Citti. Vittima di granata a Montemigiano - Baldoni Filomena, di Domenico, nata il 17 dicembre 1894 a Umbertide, dove risiedeva, casalinga, coniugata con Nazzareno Palazzetti, deceduta il 6 luglio 1944 a Montemigiano per scoppio di granata. Vittime di bombardamenti e cannoneggiamenti a Umbertide - Alunni Esposto Franco, di Luigi, nato a Umbertide il 5 maggio 1939, residente a Preggio, di famiglia colonica, deceduto il 26 luglio 1944 a Racchiusole, presso Preggio, per ferite da scheggia di granata. - Baffetti Domenico, di Andrea, nato a Lisciano Niccone il 16 novembre 1904, residente a Preggio, colono, coniugato con Concetta Tamagnini, deceduto il 6 luglio 1944 presso Preggio per scoppio di granata. - Belardinelli Ennio, di Giuseppe, nato il 19 maggio 1922 a Umbertide, dove risiedeva, insegnante elementare, deceduto il 7 luglio 1944 per le ferite provocate dallo scoppio di una granata presso Rocca d'Aries (Montone). - Bottaccioli Stefano, di Domenico, nato il 9 maggio 1867 a Umbertide, dove risiedeva, arrotino, coniugato con Clotilde Alunni, deceduto il 5 luglio 1944 a Montecastelli per ferite all'addome prodotte da scheggia di granata. - Marconi Giuseppe, di Antonio, nato il 24 settembre 1923 a Umbertide, dove risiedeva, colono, celibe, deceduto il 25 luglio 1944 a Preggio per ferite da schegge di granata. - Simoncelli Stefano, di Napoleone, nato a Umbertide il 26 dicembre 1912, residente a Montecastelli, colono, coniugato con Olga Bazzurri, deceduto il 15 luglio 1944 all'ospedale di Perugia in seguito a ferita da mitragliatrice (o scheggia di granata). - Trinari Ugo, di Angelo, nato a Umbertide il 9 giugno 1943, residente a Preggio, di famiglia colonica, deceduto il 14 luglio 1944 a Preggio per ferite da scheggia di granata. - Vagliani Rosa, di Leopoldo, nata a Cortona il 13 gennaio 1889, residente a Umbertide, casalinga, coniugata con Giuseppe Ferranti, deceduta il 3 luglio 1944 a Monestevole per ferite da scoppio di granata. Sono inoltre deceduti per la stessa causa a Umbertide i non residenti - Betti Angelo, di Vincenzo, nato e residente a Perugia, di anni 72, coniugato con Oliva Bistocchi, deceduto il 23 giugno 1944 all'ospedale di Umbertide per ferite all'addome da scheggia di granata. - Bistoni Achille, di Luigi, nato a Perugia nel 1867, residente a Perugia, colono, vedovo di Emilia Bottoni, deceduto il 29 giugno 1944 in voc. Sollicelli di Santa Giuliana in seguito a scoppio di granata. Vittime dell'artiglieria britannica a Monsiano (Preggio) 4 luglio 1944 - Braconi Gelindo, di Pietro, nato a Passignano il 16 marzo 1899, colono, coniugato con Isolina Bellezzi. - Bellezzi Isolina, di Francesco, nata a Passignano il 25 febbraio 1903, colona, coniugata con Gelindo Braconi, deceduta al Policlinico di - Perugia il 4 agosto 1944 in seguito alle ferite subite. - Braconi Anna, di Gelindo, nata a Umbertide il 17 giugno 1936. - Braconi Francesco, di Gelindo, nato a Umbertide il 24 agosto 1930. - Braconi Maria, di Gelindo, nata a Umbertide il 7 novembre 1940. - Braconi Luigina, di Gelindo, nata a Umbertide il 20 giugno 1925. - Braconi Lorenzo, di Gelindo, nato a Umbertide il 17 giugno 1933. - Braconi Rina, di Gelindo, nata a Lisciano Niccone il 30 gennaio 1928. Vittime di altri bombardamenti aerei oltre a quello del 25 aprile - 29-30 aprile 1944, Umbertide. Di nuovo preso di mira il ponte ferroviario sul Tevere. Il 30 aprile aerei in picchiata da Monte Acuto riuscirono a colpire l'arco a settentrione e a danneggiare la strada nazionale Tiberina 3Bis. - 6 maggio 1944, Pierantonio (Umbertide). È bombardata la zona della ferrovia. - 13 maggio 1944, Umbertide. Bombardata la zona della stazione. - 21 maggio 1944, Umbertide. Distrutto il ponte di Pian d'Assino; bombardati altri ponti e mitragliati i treni nella stazione ferroviaria. - 22 maggio 1944, Ranchi (Umbertide) e Promano (Città di Castello). Alle ore 14.50 mitragliamento del treno viaggiatori alla stazione di Ranchi e dell'abitato di Promano. Morirono due uomini; furono danneggiate tre vetture ferroviarie e incendiato un camion tedesco. La mattina, per un mitragliamento aereo della Ferrovia Appennino Centrale presso Torre dei Calzolari (Gubbio), persero la vita due umbertidesi. - 28 maggio 1944, Umbertide. Incursione di aerei P. 47D del 57° Fighter Group: colpiti il piazzale della stazione di Umbertide, con l'officina ferroviaria, e l'abitato di Montecastelli, dove si ebbe una vittima. - 31 maggio 1944, Umbertide. Incursione aerea contro la ferrovia. Altre vittime di bombardamenti e mitragliamenti aerei - Boriosi Roberto, di Giacomo, nato a Gubbio il 4 gennaio 1894, residente a Umbertide, commerciante in legna, coniugato con Alessandra - Bocci, deceduto il 22 maggio 1944 a Torre dei Calzolari (Gubbio) per mitragliamento aereo. - Boriosi Ruggero, di Fortunato, nato a Gubbio il 20 luglio 1903, residente a Umbertide, commerciante in legna, coniugato con Clarice Curina, deceduto il 22 maggio 1944 a Torre dei Calzolari (Gubbio) per mitragliamento aereo. - Bruni Giuseppe, di Luigi, nato l'8 dicembre 1891 a Umbertide, dove risiedeva, colono, coniugato con Filomena Bovari, deceduto il 27 giugno 1944 in frazione Badia per mitragliamento aereo. - Gattaponi Luigi, di Giuseppe, nato a Città di Castello l'8 aprile 1885, residente a Umbertide, colono, celibe, deceduto l'8 luglio 1944 presso Santa Giuliana per mitragliamento aereo. - Giombetti Antonio, di Giuseppe, nato a Fossato di Vico il 28 dicembre 1884, residente a Umbertide, ferroviere capotreno, coniugato con Anna Lena Baccellini, deceduto nell'incursione aerea su Ponte San Giovanni del 19 dicembre 1943. - Nanni Alfredo, di Luigi, nato a Montone il 5 maggio 1915, residente a Umbertide, manovale ferroviere, celibe, deceduto il 19 dicembre 1943 nell'incursione aerea su Ponte San Giovanni. Vittime di esecuzioni sommarie da parte dei tedeschi - Bartocci Sigifrido [sic], di Angelo, nato a Umbertide il 18 aprile 1927, dove risiedeva, ucciso da soldati tedeschi in rastrellamento l'8 maggio 1944 presso Civitella Ranieri. - Falcini Giuseppe, di Antonio, nato a Pietralunga il 30 ottobre 1913, residente a Umbertide, autista, coniugato con Rosina Vescarelli, ucciso il 7 maggio 1944 dai tedeschi in rastrellamento a Molino della Casella (Pietralunga). - Paoletti Emilio, di Eugenio, nato a Perugia il 28 marzo 1879, residente a Umbertide, carpentiere, coniugato con Alessandrina Paolucci, ucciso verosimilmente da soldati tedeschi intorno al 24 giugno 1944 a Sant'Orfeto (Perugia), presso Pierantonio. - Porrini Enrico, di Domenico, nato a Umbertide il 21 agosto 1883, impiegato, coniugato con Fidalma Gnagnetti, ucciso da soldati tedeschi intorno al 1° luglio 1944 a Badia di Montecorona. - Sonaglia Gaudenzio, di Sante, nato a Umbertide il 10 gennaio 1865, colono, vedovo di Concetta Veschi, ucciso dai soldati tedeschi il 28 giugno 1944 a Santa Giuliana. Vittima di militari alleati Gonfiacani Ettore, di Giosafat, nato a Perugia il 16 giugno 1866, residente a Umbertide, deceduto l'8 luglio 1944, “ucciso da soldati indiani”, a Sioli, loc. Vignola (Gubbio), dove era sfollato. Si annovera inoltre tra le vittime civili Palazzoli Natalino , di Giovan Battista, nato il 25 dicembre 1929 a Umbertide, residente in loc. Cioccolanti, investito e ucciso da un automezzo britannico il 15 agosto 1944 presso Montecastelli. Per il testo integrale con le note e i riferimenti iconografici, si veda il volume di Alvaro Tacchini “Guerra e Resistenza nell'Alta Valle del Tevere 1943-1944, Petruzzi Editore, 2016. Vittime civili ad Umbertide - A. Tacchini FOTO Partigiani di Umbertide PARTIGIANI DI UMBERTIDE NELL'APPENNINO UMBRO E ALL'ESTERO Partigiani di Umbertide e dintorni riconosciuti dalla Commissione umbra ed elencati nel Ruolino della “San Faustino” - Cecchetti Guido, di Vittorio, di Umbertide, 1913-1999; carrettiere; partigiano dall'11 febbraio 1944. - Loschi Francesco, di Nello, di Umbertide, 1926-1979; partigiano dal 1° maggio 1944; volontario nel Gruppo di Combattimento “Cremona”. - Loschi Luciano, di Nello, nato a Umbertide nel 1924; partigiano dal 1° febbraio 1944. Partigiani delle formazioni di Capelli e Montelovesco riconosciuti dalla Commissione umbra I nominativi in questo elenco, sebbene non compaiano nel Ruolino della “San Faustino” o in altri suoi elenchi, sono stati riconosciuti dalla Commissione partigiani combattenti della Brigata. La data di conclusione della loro attività partigiana è il 15 luglio 1944. - Baiocco Guido, di Luigi, di Umbertide, 1922-1981; partigiano dal 10 novembre 1943. - Bonucci Raoul, di Giulio, di Umbertide, 1923-1970; maestro; partigiano dal 25 settembre 1943. - Fiorucci Aurelio, di Luigi, Montone 1925 - Umbertide 2005; residente a San Faustino; colono; partigiano dal 10 settembre 1943. - Fiorucci Giulio, di Domenico, nato a Gubbio nel 1901, residente in loc. San Faustino (Pietralunga); colono; riconosciuto partigiano combattente dal 15 ottobre 1943. - Fiorucci Luigi, di Domenico, nato a Montone nel 1889, residente in loc. San Faustino (Pietralunga); colono; riconosciuto partigiano combattente dal 15 ottobre 1943. - Gennari Addo, di Valerio, di Umbertide, 1920-1997; partigiano dal 15 marzo 1944; volontario nel Gruppo di Combattimento “Cremona”. - Gennari Aspromonte, di Valerio, di Umbertide, 1917-1992; partigiano dal 15 marzo 1944. - Giubilei Aurelio, di Antonio, di Umbertide 1925-1980; partigiano dal 15 ottobre 1943. - Lazzarini Oscar, di Zino, di Umbertide, 1924-2005; studente; partigiano dal 1° dicembre 1943. - Mancini Raffaele, di Domenico, Montone 1923 - Gualdo Tadino 2008; partigiano dal 15 maggio 1944. - Migliorati Giuseppe, di Luigi, Città di Castello 1915 - Umbertide 1987; partigiano dal 10 novembre 1943. - Nanni Ramiro, di Silvio, di Umbertide, 1909-1985; meccanico; partigiano dal 15 novembre 1943. - Ramaccioni Renato, di Angelo, di Umbertide, 1919-1994; avvocato, partigiano dal 5 novembre 1943. - Simone Raffaele, di Ciro, nato a Manfredonia (FG) nel 1924, sfollato a Umbertide; partigiano dal 22 settembre 1943. - Taticchi Antonio, di Gaetano, di Umbertide, 1903-1977; barbiere; partigiano dal 1° ottobre 1943. - Urbanelli Pietro, di Giuseppe, Pietralunga 1909 - Umbertide 2001; colono; residente presso San Faustino di Bagnolo; partigiano dal 20 settembre 1943. Partigiani di Umbertide nella banda di Capanne - Feligioni Giovanni / Gianni, di Stefano, di Umbertide, 1924-1988; colono; partigiano dal 10 novembre 1943. - Feligioni Giuseppe, di Carlo, Umbertide 1924 - Perugia 2005; colono; partigiano dal 10 novembre 1943. Partigiani di Umbertide all'estero - Baldoni Torquato, di Agostino, Passignano 1919 - Perugia 1990, residente a Racchiusole; colono; “si aggrega ai partigiani albanesi il 12 settembre 1943, rimpatria a Bari il 29 giugno 1945”. - Brachelente Giuseppe, di Ginesio, di Umbertide, 1921-1991, residente a San Giuliano; colono; “si unisce con i ribelli greci il 13 settembre 1943”. - Giovannoni Antonio, di Domenico, Umbertide 1920 - Perugia 1992, residente a Case Sparse; colono; partigiano combattente nella 4a Brigata Jugoslava, rimpatriato il 9 luglio 1945. - Rometti Ugo, di Luigi, Umbertide 1918 - Perugia 1980, residente a Niccone; colono; partigiano nella Divisione “Garibaldi” in Jugoslavia dal 9 settembre 1943 all'aprile 1945. - Rosignoli Stefano, di Rinaldo, di Umbertide, 1922-2013, residente a San Giuliano; bracciante; “coi partigiani nel Montenegro il 16 settembre 1943, rimpatriato col Battaglione Matteotti a Udine il 22 giugno 1945”. - Valdambrini Arnaldo, di Giuseppe, di Umbertide, 1909-1999; barbiere; partigiano nella Divisione “Garibaldi” in Jugoslavia. Componenti della banda di San Benedetto che non chiesero il riconoscimento ufficiale da parte della Commissione umbra Beccafichi Aldo (1921), colono; Beccafichi Pio (1922), colono; Cuccarini Giuseppe (1905), colono; Fiorucci Anselmo (1902), colono; Fiorucci Guido; Floridi Giovanni (1925), coltivatore diretto; Floridi Ulisse (1925), coltivatore diretto; Fofi Antonio (1923), colono; Gianfranceschi Elio (1926), colono; Grassini Fernando (1923), colono; Grassini Giovanni (1923), colono; Grassini Terzilio (1926), colono; Moretti Corinto (1924), colono; Moretti Giuseppe (1921), colono; Pauselli Pasquale (1910), colono; Pauselli Pietro (1916), colono; Pedana Natale (1914), operaio; Vannini Marino (1924), colono (Tra parentesi è indicato l'anno di nascita). Per il testo integrale con le note e i riferimenti iconografici, si veda il volume di Alvaro Tacchini “Guerra e Resistenza nell'Alta Valle del Tevere 1943-1944, Petruzzi Editore, 2016. Galleria fotografica NB: Il "Diario" di Rino Pucci seguente è ricordato anche in "Ottant'anni", progetto di Mario Tosti per gli 80 anni del passaggio del fronte, nella pagina dedicata al "marzo 1945 ". IL DIARIO DI RINO PUCCI Da San Faustino a Po di Primaro Nel 1975, in occasione del 30º anniversario della Resistenza e della Liberazione dal nazi-fascismo, nei Quaderni della Regione Umbria è stato pubblicato “Il Diario di Rino Pucci”, testimonianza umana e storica di quel periodo tragico della nostra storia italiana e locale. Lo riproponiamo oggi, attraverso umbertidestoria.net, perché pensiamo che l’impegno e l’entusiasmo per la libertà di quei giovani, e il sacrificio di Rino, siano ancora un esempio per i giovani di oggi, in questo mondo che, nonostante il drammatico passato che si porta dietro, non è riuscito a bandire la guerra, a sconfiggere povertà e fame e a vivere in armonia con la natura e l’ambiente che ci circonda, sempre più fragile e minacciato. PRESENTAZIONE La Consulta Comunale di Umbertide per le celebrazioni del trentennale della Liberazione, nel proporre all'attenzione dei propri concittadini, dei giovani specialmente, il «DIARIO» di Quirino Pucci, non ha cercato un mezzo o un'occasione, se volete, per rinvangare a fini speculativi, agendo sul sentimento, uno dei periodi più tragici del nostro recente passato. No. Il nostro è ben altro obiettivo: noi vorremmo far conoscere, attraverso un comune episodio, uno dei tanti, come è nata la Resistenza. Rino non scrisse il suo «DIARIO» per la storia. Ma, senza volerlo, scrisse pagine di Storia, vera, immediata, vissuta. Rino scrive le proprie impressioni, analizza i propri stati d'animo, cerca di fermare alcuni aspetti d'una vita nuova che vive all'improvviso, con un gruppo d'amici. Perché scrive? Non certo per i posteri. Forse il suo intento sarà stato quello di poter rileggere un giorno, tanto tempo dopo, le pagine sbiadite di un diario sgualcito che ricordano l'episodio della montagna, per magari riderci sopra, con gli amici, con i familiari, con gli stessi protagonisti, come si ride di una storia di gioventù che, a pericolo scampato, assume il sapore di una allegra scampagnata. O, forse, per risognare con la sua «ELA» una gioventù ormai lontana, la loro gioventù difficile, ma pur sempre una gioventù intensamente vissuta. E invece quel «dopo» quel «domani» per il quale il «DIARIO» fu scritto, per Rino non venne. E non solo per Rino. Il nostro Paese fu spazzato da una ondata di terrore e di odio: lacrime e sangue scorsero ovunque. Per tanti, non venne il domani! E, per chi venne, non fu certamente quello sognato da Rino e dai suoi amici. Fu duro, doloroso, implacabile nello smorzare i sogni e le speranze nate sui monti di S. Faustino, sui monti d'Italia. Però non tutto il bagaglio ideale di quei giorni ormai lontani è andato perduto. Qualcosa è rimasto. E quando, come oggi, sentiamo risorgere intorno a noi le forze del male, quelle stesse forze che credevamo d'aver disperso per sempre allora, trenta anni fa, quando vediamo messe in forse quelle verità e minacciate quelle Istituzioni per le quali i migliori caddero, allora ci ritroviamo tutti insieme e riprendiamo il dialogo, per ritrovare quella forza, quella stessa forza, che allora ci mosse e ci guidò al sacrificio ed alla vittoria. Lo riprendiamo dalla casa di Anacleto, lo riprendiamo dalla vecchia pieve di San Faustino, famosa una volta per le sue campane dal canto d'argento, e oggi conosciuta anche per il nome dato alla formazione partigiana che operò in quella zona e nel pietralunghese, di cui, Tu, nel «DIARIO» fai già presagire la nascita. Lo riprendiamo con tutti gli amici che erano con te, con quelli che sono venuti dopo, con quelli che ti sono stati vicini nell'ora del sacrificio supremo. Lo riprendiamo con i giovani d'oggi, che non ti conoscono ancora, perché appunto imparino a conoscerti e, con Te, possano conoscere anche la Resistenza. Ecco perché sono state riaperte le pagine del tuo «DIARIO». Oggi sono parte di una storia più grande di quella che tu ci racconti: sono parte della storia del nostro popolo che allora lottò, vinse e riconquistò la libertà perduta, rischiando e morendo, pur amando tanto la vita. E perché da questa piccola finestra, aperta sul panorama della locale Resistenza, si possa più agevolmente guardare il panorama che offre, pensiamo giovi inquadrare gli avvenimenti nella cornice e nell'epoca in cui essi si svolsero. Umbertide 1943 Nel capoluogo vivono poco più di 3.000 persone, nelle campagne, ancora fortemente abitate, 14.000 circa. La guerra infuria da oltre tre anni. Prima lontana, ora vicina. Gli anglo-americani sbarcano in Sicilia. Il 25 aprile cade il fascismo. L'8 settembre il governo Badoglio firma la resa e scappa al Sud. L'esercito italiano, lasciato senza guida, sbanda. I tedeschi dilagano nel paese. Mussolini, liberato, costituisce la repubblica di Salò, serva dello straniero occupante. L'anello della catena nazi-fascista torna ben presto a saldarsi intorno al collo degli italiani. Tornano le «cartoline precetto». I giovani, smarriti in così rapidi avvenimenti contraddittori, devono decidere. Che fare ? Molti scelgono la via della montagna. E, tra questi, un gruppo di otto ragazzi, di diversa condizione sociale e di diversa formazione politica, di diversa cultura e di diversa educazione, la notte tra il 22 e il 23 settembre 1943, s'avvia verso i monti di San Faustino, «affratellati da un comune sentimento di libertà e di italianità». Di preciso non sanno cosa l'aspetta. La lotta partigiana non è ancora organizzata. Il loro è solamente un atto di ribellione, un anelito verso una vita migliore. Visto oggi, possiamo definirlo un atto fondamentale, grande e coraggioso, poiché con quello nasce nella nostra zona la prima Resistenza. Il «DIARIO» racconta la storia di quella fuga, dei primi giorni trascorsi in montagna. Una storia appassionata, vera, che contiene tutte le speranze e tutte le delusioni di quei giorni d'attesa sui monti. Una storia scritta in fretta, senza pretese, che scopre però l'impazienza propria dei giovani che vorrebbero passare subito all'azione. Azione che deve, invece essere organizzata, e che, per diverse ragioni tarda troppo a venire. Il gruppo di casa Anacleto lentamente si sfalda, scompare. Il «DIARIO», aperto sui monti di San Faustino, dall'ampio e libero orizzonte, si chiude nel campo di lavoro di Collestrada, «prigione senza sbarre», come la definisce il suo autore. Sembra il tramonto di ogni speranza. Ma non è così. Si chiude solo - e provvisoriamente - l'ultima pagina del «DIARIO». Non quella della Resistenza che è nata veramente, che vive, che cresce in fretta. Ben presto i giovani saranno di nuovo sui monti. In armi, questa volta. E' l'ora. La lotta armata inizia: tra difficoltà ed errori, ma inizia. I cento, i mille episodi che la compongono si snodano, si saldano insieme rapidamente. Alcuni di vasta portata e risonanza, i più silenziosi, modesti, oscuri, ma altrettanto importanti per la realizzazione dell'unico fine che la Resistenza s'è prefisso: liberare il nostro paese dallo straniero e dall'oppressore fascista. Gli «Anacleti» ora sono tanti perché tanti sono i giovani accorsi sui monti. L'ospitalità dei contadini è piena, completa. Anzi, è più che ospitalità. E' partecipazione diretta alla lotta: dei giovanissimi, degli anziani, delle donne. Quelle di Vallescura, ad esempio, non esitano ad accorrere a spegnere il fuoco che arde la casa dei partigiani, quando ancora fascisti e tedeschi sono così vicini che si sentono le loro rauche voci. Da San Faustino a Morena, da Montebello a Vialba, da Moravola a S. Leo, da Montone, a Pietralunga, a Gubbio, a Umbertide, è un fiorire di episodi grandi e piccoli, di atti di eroismo e di piccole azioni di disturbo, è un pungolo continuo che finisce per logorare i nervi ed il morale dell'esercito invasore che non si sente più sicuro sul suolo italiano. Cadono, intanto, intorno a noi le vittime della guerra. Alcune hanno un lungo passato di lotta al fascismo, come il tenente colonnello Venanzio Gabriotti , fucilato dai nazi-fascisti a Città di Castello, altre sono giovani reclute della Resistenza, come il tenente Aldo Bologni , caduto a Montone con le armi in pugno, altre ancora uccise mentre cercano di organizzare la resistenza e la lotta, come Ennio Belardinelli e Giuseppe Falcini , caduti a Rocca d'Aria e Colle di Vialba, come Giuseppe Bernardini trucidato a Montecastelli. Altre del tutto innocenti, travolte dalla furia cieca della guerra, come le 70 vittime del bombardamento di Umbertide, i cinque fucilati di Serra Partucci, i dodici bruciati vivi di Niccone, il giovanissimo Sigfrido Bartocci , assassinato dai tedeschi tra il grano verde dei campi di Civitella e gli anziani Enrico Porrini , Gaudenzio Sonaglia , Luigi Gattaponi , uccisi per rappresaglia, rispettivamente nei cascinali di Badia di M. Corona, di S. Giuliana e di S. Cassiano. Ed ultimi, in ordine di tempo, i volontari Giuseppe Starnini , morto a Firenze, e Giuseppe Rosati , caduto a fianco di Rino. Altri sono presi e rinchiusi nelle carceri fasciste, spesso torturati. Sono giovani ed anziani : è l'Italia tutta che si ribella e combatte. Tra questi, ricordiamo una delle maggiori figure di animatore della resistenza nel pietralunghese: Bonuccio Bonucci , alla cui casa di San Faustino tanti giovani accorsero per avere un consiglio nell'ora difficile ed oscura, come fece il tuo gruppo, Rino, in quel lontano settembre del '43, o per avere un'arma, dopo, quando la lotta divampò più cruenta, come facemmo noi, nel '44. Bonucci, per l'arresto del quale fascisti e tedeschi si scomodarono in forze finché non riuscirono nel loro turpe intento. E vicino a questo nome prestigioso, vogliamo ricordarne altri, più umili, che nessuno conosce, che solo pochi intimi ricordano: quello del colono Luigi Fiorucci , detto «Baldilino», arrestato durante un rastrellamento sui monti di S. Faustino, insieme ad un invalido della 1° guerra mondiale, Domenico Mancini , ed entrambi rinchiusi nelle carceri di Perugia, dove soffrono interrogati e maltrattamenti, ma non parlano. E, tra i più giovani, ricordiamo il M° Lamberto Beatini e Giuseppe Antonelli che, arrestati, rimangono per oltre sei mesi nelle carceri perugine, rei d'aver preferito la libertà e la lotta al servaggio fascista. Intanto gli anglo-americani avanzano, arrivano a Umbertide. Ma la guerra non è finita. C'è ancora bisogno di giovani gagliardi e generosi, disposti a combattere per la totale liberazione del Paese. Partono i 24 volontari umbertidesi della «Cremona». Il campo d'azione si sposta dalle nostre montagne alle vaste pianure del ravennate. Rino è tra loro. Dove c'è una causa giusta da difendere, Egli non può mancare. Il «DIARIO» riprende sotto forma di «BOLLETTINO». E' quello che per 18 giorni gli umbertidesi leggeranno in una bacheca della piazza Matteotti, ancora invasa di macerie. Lo spirito goliardico, apparentemente scanzonato, riappare, torna a pizzicare fraternamente amici e commilitoni. Ma il «BOLLETTINO» appare più impegnato, più ufficiale, diremmo. Il giovane che lo redige s'è maturato in brevissimo tempo: s'è fatto uomo. Rivelano questa maturità anche le poche lettere inviate dal fronte alla Madre. Rino è sempre il figlio affettuoso, ma più contento e laconico, quasi voglia nascondere alla madre il pericolo che incombe, quasi voglia rassicurarla che a difenderlo basterà la sua preghiera. E poi, Po di Primaro, 3 MARZO 1945. Una raffica di mitraglia stronca la Sua giovane vita. Rino tace per sempre. Ma non la sua voce del Suo spirito. Quella continua con noi il colloquio ideale che unisce i vivi con i morti. L'anno scorso, quando ci si chiese di indicare una breve epigrafe per il cippo commemorativo delle dodici vittime innocenti di Penetola, ci suggerì le parole del Tuo verso della «NOTTE» del «DIARIO»: ..... «Rino parlò: NON BISOGNA ODIARE» ..... Ed oggi, Rino, da un ruvido masso posto sul bordo della strada cortonese, i Martiri della Penetola ripetono il Tuo messaggio, parlano ai vivi con il Tuo cuore. Perché il cuore dei martiri è UNO. Uno solo. Ed ha un solo linguaggio. Universale. Come universale è la VERITA' per la quale siete caduti, per la quale vivete nell'animo nostro, per la quale vivrete nell'animo di coloro che verranno, per la quale ci ripetete: NON ODIO CHIEDIAMO A CHI RESTA SOLTANTO MEMORIA PERCHE' ALTRI NON DEBBAN MORIRE PER MANO ASSASSINA. Umbertide, 14 settembre 1975 Raffaele Mancini IL DIARIO DI RINO 22 settembre – NOTTE Nella notte stellata, ricamata da densi banchi di nubi, il silenzio assume un mistica religiosità, il viale bianco, fiancheggiato dai neri cipressi che maestosamente tentano scalare l'infinito, si distende, contorcendosi come un serpente, fra i campi verdeggianti, dove l'odore dei mosti novelli s'alza, fragrante di natura buona e generosa. II rumore degli scarponi ferrati che battono sicuri la terra dura rompe la calma serenità della notte. Da un cascinale giunge l'abbaiare affannoso di un cane, un gallo si sveglia e tenta uno stridulo acuto mentre altri cento piccoli insetti della notte tentano invano, di accordare le loro voci misteriose. Otto ragazzi marciano con giovanile baldanza verso la vita nuova, verso la libertà. Hanno lasciato dietro di loro una umanità falsa ed egoista, hanno disprezzato la bieca amicizia di uno straniero odiato, hanno abbandonato le care famiglie, gli agi, le persone che amano, hanno abbandonato tutto e tutti per vivere liberi, per sfuggire ad una odiosa schiavitù. Un giorno: quando nell'alba radiosa un sole più splendente e limpido saetterà i suoi raggi caldi di fuoco e di vita sulla terra italiana tornata libera e pacifica, essi ritorneranno, ricominceranno la solita vita e di questi giorni duri, ma intrisi di ore felici, serberanno un dolce, eterno ricordo. Siamo otto giovani, dai 18 ai 22 anni, alcuni studenti, altri operai, altri impiegati, affratellati da un comune sentimento di libertà e di italianità, pronti a dividere insieme rischi, pericoli, pane ed allegria. La strada è lunga e dura, ma noi non ce ne accorgiamo. C'è in noi la forza armoniosa della gioventù, quella forza che scaturisce dai cuori, che esala al di fuori di noi e colorisce tutte le cose intorno, anche le più inanimate, e le fa parlare e cantare di gioia. Claudio, come al solito, anima la compagnia con le sue ignobili freddure, Ruggero marcia silenzioso e si perde con la natura, Piero forse penserà al suo bianco lettino, Aurelio insegue colonne aride di numeri, Guido sogna una bruna bambina della laguna, Peppe intravvede tra le foglie degli alberi teste ispide e barba folte, Menco si perde tra una nuvola dì fogli stampati e spera di poter scrivere presto un manifesto: «L'ITALIA E' LIBERA ! ITALIANI TORNATE ALLE VOSTRE CASE, AI VOSTRI LAVORI; DIFENDETE LA VOSTRA ITALIA!». Io?... Un visetto pallido di bambina ed un turbine di capelli neri. E cammina e cammina, come nelle vecchie favole, i bravi ragazzi arrivano alla Torre..... E' la prima tappa, è il riposo agognato. La Torre : sono quattro mura disperse fra le piante di un boschetto, quattro mura diroccate, che un giorno videro le gesta eroiche di cavalieri erranti. Invano cerchiamo un ricovero nella torre: consigli, opinioni, ma si finisce per non capirci più niente. Stendiamo, infine, le coperte ai piedi di un muro che la patina del tempo ha tinto di colore grigiastro, ci accomodiamo alla meglio e, come Dio vuole, ci corichiamo. La terra è dura, non è un letto molto piacevole; il vento si insegue tra le fronde degli alberi che, con un brusio sordo, si sussurrano dolci ed intimi colloqui. Frizzi allegri e motti salaci percuotono le vecchie mura che ci guardano austere, quasi rimproverandoci di aver rotto la loro secolare severità. Poi tutto tace. lo non dormo, come forse non dormono gli altri ..... ognuno di noi insegue un fantasma che danza davanti ai nostri occhi : i ricordi battono alla porta dei nostri cuori con note dolci e tristi...... Piano, piano, gli occhi si chiudono nell'ultima visione ..... io..... Ela. 23 settembre Una pioggerella fitta che si schermiva con le fronde, ci ha svegliati. Ho fatto il segno della Croce... Qualche cosa d'arcano che nasceva tra gli alberi mi ha spinto a farlo. Era la luce nuova del nuovo giorno, era il miracolo divino che si ripeteva con veste e colori nuovi, che ha parlato al mio cuore. Avevo le ossa rotte, non sapevo se ero quadrato o rettangolare ; certamente ero una figura geometrica. Erano le sei. L'alba svegliava gli uomini e le loro case, accendeva sentimenti e passioni nuove, riscaldava negli animi odio e amore che la notte per un istante aveva sopiti. La valle sotto di noi sì velava di una scialba cortina di nebbia, cime di alti pini e di querce vetuste s'alzavano al di sopra di quel mare bianco e mite e sembravano oasi ridenti sorte per incanto pel tocco d'una bacchetta magica. I comignoli delle povere casette disperse fra le colline gentili ed i monti severi, mandavano con, torte spire di fuma : un fumo quasi timido di alzarsi verso il cielo, un fumo che ha l'odore di sudato lavoro e di serena gioia familiare. Gli uccelli cinguettano garruli per l'aria e le note tristi e gioconde s'incontrano in una gara di bellezza e di gentilezza.... Ho tardato ieri sera ad addormentarmi.... le stelle tremolanti mi sorridevano dall'alto, timide nel loro splendore ed io vedevo il volto d'una cara bambina che mi sorrideva con loro. Anche gli altri si svegliano: negli occhi ancor gonfi ognuno insegue l'ultima visione della notte..... Piero ha chiamato la mamma..... La mamma: Vangelo buono che veglia su noi, la dolce, cara, creatura che ci accompagna con le sue preghiere, che ci insegue con i suoi pacati ed affettuosi consigli, che riposa sui nostri cuori cullandoli ed accarezzandoli con quella voce dolce e cara che tante volte ci ha fatto dormire quando eravamo bambini, quando ancora la vita era una favola con le fate buone e gli orchi cattivi. Mammina cara, forse stanotte, nel sonno agitato, ti sei svegliata.... è stato l'orologio della torre a svegliarti con i suoi battiti lenti.... ti ha ripetuto il mio nome e ti ha fatto sussultare di paura per il tuo figliolo lontano... forse hai pianto e nella tua calda fantasia di madre mi hai visto camminare stanco..... fra uomini cattivi..... Allora dal cuore è nata una preghiera e gli angeli buoni sono scesi dal cielo, hanno preso la tua preghiera e l'hanno portata in cielo, al Signore..… Zaini in spalla e, avanti march! Riprendiamo il cammino. L'aria fresca e pungente del mattino penetra nelle membra e le filtra di umore e di forza nuova. Si marcia : prima in silenzio poi s'alza un canto leggero che via via si alza e rimbomba. Sorge dai nostri petti. Siamo liberi..... Sulla cima di una collina ci fermiamo e facciamo colazione. Sardine in scatola - Lo sapete - dice Claudio - perché le sardine si mettono sott'olio ? - Perché quando il mare è calmo..... è come un olio. Claudio è un gran bravo ragazzo, però sì rovina con le sue freddure che io.... boicotterò sempre, finché avrò un po' di fiato. E' un ragazzo intelligente, studia medicina, come me. Siamo compagni di scuola ed anche nella vita. Non è molto bello, ma si salva per via di un paio di baffi che fin'ora nessuno è riuscito a vedere. In fatto di donne, quando non ci sono io, ha abbastanza fortuna. Sa stare in compagnia.... ed anche in plotone. Il caro amico mi scuserà per questa piccola freddura. Chi va con lo zoppo - dice un proverbio - impara a zoppicare. La colazione mattutina è stata buona ed ha stretto ancor più i nostri legami. Il « Secco » - Giubilei Aurelio per chi non lo sapesse - nel frattempo era andato in perlustrazione e dopo mezz'ora circa è tornato con la buona novella: un contadino era disposto ad ospitarci. Ci siamo messi subito in marcia per l'ultima tappa. Siamo stati accolti nel cascinale dall'abbaiare del cane, lo starnazzare delle oche e il grugnito dei maiali. 23 settembre NOTTE Scendevan lievi l’ombre della sera: radunati pensavamo a ciò che era, guardavamo nell'intimo del cuore per cercarvi il conforto dell'amore. E il pensiero nostro era lontano, e a tratti parlavamo piano piano. Occhi tesi oltre i monti, in lontananza, volti tesi in una estrema desianza. Sembianza cara e triste, immagine dolce ad ombre miste.... Una dolcezza che moriva in pianto e un dolore forte, ... ma senza schianto. D'un tratto per togliere la pena sorse un'accorata cantilena: un lungo canto pieno dì ricordi che penetrava dentro nei precordi. Voci alterne che non erano canto, ma solo grida per fugare il pianto: voci e voci e ritmi più vari, motivi allegri, motivi amari..... RINO PARLO': - NON BISOGNA ODIARE, non lo sentite che bisogna amare ? un desiderio di volersi bene, di stringersi forte, affratellati insieme? Non lo sentite che la natura canta i suoi inni di gioia e di speranza? Non vedete dirlo anche alle stelle che brillano nel ciel come sorelle? E nel cuor c'è una voce che ci dice: - Vivi, ama, spera e sii felice! - Non lo sentite che lo parla al cuore questa silente notte di tepore? Nessun rispose alle sue parole, ciascuno chiuso in un dolor che duole... Solo Claudio guardò a lungo, pensoso, rincorrendo non so quale pensiero ansioso.... Guardai quei volti tristi ma speranti, con la tristezza propria degli amanti. Rino 24 Settembre II sole già filtrava attraverso le fragili pareti della capanna sul nostro giaciglio e il cielo si andava tingendo d'un azzurro chiaro. Quando ho aperto gli occhi, Piero e Claudio dormivano ancora. Ela mi è apparsa in sogno. Quanta gioia mi ha portato la sua visione... m'è sembrato che stesse vicino, che mi accarezzasse i capelli; il tocco delle sue mani era lieve e l'olezzo calda del fiato m'irrorava il viso scaldandolo di un dolce tepore. I suoi occhi, di quel colore che non ho mai conosciuto, mi sorridevano dolci o mi parlavano con il loro muto melanconico linguaggio. Ela... bambina mia cara, torna ogni notte a trovarmi, torna ad accarezzarmi, dimmi quelle affettuose parole che tanto mi fanno gioire, ripetimi ancora, piccola cara, il tuo amore, le tue speranze, ed i nostri sogni. Un destino cattivo ci tiene lontani, ma i nostri cuori sono vicini e sognano la casina di legno sulla montagna, il piccolo Mauro, e quegli istanti che traboccheranno di intensa felicità. Quando anche Piero e Claudio si svegliarono intonammo una canzone, ma la nostra voce era stanca ed i nostri pensieri erano lontani. Il buon Anacleto ci ha offerto il latte di capra, era fresco e dolce. Per sfuggire ad un eventuale pericolo ci siamo recati nel bosco . Abbiamo lavorato alacremente per costruire una capanna, si lavorava febbrilmente ed il lavoro era intercalato da canti e barzellette che Claudio coloriva meglio di me nella sua satira. Tutti sembrano contenti ma forse nei loro cuori c'è un dolce rimpianto, un desio che preme i cuori d'affanno e di tristezza. Ognuno di noi custodisce un segreto nel cuore, un segreto che ci fa sperare, che ci fa aspettare fidenti il domani. l'uomo è strano... non può vivere nel pericolo se non sogna una gioia futura e... basta! basta! Qualche cosa urge il mio cuore, qualche cosa che non conosco ma che scuote i miei pensieri, batte i miei sentimenti e mi fa oscillare fra una gioia che sta per sfuggire ed una pena che forse verrà. Claudio mi comprende... mi guarda e sorride, dice che sono un mascalzone, ma nel suo cuore pensa che sono un buon ragazzo, un po' troppo carico di fantasia e di idee qualche volta malsane. Con Claudio e Ruggero mi trovo molto bene, essi sono un po' come me, vivono in terra e sognano il cielo. Forse nei prossimi fogli tenterò dì parlare dei miei compagni, sarà un lavoro difficile, perché se facile è ritrarre le sembianze di un uomo, difficile è analizzare i suoi sentimenti. C'è Chiara che è una gran brava bambina, ha negli occhi una ingenuità infantile, hanno un riflesso azzurro e colpiscono profondamente. Ha un visetto piccolo e grazioso; i suoi lineamenti sono regolari e gentili, i capelli castani leggermente ondulati le scendono sul collo esile e bianco. Non so cosa pensi, perché anche i suoi pensieri sono leggeri e velati come la sua persona. Chiara mi piace. Quando sono con lei mi sento sereno ed una felicità infantile scende nell'anima mia. La vita corre con quella lenta monotonia che è il pane quotidiano di questa buona gente. Ieri sera, mentre ci ritiravamo per dormire abbiamo vista dei lumi a valle. Chi sono? Le supposizioni più strane e le deliberazioni più disparate. lo avevo proposto di fare una spedizione, ma poi siamo andati a dormire. E' la più bella cosa che abbiamo potuto fare. Prima di addormentarmi ho pregato, ora, prego tutte le sere, vi trovo una pace nuova, un conforto che mi fa tanto bene. Madonnina cara che sei nei cieli, guardaci dall'alto e posa la tua mano benigna sulle nostre teste, insegnaci tu la strada che conduce verso la vera felicità, quella felicità che gli uomini non conoscono, quella serena felicità che c'è soltanto nel tuo cielo, vieni dolce, cara e buona mamma da noi tutti e dacci la tua benedizione. 25 Settembre Mi sono svegliato molto nervoso. Questa vita calma e monotona mi esaspera... non so cosa mi succeda, il mio spirito è scosso ed il mio cervello va qualche minuto indietro. Strano ! Ho desiderato sempre la serena tranquillità della campagna ed ho sempre amato il profondo brusio dei boschi, e le valli che si distendono ai piedi dei monti, con i lunghi filari di viti, le stradette che si snodano fra le grigie casette dei contadini, i paesetti dagli alti campanili che si riposano sulla riva di un fiume o fra le gialle spighe del grano. Accade sempre così... desiderare una cosa, vivere per più giorni beandoci nel suo sogno e poi... quando viene già siamo stanchi. I giorni più o meno li trascorriamo sempre nello stesso tenore : si gioca, si canta, si va peregrinando pei boschi finché giunge la sera. La sera ognuno di noi ritrova se stesso. Sembra che le ombre oscure della mia grande amica scendendo dalle cime dei monti ci riportino le nostre spoglie mortali, che il giorno morente ci aveva strappato. Sera, ... istanti pieni d'incanto, voci divine che parlano con nostalgica tenerezza, momenti in cui l'anima esce dal corpo e s'alza verso il cielo : «Non senti, caro amico - par che per essa dica il corpo - l'usignol che canta, non odi tu le note armoniose con cui risponde l'amata? Ascolta: questo è il vento che schermisce le fronde, il suo soffio è più leggero e la carezza più lieve; egli scaccia le ultime luci del giorno e le tremule ombre presto saranno fra noi. Addio corpo, addio prati bruciati dal sole, addio lieto cinguettar d'uccelli, addio affannoso ansimare di macchine e braccia, anche a voi o buoi che poco fa sbuffavate sotto il pesante giogo o caprette belanti, anche a voi io dico addio, presto le sorelle stelle illumineranno la notte e la luna si poserà tra le fronde, presto la sera farà posto alla notte e la Pace alla fatica, io spazierò nel cielo e cercherò la tua stella. Addio». E quando la sera ha finalmente liberato le nostre anime, sentiamo un bisogno arcano di cantare, di far tremare nell'aria le nostre voci... io credo che questa sia una serenata che i nostri cuori facciano alla sera, forse una preghiera che essi vogliono innalzare all'amica nascosta, una preghiera che porta con sé il rammarico di un giorno di una speranza perduta, un sogno infranto, una felicità che non tornerà mai più. C’è negli occhi una lieta bontà, c'è nella voce un tremore che forse è triste, forse gioioso, c'è in tutti noi l'immagine dei cari lontani, delle case spogliate dei nostri trilli giovanili, c'è gioia e tristezza volontà e stanchezza pianto e sorriso e più ancora un gran desiderio di pace. 27 Settembre Ruggero e Claudio sono seduti dietro a me cantano. Già da venti minuti annoiando con le loro voci stonate... pur tuttavia non li maledico, il loro canto mi scioglie un po' di quella triste indefinibile malinconia che da qualche giorno mi opprime ad intervalli. Forse sono quegli istanti in cui mi assale il desiderio di Ela. Cosa farà la mia piccola in quest'istante? Mi sembra di vederla con il suo vestitino a fiori, seduta sul divano assorta e pensosa su un libro che non riesce a leggere... con lei c'è Rossella, la nostra cara bambina, che sorride e con la sua vocetta le domanda: «Mamma, dov'è il papà, quando ritorna?» Allora Ela comincia a raccontare: «Il papà, gioia mia, è andato sulle montagne per fuggire gli uomini cattivi che volevano fargli del male. Con il papà ci sono tanti altri giovani, essi dormono la notte nelle capanne ed il giorno vanno per i boschi. Presto saranno armati ed allora andranno a combattere gli uomini cattivi». Poi la sua voce si spegne e Rossella l'accarezza sulla guancia e le dice: «Perché piangi mammina?». Ieri sera abbiamo cambiato appartamento. Dormiamo tutti otto in una cucina inusata. Quando si va a dormire c'è un po' di allegria, si tarda a prendere sonno ed oscilliamo fra una freddura di Claudio ed un rumore di Piero. Ieri sera siamo stati a veglia da Anacleto, dove Guido si è arrabbiato perché il solito Claudio con le sue solite stolte freddure l'ha punto in un lato delicato della sua vita. Stamattino Pippo, Ferranti e Fiorucci son venuti a trovarci. C'è stato uno scambio di vedute e solidali accordi per il futuro. ... e la vita scorre, come il ruscello scende dal monte, limpida, monotona, sussurrante e calma. 30 Settembre Siamo stati da Bonucci. Tutte le sere andiamo da lui per conoscere le ultime notizie e per prendere accordi sulle nostre future azioni. Bonucci è un uomo molto in gamba, un uomo d'azione che ha promesso di farci fare qualche cosa. Questa vita sempre uguale e facile comincia a stancarci; siamo giovani, abbiamo i cuori bollenti e la testa piena di fantasie e vogliamo essere impiegati in qualche azione. Ruggero è molto triste: ricordi, speranze, sogni, chissà? Forse è la noia. Seguitiamo a giocare ed a scherzare, ma una triste malinconia ci opprime, grigia come queste giornate d'autunno senza sole, silenziosa come questi boschi che sanno solo tremare al vento. 4 Ottobre Cosa importano le date? Tutti i giorni sono uguali ogni ora la nostra vita si ripete grigia ed uniforme. Se il tempo non fosse segnato la nostra esistenza sarebbe più bella, non si distinguerebbe l'oggi dal domani, non ricorderesti il giorno che fosti felice ed il giorno che soffristi, ma la tua memoria si perderebbe nel tempo uguale, senza il battito dell'orologio che continuamente ti ripete la tua piccolezza e la brevità della tua esistenza. II giorno sarebbe diverso dalla notte soltanto per il buio e la felicità si separerebbe dalla noia per il tempo che passa. Oggi è il quattro ottobre e i minuti rincorrono le ore; presto sarà mezzogiorno e mangeremo, poi verrà la sera con la notte ed andremo a dormire e questa data avrà segnato un'altra tappa del nostro triste cammino. Ieri l'altro mentre io ero assente c'era stato un allarme. Erano un maresciallo ed un carabiniere che venivano a perlustrare questa zona. Si sono radunati una ventina d'uomini, fra i miei compagni ed altri contadini e sono corsi nella zona pericolosa per sventare qualsiasi tentativo di violenza. Ma i due gendarmi vista la male parata se ne sono andati ed è sfumata anche un'avventura che prometteva di distoglierci un poco da questa odiosa monotonia. Ieri, domenica, abbiamo fatto un po' di festa. Abbiamo mangiata e bevuto più del solito, abbiamo cercato di ridere e scherzare con più sincerità per allontanare la tristezza dai nostri cuori e per segnare in qualche modo una festa che nessuno di noi sentiva. Verso sera è venuta la signora Bonucci ed insieme a Claudio e Chiaretta abbiamo fatto una passeggiata. L'aria vespertina era calma, dal punto dove eravamo si vedevano i monti toccarsi, unirsi ed erigersi maestosi verso fitte cortine di nubi che il sole morente cercava invano di ferire. I nostri discorsi erano vuoti e la mia anima vagava con il vento che sfiorava le cime boscose dei monti, si perdeva con esso fra le foglie che cominciano a ingiallire, si perdeva con esso ovunque e come lui non aveva riposo. Quando siamo tornati alla cascina ho trovato una lettera di Ela. Sono diventato triste, un nodo di pianto mi stringeva la gola. Ma tu, mio caro diario, mi permetterai uno sfogo, tu ascolterai quello che il mio cuore non ha saputo confessare ad alcuno. Tu sei condiscendente e buono, tu ascolti le nostre gioie e le nostre pene e non parli, il tuo volto è sempre pallido ed uguale, tu non hai la voce per gridare, il cuore per amare e le mani per accarezzare, tu sei più felice di noi perché non soffri e non gioisci, ma ascolti e taci. Spesso nel tuo candore io cerco il volto di colei che tanto amo, di colei che vive dentro di me e palpita dei miei palpiti, lo cerco nelle tue righe e lo trovo sempre caro ed affettuoso, sorridente di quel sorriso che mi spinge a sognare ed a sperare che scende nell'animo mio come un balsamo rivivificatore, che riempie la mia solitudine di gioia e spesso, però anche di tristezza. Io ho quello che gli altri non hanno, io ho l'amore che mi distingue da Ruggero, da Claudio e dagli altri, io ho la fede in questo amore puro e sincero che fa della mia vita una missione, ho la certezza del bene di questo amore che mi salva dal male che con i suoi neri polipi avvolge tutta la terra e la stringe e la stringe nel suo dolore. Soltanto che quest'affetto così grande spesso mi opprime, specialmente nella solitudine e nella lontananza, con il ricordo delle ore felici con la paura che debba finire. E' la paura che un Dio geloso della mia felicità scenda dal suo trono di tiranno per carpirmi questo tesoro, per schiacciarmi come gli altri sotto i suoi piedi insanguinati dal sangue di migliaia di vittime innocenti che egli, superbo della sua grandezza e geloso della sua gloria prezzolata, ha costretto nel dolore e nella miseria. Ma l'amore ci salva, l'amore che ha creato l'Universo, l'amore che è in ogni creatura, pronto a scaturire fuori di fronte all'ira del tiranno, ci accoglie nelle sue braccia quando noi stiamo per soccombere; è soltanto nell'amore che ogni uomo deve credere e deve porre la sua fede, di lui dobbiamo fare la nostra religione, a lui affidare le nostre vite: l'amore è il ponte che ci lega all'infinito, l'amore è la forza che ci sorregge, davanti all'immensità dell'universo, è l'amore infine che stringe una catena fra la vita e la morte, Quando sono triste mi piace ubriacarmi. Ieri sera l'ho fatto. L'ebbrezza dell’alcool scioglie la nostra malinconia e ci fa sorridere. I miei compagni hanno tentato invano di conoscere il motivo: Claudio mi è venuto accanto e con parole amorevoli ha cercato di aiutarmi, capiva benissimo che la mia allegria era finta ed il mio sorriso era pianto. Ruggero ha cercato di imitarmi, ma non era ubriaco, forse pensava a quel detto che dice: «in due si soffre meglio». Stamattina stavo male ed ora cerco invano di cambiare la serenità con la tristezza. 7 Ottobre Menco è sul letto che legge, io scrivo sopra una cassapanca, gli altri sono in cucina che discorrono e scherzano con le donne..... fuori piove. E' l'autunno che pian piano, scacciando la calda e odorosa estate, si desta intorno a noi. Qualche foglia ingiallita già è caduta nel fango, le caprette s'indugiano sui fili verdi che presto appassiranno e moriranno. Da una grossa e fronduta quercia una piccola fogliolina gialla tentenna; la pioggia la scuote, ma essa vuol rimanere tra le sue compagne ancora verdi e vive. Una scossa di pioggia più forte la fa cadere.... vibra nell'aria, rotola, si rialza sospinta da un soffio dì vento, rotola ancora e poi dolcemente si posa in terra. La pioggia la percuote, l'affonda un po' nel fango, ma essa brilla sempre di quella sua luce gialla che annoia, di quel pallore, scialbo che precede la morte. Passa un pastorello col suo gregge e la colpisce col bastone ; tante zampette la calpestano, l'insudiciano e la ricoprono di terra... il gregge s'allontana belando, il pastorello fischietta ed agita il suo bastone, la piccola fogliolina gialla non si vede più. Piove! E' autunno!! Siamo rimasti in sei. Guido è andato da un altro contadino e credo si trovi bene, Ruggero è ritornato a Vialba, dove faceva scuola, per cercarvi un po' di allegria, per trovarvi qualche cosa che rompa il cerchio di tristezza che ci circonda un po' tutti. Ieri sono andato a trovarlo insieme a Menco; dovevano venire pure gli altri ma Aurelio, mentre sopra un olmo strecciava le viti e sorrideva al sorriso della Nella è caduto e, dice lui, si è fatto molto male. lo credo invece che sia caduto una sola volta, da piccolo. Già che siamo in discorso di Aurelio voglio parlare un po' di lui. L'abbiamo soprannominato, oltre al già famoso «secco», «affannatico» per la mania che ha di correre e di sbrigare tutte le cose in maniera celere e alquanto irregolare. Questo soprannome forse non va bene con l'impiego che occupa. Infatti lavora presso una banca del paese, a quanto dicono è un ragazzo ordinato, laborioso, che riscuote molta stima dai suoi superiori. E' snello alto, fronte spaziosa, occhi intelligenti e nobili, porta i capelli lisci e biondi all'indietro. A parte il suo affanno, e la sua proverbiale sfortuna in amore, è un gran bravo ragazzo. Forse, dico forse perché mi potrei sbagliare, sognerà un buon posto nella sua banca, una casetta linda, una graziosa mogliettina, dei bambini e desidererà una vita calma e serena, anche se fatta di molte somme e di molte sottrazioni. Ritornando al mancato intervento dei miei compagni alla gita di ieri, anche per Peppe si è trattato di una caduta; questa volta, però non c'era un olmo di mezzo, né un sorriso, bensì un cavallo. Claudio infine non è venuto perché sembra che una certa signorina Chiaretta glielo abbia proibito... punto e basta. Ho avuto ieri l'occasione di telefonare a Ela, ciò che ho provato è un dolce e caro segreto che voglio tenermi tutto per me. Ora, gli allarmi diventano più frequenti e credo che presto tuonerà e tuonerà... bene per noi e mal per chi è contro di noi. 12 Ottobre Nella nostra compagnia sono avvenuti molti cambiamenti. Siamo rimasti in cinque. Guido è andato da altri contadini più vicino e pare vi si trovi molto bene. Poi c'è con lui Gianni di Biretone, che è un contadino civilizzato dal servizio militare; sembra che un giorno questo tale si sia spacciato per ingegnere... quindi ha fatto molti progressi. Aurelio è ritornato a Umbertide per riprendere il lavoro in banca. Ruggero è tornato dove ha fatto scuola e sta con alcuni bravi contadini suoi conoscenti. Mentre ci è rimasta indifferente la partenza di Guido, sentiamo invece la lontananza di Aurelio e di Ruggero. Il primo ha prodotto un vuoto per la sua vivacità, il secondo per il suo pessimismo. Infatti senza Aurelio si procede con più calma ed anche a letto si dorme meglio, poiché non c'è più nessuno che tira le coperte, dà calci e mette la testa in bocca. Ruggero qualche volta, ci circondava della sua tristezza e rendeva impazienti pure noi di fronte al lento svolgersi degli avvenimenti. Noi rimasti siamo molto calmi e sappiamo sopportare con più abnegazione il monotono fluire dei giorni sempre uguali e tristi.... Domenica siamo stati alla messa a San Faustino con molta gioia del prete che per l'occasione ha sfoggiato una delle migliori prediche. Questo pretonzolo m'aveva minacciato giorni fa una campagna disfattista perché andavo in giro con i pantaloni corti. Con un buon bicchiere di vino santo che è il migliore dei Santi, abbiamo fatto la pace. Mi sono però convinto, dopo una lunga assenza che anche la messa non serve a niente; è un rito noioso, stupido e senza senso, che molte volte professiamo o per vedere una donna che ci interessa o per ammazzare il tempo o anche perché, ormai tanti prima di noi l'hanno fatto. Questi giorni ho avuto un bisticcio con Claudio e per un certo tempo siamo stati imbronciati poi tutto è passato. Per questa ragione il mio amico ha cancellato il suo diario satirico. Incomincia a far freddo ed il vento soffia senza riposo tirandosi dietro nuvoloni neri e spazzando le foglie che cadono dagli alberi. Stamane ho fatto le fotografie insieme a Piero. Mentre scendevo dal monte dove eravamo stati ad immortalarci, ho incontrato Loschi Mario e Nino Conti che venivano a cercarci. In un primo tempo non l'avevo riconosciuti ed avevo messo la mano sulla pistola spaventando con questo gesto i due compagni, che a loro volta, non avendomi conosciuto, si erano nascosti dietro ad un'altura prendendomi di mira con un vecchio archibugio, che, se avesse sparato, avrebbe fatto venire il terremoto. Nino è venuto da Napoli, sfuggendo ai tedeschi ed agli inglesi, è abbastanza sciupato e ne racconta delle belle. Si fermeranno con noi e così potremo ricostruire anche la compagnia. 13 Ottobre Questa notte abbiamo dormito sulla paglia nuova, regalataci da S. Pietro. S. Pietro non è quello che secondo la leggenda cristiana, guarda le porte del paradiso, ma un bravo contadino che abita vicino a noi. Il suo vero nome è Agostino, ma tutti lo chiamano S. Pietro. E' un ometto basso, gracile, con la testa pelata e due occhietti piccoli e infossati. Tutti i contadini della zona ci sono amici e ci aiutano, sia perché il nostro contadino è di natura generosa e buona e sia perché il nostro bravo Peppe ha aperto una barbieria detta «Barbieria di San Faustino», nel nostro piccolo appartamento. Giornalmente ed ancor più il sabato, arrivano i bravi coloni a farsi radere la barba e tagliare i capelli. Il novello Figaro non riceve alcuna ricompensa, ma accetta volentieri uova e pane. Peppe è uno dei ragazzi più seri e più laboriosi della nostra compagnia. Non molto alto, ha una bella testa di riccioli neri e due occhi grandi e buoni che guardano da una faccia larga che s'attacca al corpo massiccio con un bel collo taurino. Peppe è uno di quei ragazzi semplici e sinceri, che guardano con sicurezza la vita, senza grandi sogni o voli di fantasia. E' fidanzato con una bella ragazza che gli manda continuamente lettere, sigarette e marmellata. E' molto bravo nel suo mestiere e mi resta molto simpatico, anche perché non ha quella falsa petulanza e non sfoggia quelle ipocrite gentilezze e quella scienza barbosa che sono in genere le armi predilette di ogni barbiere. Canta anche abbastanza bene e la sua voce ha un bel timbro forte e caldo che spesso mi avvolge e mi aiuta a sognare. Ecco perché spesso lo esorto a cantare, quando sono triste. Io e lui siamo gli ultimi ad addormentarci ed i primi a svegliarci. Da questo ho potuto arguire che anche nel suo cuore dovrebbe esser celato un dolce segreto..... credo ch'egli, pur senza grandi slanci lirici, accarezzi un piccolo sogno: un bel negozio tutto suo, una bella casa con una bella mogliettina che ogni sera gli sfiori con una mano buona i riccioli neri e gli faccia dimenticare le teste dei clienti e le spazzole noiose e unte. Nino è rimasto con noi ed è già divenuto uno degli uomini più temuti del quadrigliato. Oggi sono tre settimane che siamo fuggiti; ne passeranno ancora prima che possiamo tornare alle nostre case ed alle persone che amiamo. * * * * * 31 Gennaio 1944 - ROCCA D'ARIA ..... e poi tornò a nascondersi nel bosco. Come i vecchi briganti che scendevano a valle per fare rapine e risalivano poi carichi di bottino a nascondersi nel bosco, così io dopo un periodo di tempo trascorso con la mia famiglia e la mia Ela, sono dovuto rifugiarmi nuovamente fra queste aspre montagne. Senza bottino e senza delitti sulla coscienza, colpevole solo di odiare la schiavitù tirannica ed un obbrobrioso lavoro mercenario. Questa volta sono capitato in un vecchio castello medioevale, situato su una collina aspra e scoscesa che domina una piccola valle segnata da un mormorante torrente e tante altre colline e piccole montagne cariche di pini e d'abeti e di querce vetuste e novelle. Occupo uno stanzone dove alla meglio ho arredato una camera che fa anche da sala e da cucina. Non è brutta, è assai carina ed ospitale, tanto più bella e gradita sarebbe se oltre me ospitasse la mia Ela. Saremmo tanto felici in questo stanzone che nasconderebbe tutto un mondo di piccole gioie e di dolci piaceri. Sono solo, senza compagno. La solitudine mi opprime ancora di più con i suoi sogni impazienti, con le sue ore cariche di malinconia e di tristezza. C'è Peppone e l'Ottavia, i contadini che dimorano qui, molto buoni e premurosi. C'è anche la maestra, una mia compagna, che abita il piano di sopra con due cognate ed una bambina. Manca il prete, per fortuna, a completare questo quadretto di vita rustica. Ho portato con me il grammofono ed alla sera si passa un po' di tempo a suonare, a giocare, o in lieta conversazione. Vengono altri contadini dei dintorni «a sentire ì soni» e con loro mi intrattengo affabilmente fino a tarda ora. Sono tutti brava gente, laboriosi e ingenuamente onesti e puri, che dal duro lavoro traggono ben poche e misere soddisfazioni. La mattina mi alzo verso le otto; pulisco la stanza, metto in ordine le mie robe e passo molto tempo leggendo e contemplando la natura, molto generosa di bellezze in questi luoghi. Questa mattina la maestra era occupata ed io ho fatto un po' di scuola per lei. Sono bambini piccoli, delle prime classi elementari, che vengono a scuola per imparare a leggere, a scrivere ed a fare un po' di conti. Dopo di che ritorneranno alla terra e con dura, assidua fatica cercheranno di strapparle i frutti della vita. Vengono da lontano, infreddoliti ma sorridenti, con gli zoccoli rumorosi, vestiti di poveri panni stracciati. Sillabano stentatamente ed ascoltano tante cose che paiono loro incomprensibili e lontane, guardano con timidezza e parlano piano, come per paura di essere ascoltati. Stamattina ho parlato di fate, di treni, di aereoplani e di avventure. M'ascoltavano seri e certamente non capivano molte cose. I treni che fumano e camminano, le automobili veloci, i cavalieri senza paura che puniscono la gente cattiva, dovevano suonare stranamente nelle loro anime. Avranno pensato per un istante ad un altro mondo: un mondo lontano, vietato, dove loro non riuscivano a rendersi conto che non vi potessero esistere buoi, tregge, maiali, pagliai e pecorelle belanti. Mi guardavano come un essere superiore che sa tante cose ed ha visto tanta «roba». Poveri piccoli! Le loro mani già portano il segno del lavoro, il loro sorriso si arresta davanti ad un treno che sbuffa ed il loro gioco si limita a piccoli scherzi con il cane o il gatto. Non hanno un'infanzia e non l'avranno mai ! Nascono già uomini per morire stanchi e vecchi. No, pensavo, non è giusto che tanti bambini piangano davanti ad un giocattolo vecchio che l'annoia, che abbiano istitutori o istitutrici a loro disposizione, che conoscano già fin d'allora tutte le gioie più belle della vita, mentre tante altre povere creature imparino fin dalla più tenera età i sacrifici, i dolori, le fatiche. L'infanzia è un dono troppo bello, caro, fuggevole, perché alcuni ne siano privati. E' l'età in cui il mondo ci si para d'innanzi pieno dì meraviglie, di sogni, di illusioni, è l'età in cui non si comprende la gravità della nostra esistenza, è l'età che dovrebbe riposare nel cuore di ognuno come il ricordo più dolce, più felice che tutti indistintamente dovrebbero gustare, con le gioie pure ed innocenti, l'affetto caldo e sincero dei genitori..... Ora li conosco quasi tutti per nome e mi vogliono molto bene. Ci sono tre bambine, la Carla, la Jole e la Miranda che sono proprio tre amori di bimbe, sembrano tre passerotti perduti in tre paia di grossi zoccoli. Ieri ho regalato loro delle paste; l'hanno prese dicendomi grazie e poi sono corse felici a mangiarle..… 25 Aprile 1944 Caro diario, questa è la volta di arrossire. Non per questo destino eri fatto, non per riportare le ore noiose che passo in questa prigione senza sbarre. Pensavo di poter narrare se non fatti di gloria, almeno episodi di lotta per la Patria e la libertà che tu, un giorno, avresti a tua volta, ricordato a me ed ai miei amici. Ma, come sempre, l'uomo propone e Dio dispone. Non sempre possiamo fare valere la nostra volontà, i nostri veri sentimenti. Tu, diario, eri stato creato nella rivolta dello spirito, quando la libertà s'affacciava con l'alba grigiastra dell'autunno, quando tutti erano pronti a difendere se stessi contro lo schiavismo del tiranno. (Per 20 minuti ho interrotto di scrivere causa un bombardamento). Ora all'aquilotto che tentava le vie spaziose dell'infinito hanno tarpato le ali: una gabbia lo racchiude ed invano forse logorerà ì suoi artigli contro le sbarre di duro ferro a vile prezzo acquistate. Nulla rimane ai mortali se non la speranza, «Spes ultima dea». Da otto giorni mi trovo insieme a Mario, Renato e Angiolino, a Collestrada, al servizio del lavoro. Lavoriamo per l'Italia Repubblichina Tedesca. Come diverso sarebbe il nostro lavoro se per una vera Italia si lavorasse! Quanta diversa la fede che l'alimenterebbe! lo faccio l'assistente medico e, passata la visita del mattino il mio lavoro si può dire terminato, a meno che non succedano infortuni durante la giornata. Renato e Mario stanno all'Ufficio contabilità assillati da un lavoro noioso, ma non gravoso. Angiolino, detto « Bellera », per le sue movenze agili e svelte, ha già cambiato due o tre uffici, fra i quali quello di capo-cucina e, per il momento, è disoccupato.. II nostro lavoro, dunque, non è per nulla faticoso, ma estremamente noioso. Siamo stati mandati qua per punizione, costretti ad una vita che non è la nostra, dall'odio settario di un gruppo di coscienti mascalzoni. Qui la vita scorre monotona ed ogni ora insegue l'altra in un giro di noia, d'attesa, di ricordi e di speranze. Ieri era il 24 aprile. Questa data ha per me un valore. Segnò l'inizio di un sogno che trascinandosi per due anni fra le spire di una falsa illusione si è infranto al primo affiorare della verità. E' bello, sublime, intendere la vita come una illusione continua, ma bisogna stare bene attenti a non diventare un illuso di questa illusione. ..... Tutto passa nella vita, come un'onda gigantesca il tempo travolge e cambia le cose..... ma come uno scoglio gigantesco, immobile, fisso per l'eternità, i ricordi s'ergono al di sopra dell'onda furiosa e ad ogni impeto rispondono con la carezza ed il profumo della loro purezza e della loro integrità...… * * * * * Zona di operazione - 31 Gennaio 1945 Cara mamma, siamo arrivati stanotte a Ravenna. Il viaggio è stato un po' duro sia per il caldo sia per la sua lunghezza. Siamo già vestiti..... se tu mi vedessi! Sembro un vero inglese. Il morale é alto e speriamo che sia sempre così. Domani partiamo subito per il fronte.... Ciò non ti deve impressionare perché tutto è calmo e poi dovremo fare sei giorni di istruzioni alle armi. Noi di Umbertide stiamo tutti insieme e questo è già molto. La maglia marrone la tengo indosso perché qui fa un freddo canissimo. Vi penso sempre. Tanti tanti baci a Cario, Bige, Matilde, Concetta, zii ed amici. La santa benedizione. Rino Giorno x Cari tutti, mi trovo al fronte e posso dire che non mi ci trovo molto male. Il vitto è ottimo e lo facciamo da noi. Durante il giorno si fanno le esercitazioni, brevi scappate in linea e siamo in attesa di stabilirci definitivamente in una postazione di prima linea. Speriamo tutti in un'avanzata perché i pericoli sono minori e finisce prima questa immane carneficina. La sera si canta, si suona cercando di soffocare il rombo del cannone e il gracidare delle mitraglie. Voglio sperare che la situazione di Bige vada migliorando. Sono soddisfatto del dovere che compio e nulla mi spaventa. Vi penso spesso, a Matilde do ragione: «C'è bisogno di fede quassù e di una protezione dall'alto». Tuttavia anche se qualche volta non ho dimostrato molta passione per la chiesa, non lo facevo di cuore. Vi bacio tutti tanto tanto. Rino Cara mamma, proprio ora ho saputo che fra tre giorni e precisamente il 15 andremo in prima linea. E' venuto l'ordine dal comando. Noi di Umbertide siamo tutti in un plotone aggregati alla 9a compagnia. La mia squadra di postazione è la seguente: Leonardi (Civetta) Trippelli, Ceccagnoli, Claudio e... cucina. Il nostro settore dice che non sia molto violento. Quindi mammina, il 15 avrò la prova del fuoco. Pregate per me. Farò il mio dovere senza slanci e senza vigliaccheria. State tranquilli, speriamo che tutto vada bene. Ho con me un'immagine di S. Rita che mi ha regalato una ragazza di Umbertide che io amo; mi aiuterà, tanti, tanti, tanti baci a voi tutti e zii; un bacione a Franco. Vi chiedo la Santa benedizione. vostro Rino Caro Alfredo, a te ed ai compagni un fervido saluto. Siamo in linea e si combatte. Il nostro ideale è il motore che anima e accalora. Io e Claudio stiamo bene e vi pensiamo spesso e con affetto. Speriamo di poterci rivedere presto e ricominciare il nostro lavoro. Qui dove siamo ora c'è abbastanza calma, ma abbiamo passato qualche giorno!.... Ancora c'è molto lavoro da fare, cari compagni; la massa è con noi ma la monarchia ha le sue pedine e le manovra bene. Lo spirito nuovo è qui quasi assente, c'è molta nostalgia del passato, si strombazza un po' di democrazia, ma in realtà è ancora come prima. Qui, noi e tanti altri compagni lavoriamo per il nostro domani e speriamo che il nostro sforzo non rimanga nullo. Saluti cari a Remigio, Ramiro, Ramnusia e Elsa. A tutti i giovani compagni un caro saluto. Rino Pucci Bollettino n. 21 Partenza. Sveglia alle 6 e preparativi. Addio ai compagni fiorentini che ci salutano comunisticamente al canto dell'Internazionale. Attraverso Ravenna, verso S. Alberto, le nostre voci svegliano i pigri ed incuriosiscono, entusiasmandoli, i passanti mattinieri. Tra due immense inondazioni le nostre macchine filano veloci verso la meta. Al comando della 9ª compagnia avviene lo smistamento dei vari plotoni; il tenente Ceccarelli comanda il 2° plotone, quasi tutti gli umbertidesi sono al 3° plotone. I compagni di Città di Castello, che sono davvero ottimi comunisti, sono stati assegnati al lº plotone. Il cap. Maggiore Ceccagnoli comanda l'8ª squadra del 3° plotone ed è tutto un poema. Il caporale Leonardi, vice comandante dell'8ª squadra ha stupito il folto pubblico e l'inclita guarnigione nella costruzione, sotto il fuoco nemico, di una postazione modello. Stanotte il battesimo del fuoco. I tedeschi si fanno sotto audacemente; noi con calma rispondiamo ad ogni provocazione. II fante Bargelli è stato il primo ad avvistare i nemici che sono chiamati familiarmente «Tognini». Ai primi razzi illuminanti la pattuglia sì è allontanata. Verso le cinque un altoparlante tedesco ci ha tenuti allegri con canzoni e fregnacce propagandistiche. Il freddo è intenso, nel cielo le stelle impallidiscono percettibilmente. Battendo i piedi intirizziti le sentinelle, nelle postazioni, mescolano i propri con i sogni dei dormienti nelle cuccette interrate. E' l'alba ed i tedeschi si sono ritirati al di là del Reno e tutto è tranquillo. Di tanto in tanto qualche mortaio si fa sentire, ma senza effetto alcuno. Domani 19 avremo una importantissima notizia, da quanto ci ha detto il Ten. Ceccarelli. Attendiamo impassibili, il nostro scopo è ormai raggiunto: i tedeschi hanno già sentito che il plotone «Umbertide» fa sul serio. Bollettino n. 26 Una giratina per S. Alberto non fa male, c'è qualche borghese c'è ...... beh ! ...... qualche borghesina. E' piacevole vedere i gagà con la piega ai pantaloni militari che segue una ipotetica linea retta, qualcuno è arrivato al punto di lucidare le fette. Regola è di radersi la battagliera barba. Il Capitano ordina l'adunata e incomincia la romanzina per il contegno, per la disciplina ..... Il rancio si fredda, c’é una scenata che non è possibile narrare per ragioni tattiche. Poi tutto torna calmo e tiriamo avanti. Le notizie sono vaghe e tendenziose. Il cap. Maggiore Ceccagnoli si dà un sacco di arie ed è stato proposto per la nomina a.... Generale. I fanti Confini, Pucci e Caprini sono stati proposti per la croce di guerra in seguito all'audace pattuglia fatta a casa Giazol. La notizia che sembra di maggiore attendibilità è la seguente: si attacca. In attesa di abbracciare qualche veneziana o qualche milanese puliamo le armi.... Rancio e silenzio. Un Sergente suona il clarino e ci fa sognare : ricordiamo l'orchestra del valoroso Maestro Caporali, Anima di Franceschini, dove sei tu? Dove sono Lazzarini, Filippi e Codovini? Nel sogno si balla una quadriglia vertiginosa. Bollettino n. 29 Il fante ................. (poi la morte) DALLA LETTERA DEL CAPITANO ALLA MADRE DI RINO Gentilissima Signora, ricevo una Sua lettera senza data che, dalle condizioni in cui mi è pervenuta, lascia comprendere di essere stata a lungo in circolazione. Ciò anche a causa dei miei continui spostamenti. Infatti, dopo reiterate, vane insistenze, ho finalmente ottenuto dal Comando del Gruppo «Cremona» di poter partecipare a tutto il ciclo offensivo, da Alfonsine al Brenta. A tale premessa, che spiega il ritardo di questa risposta, aggiungo l'espressione della mia viva solidarietà e della mia commossa partecipazione al Suo immenso dolore. Come ho già scritto il mese scorso al Sindaco di Umbertide, quando incontrai Lei a Perugia, verso il 20 marzo, ignoravo assolutamente la fine gloriosa di Suo Figlio ......... .... Nella fase degli arruolamenti, nessuno ha mai nascosto che «si andava a fare la guerra» e che «qualcuno poteva non tornare». Ogni conquista implica sacrifici e perdite; la Libertà in particolare ha sempre voluto i suoi martiri. E' la fatalità, Signora, che si abbatte su una persona, su una famiglia, su una città, piuttosto che su altre. E ne abbiamo qui una ennesima dimostrazione: la provincia di Perugia ha dato al «Cremona» circa 500 volontari. Di essi ne sono caduti 5, ossia l'uno per cento. Purtroppo di questi cinque ben due sono annoverati tra i 24 umbertidesi. La sorte ha voluto dalla già tanto provata Umbertide, questo nuovo rilevante contributo di sangue generoso per la completa liberazione d'Italia. Noi, risparmiati dalla fortuna non possiamo non inchinarci davanti al loro nobile sacrificio; dobbiamo coltivarne perenne la memoria, onorarli e glorificarli. Voglia, Signora, accettare le mie più sentite condoglianze ed i sensi del mio devoto ossequio. Capitano Nardi Dalla lettera del Cappellano Militare alla madre di Rino COMANDO 22° REGGIMENTO FANTERIA «CREMONA Ufficio del Cappellano Militare Posta Militare 64, 30 maggio 1945 ALLA SIGNORA PUCCI MARIANNA - UMBERTIDE (Perugia) Gentilissima Signora, da qualche giorno mi è pervenuta la Sua del 16 maggio c.a. e comprendo tutta l'amarezza del suo dolore di madre privata del suo unico figlio. In verità, a suo tempo, ricevetti pure altra Sua lettera, alla quale, per disposizioni ministeriali, non potei rispondere non essendo a conoscenza se il Ministero competente le avesse o meno annunziato ufficialmente il decesso di Suo figlio. Oggi che di questo sono certo, posso assicurarle che il suo ragazzo ha fatto il suo dovere fino all'ultimo, come in genere tutti i giovani di Perugia. Egli è stato ferito nell'attacco condotto dal suo Battaglione per la conquista di Po di Primaro. Lo ricordo sempre quel giorno quando giunse a noi pieno di sangue e gravemente ferito, nell'infermeria da campo di Casal Borsetti. Nonostante il grande dolore, non si lamentava molto, eppure le sue ferite erano gravissime; un ampio squarcio alla coscia sinistra ed al braccio sinistro facevano prevedere prossima la sua fine, almeno dal lato medico. Il grande coraggio dimostrato e la reazione ad un dolore prostrante ci dettero per un momento la speranza di poterlo togliere ad una morte quasi sicura. Le cure gli furono praticate con amorevolezza e fraterna carità, sia dal medico di battaglione, sia anche dal dirigente il servizio sanitario coadiuvato dall'opera del cappellano militare sottoscritto. Per non esporlo ad una inutile dispersione di sangue, subìta la prima medicazione, fu smistato, a mezzo ambulanza, alla 54ª sezione di sanità, da dove proseguì immediatamente per un ospedale canadese in Ravenna (9 Indian Ospitai CCS). Anche qui dopo trasfusioni di siero e di sangue, sì tentò di salvarlo; ma non fu possibile e dopo alcune ore, del fante Rino Pucci non rimaneva che un cadavere freddo e senza vita. Laggiù, prima dì spirare, ricevette i sacramenti e la benedizione apostolica dal cappellano cattolico inglese di quell'ospedale. Curammo poi di raccogliere pietosamente la sua salma e di trasportarla al cimitero di guerra di Camerlona (Ravenna) ove riposano anche tutti i suoi compagni della Divisione (fila 7ª - tomba n. 77). Tutto questo è quanto posso dirvi relativamente al suo decesso. La bontà di suo figlio non lo potrà far dimenticare a nessuno e molto meno ai suoi compagni del 3° Btg., essi più di ogni altro si recavano spesso a visitarne la tomba ripromettendosi, non appena possibile, di ricondurne le spoglie al cimitero di Umbertide.… IL CAPPELLANO MILITARE (Fanti P. Pietro) VIVI E MORTI ...... SOLTANTO CON LA ROCCIA DI QUESTO PATTO GIURATO FRA UOMINI LIBERI CHE VOLONTARI SI ADUNARONO PER DIGNITA' NON PER ODIO DECISI A RISCATTARE LA VERGOGNA ED IL TERRORE DEL MONDO SU QUESTE STRADE SE VORRAI TORNARE AI NOSTRI POSTI CI RITROVERAI MORTI E VIVI CON LO STESSO IMPEGNO POPOLO SERRATO INTORNO AL MONUMENTO CHE SI CHIAMA ORA E SEMPRE R E S I S T E N Z A (P. Calamandrei) Il Diaro di Rino Pucci GALLERIA FOTOGRAFICA La storia di Palazzoli Natalino di Massimo Pascolini La storia di Palazzoli Natalino, chiamato Silvano di Massimo Pascolini Morì a 15 anni, nell’agosto 1944, investito da un camion inglese nella zona tra Montecastelli e Niccone durante il passaggio del fronte. Una delle tante vittime civili nel nostro territorio nell’anno più drammatico della storia di Umbertide. Il tragico episodio è stato raccontato da Massimo Pascolini , in base a ricerche d’archivio e testimonianze, nel seguente articolo pubblicato sul numero di marzo 2023 di “Informazione Locale”. Il passaggio del fronte ad Umbertide nell'estate del 1944 è sicuramente ricordato come uno degli eventi più tragici nella storia della città. Oltre ai morti nel bombardamento del 25 aprile, alla strage di Penetola, ai fucilati di Serra Partucci, alla famiglia Braconi deceduta a Preggio a causa di un bombardamento, Umbertide registra la morte di altre persone, uccise per rappresaglia, a causa di mitragliamenti aerei, bombe e ordigni rimasti inesplosi nei campi. Oggi, grazie anche ad alcuni documenti ritrovati presso l'Archivio Storico del Comune di Umbertide, (anno 1944), vogliamo ricordare la morte di Palazzoli Natalino chiamato Silvano. Natalino nasce a Monte Castelli, da Giovan Battista e Mannarelli Maria il 25 dicembre 1929. Muore il 15 agosto 1944 dopo essere stato investito da un camion Inglese. La dinamica dell'incidente si può ricostruire attraverso il rapporto fatto dal comandante della stazione dei carabinieri di Umbertide, Brigadiere Rinaldi Giuseppe al Pretore di Città di Castello ed al Governatore di Umbertide. "Verso le ore 16 del giorno 15 corrente, lo scrivente veniva a conoscenza che in località Cioccolanti di Umbertide era morto un giovane in seguito ad incidente stradale. Il sottoscritto si recava immediatamente sul posto ed accertava quanto segue: “[...], percorreva la strada campestre, in bicicletta, che immetteva sulla strada statale Tiberina - Romagnola e all'altezza della villa di Santini Giorgio sita fra la frazione Niccone e la località Cioccolanti. Appena il giovane raggiungeva la strada statale e stava girando alla sua sinistra per dirigersi verso Cioccolanti, sopraggiungeva un camion delle forze armate inglesi che proveniente da Città di Castello si dirigeva verso Umbertide, tenendo regolarmente la sua destra, lo investiva in pieno nella parte anteriore della bicicletta, lo gettava violentemente al suolo e lo trascinava per circa 20 metri. Il giovane Palazzoli riportava ferite multiple lacero contuse del tronco, addome, regione scrotale e frattura del cranio, (Referto del Dottor Ennio Paci, medico condotto di Montecastelli, che visitò il cadavere nella sua abitazione). I militari inglesi, secondo la deposizione di Giunti Pietro di anni 61, nato a Città di Castello e residente a Niccone, meccanico, che accorse subito dopo l'incidente sul posto, fermarono il camion e trasportarono il cadavere nella sua abitazione in Cioccolanti, distante circa 400 metri dal luogo del sinistro. Un ufficiale inglese, sopraggiunto successivamente con altra macchina, si fermava sul luogo dell'incidente e tracciava uno schema dell'incidente indicando lo stato del luogo e gli estremi scritti in italiano ed inglese del camion e dell'autista. Schema poi consegnato a Gaggioli Ennio che lo ha recapitato al sottoscritto. [...]". Il “disegno” (un vero e proprio CID) dell'Ufficiale Inglese riporta un disegno dell'incidente ed i dati dei soggetti coinvolti. Il camion era un “TRUK da 3 tonnellate, targato 1-4723037”, guidato dal soldato “Turner W” mat. 7/269409. Nell'effettuare un sopralluogo sul posto, abbiamo intervistato il Sig. Biagini Nazzario, abitante del luogo che all'età dell'incidente aveva 6 anni e ricorda di essere stato sul posto subito dopo il fatto. Il Sig. Nazzario ci ha raccontato la dinamica dell'incidente. Il Palazzoli, assieme ad un coetaneo, tal Biagini Vittorio, di 17 anni, fratello dell'intervistato, stavano facendo una gara per chi arrivava prima al Niccone dietro la ricompensa, per chi fosse arrivato prima, di 5 lire, promesse da un anziano del posto. I due ragazzi erano partiti dalla casa posta in vocabolo “Ruffietto”, ed arrivati in prossimità della villa “Palazzetto” alla curva, giravano a destra. Il Palazzoli che si trovava davanti, andava a impattare contro la fiancata destra del camion. Negli anni successivi il padre del ragazzo ha scritto, con il supporto del Sindaco del Comune di Umbertide, diverse lettere a vari Enti nell'intento di veder riconosciuto un indennizzo per il tragico evento (scrive di aver speso per il funerale, cassa ed altro, Lire 23.000). Presso l'Archivio Storico del Comune di Umbertide (anno 1950), si trovano conservate varie lettere indirizzate al Prefetto di Perugia, al Ministero del Tesoro Ufficio Requisizioni Alleate, al Ministero Difesa - Esercito, al Comando Presidio Militare di Perugia. Vi si trova pure una lettera dell'Ambasciata Inglese a Roma del 4 giugno 1948, che risponde “di non essere competenti riguardo ai fatti accaduti e dice di rivolgersi al Ministero Difesa - Esercito”. In data 21 maggio 1948, l'Associazione Nazionale Vittime Civili di Guerra, Sezione di Perugia, comunica che i genitori non hanno più diritto a nessun indennizzo in quanto, questi, dovevano essere richiesti "finché in tempo" al locale Comando Militare Alleato. Attualmente la salma riposa presso il locale cimitero di Montecastelli, nella tomba di famiglia, assieme ai propri genitori. Pubblicato sul numero di Marzo 2023 del periodico “Informazione Locale” La storia di Ciro Monsignori Morto a 20 anni nel campo di deportazione nazista di Zeithain nel 1944 Il 14 gennaio 1992 sono state riportate in Italia le salme di sedici giovani soldati umbri, dei quali quattordici morti nei lager nazisti e due nei campi di prigionia russi. Questi ragazzi, strappati alle loro famiglie e mandati a combattere a vent'anni, non sono che alcune delle tantissime vittime della guerra scatenata dal nazifascismo, che ha insanguinato l'Europa con le sue atrocità. La cerimonia in onore dei caduti si è svolta a Perugia, alla presenza dei familiari commossi e di numerose autorità militari e civili. Le urne con i resti dei poveri giovani sono sfilate da Palazzo dei Priori alla Cattedrale di San Lorenzo, dove è stata celebrata una messa solenne dall'Arcivescovo di Perugia Mons. Antonelli. Tra queste la salma di un giovane di Umbertide, Ciro Monsignori di diciannove anni, ultimo di sette fratelli, partito per la guerra nel 1943, tre mesi prima dell'8 settembre. Ciro, che era arruolato in cavalleria, al sopraggiungere dell'armistizio e al conseguente sfaldamento dell'esercito italiano, rifiutandosi di collaborare con le truppe nazifasciste, scappò insieme ad altri soldati nel tentativo di tornare a casa. Purtroppo però, nei pressi di Firenze, fu catturato dai tedeschi che lo deportarono in Germania, dove fu internato nel Lager di Zeithain, nell'ex Repubblica Democratica Tedesca. Rimase prigioniero nel campo fino al 1944, anno del suo decesso, comune tragica sorte di tanti giovani, morti di stenti, nelle terribili condizioni in cui venivano tenuti. I familiari di Ciro appresero poco dopo la triste notizia da una lettera del cappellano militare padre Luca Airoldi, anche lui internato nel lager e che teneva un diario dei soldati, il quale li informava anche che il corpo del giovane era stato seppellito nel cimitero del campo. Finita la guerra la famiglia Monsignori iniziò una disperata ricerca della salma del proprio caro, ma ogni tentativo risultò vano perché le autorità della DDR rispondevano che il cimitero di Zeithain non esisteva più. Nemmeno le Associazioni dei Deportati nei Lager riuscirono ad avere notizie più precise fino a quando, con la caduta dei muri, è stato possibile scoprire il cimitero del campo e tra le tante tombe quella di Ciro. Di lui c'era anche una vecchia fotografia, trovata negli schedari del campo. Dopo cinquant'anni, finalmente, i familiari hanno potuto ricongiungersi al loro caro e nel dolore hanno avuto almeno la consolazione di una tomba sulla quale ricordare e pregare. Da “Umbertide Cronache n.1 1992” – Panorama di Vita Cittadina, a cura di Amedeo Massetti * * * * * Il lager di Zeithain Il campo di prigionia Reservelazarett Stalag IV B Zeithain era un campo distaccato dello Stalag IV-B di Muhlberg. Istituito nel 1941 sul campo di esercitazioni militari di Zeithain, a nord di Riesa, lo Stalag 304 (IV H), poi Stalag IV B, fu inizialmente destinato ad accogliere prigionieri di guerra sovietici. A partire dal 1943 fu adibito anche a lazzaretto di riserva per prigionieri di guerra di altre nazionalità, tra cui moltissimi Internati Militari Italiani (IMI) che dopo l'8 settembre 1943 avevano rifiutato di collaborare con il regime nazista. Condizioni disumane, mancanza di igiene, denutrizione, assistenza medica insufficiente e lavoro coatto facilitarono il diffondersi di epidemie e gravi malattie, soprattutto tubrcolosi, determinando la morte di decine di migliaia di prigionieri, tra cui 850 italiani, sepolti per la maggior parte nel cimitero militare italiano di Jacobsthal e in parte nel cimitero di Muhlberg e Neuburxdorf. Il campo fu liberato dall’Armata Rossa il 23 aprile 1945. Degli IMI superstiti, tra cui molti gravemente ammalati, alcuni morirono sulla via del rientro e furono sepolti a Praga. Dopo la fine della guerra, il territorio del lager e del cimitero italiano fu adibito a zona di esercitazioni militari sovietica e rimase per decenni inaccessibile. Grazie all'instancabile opera di ricerca di alcuni reduci di Zeithain, primi fra tutti Padre Luca M. Airoldi (m. 1985), ex cappellano del campo che aveva annotato nel suo diario tutti i nominativi e i dati degli IMI deceduti a Zeithain, e dell'ex Ten. Col. Leopoldo Teglia, attuale Presidente della Sezione A.N.E.I. (Associazione Nazionale Ex Internati) di Perugia, fu finalmente possibile nel 1991 localizzare il cimitero militare italiano, riesumare e rimpatriare le spoglie di quasi tutti i caduti italiani di Zeithain. Nove croci di legno al margine dell'ex cimitero militare italiano di Zeithain ricordano oggi i caduti italiani del Reservelazarett Stalag IV B. Dal sito Internet di Wikipedia La storia di Ciro Monsignori Atlante della Memoria di Alvaro Tacchini Atlante della memoria di Alvaro Tacchini Atlante della memoria: Alta Valle del Tevere 1943-1944 a cura di Fabio Mariotti Per chi vuole approfondire gli avvenimenti storici nell’Alta valle del Tevere nel periodo 1943-44 è di grande interesse un nuovo lavoro dello storico tifernate Alvaro Tacchini che si inserisce nel solco della ricerca svolta sul periodo bellico. Tacchini ha infatti inserito nel suo sito “Storia tifernate“ gran parte dei testi del volume “Guerra e Resistenza nell'Alta Valle del Tevere”. Inoltre, affinché gli eventi, le tragedie e la lotta per la libertà dell'ultimo conflitto possano essere meglio divulgati a livello popolare e didattico, ha realizzato una splendida mappa interattiva, dal titolo "Atlante della Memoria. Alta Valle del Tevere 1943-1944". Si tratta di una mappa on-line, costruita sulla fotografia satellitare dell'Alta Valle del Tevere. Individua con specifici simboli gli eventi principali di quel biennio, localizzando dettagliatamente i luoghi dove sono avvenuti. Inoltre rende possibile approfondirne i contenuti con link che si aprono su testi tratti dal suo libro su questo tema. Nella mappa sono inseriti con cura anche i principali avvenimenti della zona di Umbertide, così come gli elenchi delle vittime civili e dei partigiani. Qui sotto è il link per la home page del sito. Per accedere alla mappa interattiva basta cliccare sul riquadro in basso a sinistra. http://www.storiatifernate.it/index.php

Penetola. Not all the dead die. by Giovanni Bottaccioli Here we present the entire small research book that Giovanni Bottaccioli, recently passed away, several years ago, he realized about the massacre of Penetola. Put in writing the voices and memories of the unfortunate protagonists of the story, giving everyone the opportunity to know them. Thanks to the availability of her daughters, Elvira and Giovanna, we present her entire work, which can also be downloaded or browsed in .pdf below, recommended for smartphones or for those who want to keep it (click from smartphone on the image below, scroll it on tablet and pc). Photo by Fabio Mariotti. PENETULA NOT ALL DEAD DIE by Giovanni Bottaccioli LE ALTRE VITTIME QUELLA PRIMAVERA DEL 1944 IL RACCONTO DI BRUNO IL RACCONTO DI DINA IL RICORDO DI ANNA QUEL 28 GIUGNO ALL'ALBA LE VITTIME DA ORMINDO UN ALTRO GIORNO GRIDA DISPERATE DI UNA DONNA COME PREMESSA COME PREMESSA AS FOREWORD If on 27 April 1997 I had not gone, together with some companions and friends, to the ceremony for the deposition of a crown at the monument to the martyrs of "Penetola", I believe that I would never have written these few pages on that distant and tragic episode that occurred on June 28, 1944, a few days after the liberation of our municipal territory. One of the many that took place in Italy in that period which, even if distant in time, should have remained well engraved in the memory of all, and especially in that of those who were direct or indirect witnesses. The delegation, despite the public posters and the invitations made to the population by the Anti-Fascist Committee and the Municipal Administration, included the Mayor Celestino Sonaglia, the maestro Raffaele Mancini representing the Anti-Fascist Committee, Alberto Mancini, partisan and silver medalist of the Resistance, Alfredo Ciarabelli of the PCI, Ferdinando Bruschi, President of the young volunteers from Umberto I joined the "Cremona" division, with some veterans of the Liberation War, I who write representing the Giunta Municipal and very few other citizens, no more than fifteen people in all, including Giuseppe Ivorio, one of the survivors of the massacre. You will wonder why a crown was placed in memory of the martyrs of "Penetola" on 21 April and not on 28 June, the anniversary of the massacre carried out by the Nazi-Fascists. The explanation is simple: a few days ago the Nazi war criminal Gen. Kappler, sentenced to life imprisonment, had escaped from the infirmary of the Regina Coeli prison in Rome, where he was hospitalized because of an incurable disease. massacre of the Fosse Ardeatine: where 335 "political prisoners" were brutally slaughtered, taken from the Roman prisons in retaliation for a partisan action against the Nazi occupation troops. That sensational escape, incredible for its daring aspects, had a great repercussion in the country, especially in the conscience of the citizens most sensitive to the defense of the democratic institutions born of the Resistance; with that "flight" was seriously offended, not only the memory of the fallen of the Resistance, but the conscience of all those who, with their tribute of struggles and blood, had contributed to the redemption of the Nation from the abyss of war, from the abyss of the barbarism into which Fascism had led it. This was the motivation that had led me together with the other citizens, representatives of the democratic and anti-fascist forces to lay the crowns at the memorial stone placed in memory of the martyrs of "Penetola". Cippo which is located about one kilometer from the hamlet of Niccone, on the left side of the road that leads to Lake Trasimeno and a few hundred meters from the house where the horrendous Nazi massacre was consummated; and erected a few years ago by the municipal administration on the proposal of the Anti-Fascist Committee of Umbertide. While I was witnessing the deposition of the crown, I wondered how it was possible that atrocious events like this and how those that occurred in so many other parts of Italy with thousands of innocent deaths could be forgotten in such a short time, when still many survivors carry them on. The tremendous signs are flesh and memory. From this bitter observation for those who believe that only from the knowledge and memory of our past can the awareness of the defense and development of the values of freedom and democracy arise, the decision to write to remind the forgetful , but above all to young people who do not know what the years of fascism were, and especially that them of the war and the Nazi occupation of our country. I will say, as far as it is possible to reconstruct what happened in those sad days of June 1944, in that small part of the territory that goes from Niccone in Spedalicchio, with particular attention to the “Penetola” massacre in which twelve of our fellow citizens found the horrible death, guilty only of having been there. I will tell, albeit summarily, of other sad episodes that occurred a few days before that terrible 28 June. Episodes that I consider useful and necessary to tell to highlight a broader picture and highlight the climate of fear that we lived in that period, when for some days the shots of the cannons of the now nearby allied troops reached our ears. For the drafting of these few pages I also used the testimonies of some protagonists; they are: Anna Nanni, Bruno Montanucci, Lenin Sonaglia known as Luigi or Nino and finally Mrs. Dina Orsini ved. Ivory, escaped the massacre. THAT SPRING OF 1944 The Nazis, called after the armistice of 8 September 1943 by the fascists of the Italian Social Republic to keep up the shaky regime of terror they established in the country, occupy the national territory. war, the bombing actions by the allied aviation begin. Umbertide was bombed on April 25, 1944 and 74 fellow citizens died under the rubble. Many victims could have been spared if the "republican" authorities of the time had given the air alarm signal through the sound of the sirens that had been set up and that that day did not I was living at that time in the hamlet of Niccone and I was able to see, so I can tell with certainty, that the allied planes, before dropping the deadly bombs, flew for a few minutes over the town and over the targets, which were the two bridges over the Tiber river, that of the road and that of the railway, which then connected Arezzo with Fossato di Vico. Numerous turns over the inhabited area were made by airplanes, perhaps precisely to give the inhabitants the opportunity to get away from the area. The alarm was not sounded, no one moved, so the massacre took place. In this regard, I remember, because we have always talked about it in the family, that that morning, despite my father's insistence, I refused to go to Umbertide by bicycle. Only when the planes that had dropped their death bombs left, did I get on my bike and went to Umbertide. The sight that presented itself to the eyes was tremendous. At the end of via Cibo, the course, mountains of rubble, among these I recognized some willing people who lent help, Antonio Taticchi, a well-known anti-fascist who had a barber's workshop right on the corner of the Vibi palace and Romitelli, the tinsmith, and others who were looking for to extract the bodies of those who were trapped and begging for help. Other mountains of rubble were on via Petrogalli and even there the survivors were desperately looking for their loved ones. Through via Cibo I reached Piazza Matteotti and the spectacle seemed even more terrifying. Some unrecognizable bodies had been composed on the ground, others seriously injured were complaining. Frightened, I went in search of the families of my two aunts who lived there and when I knew for sure that they had not been aged, I took the road and returned to Niccone. In the afternoon there was a new bombardment again by allied aircraft, but this time it caused few victims, perhaps because, contrary to what happened previously, the planes dropped the bombs starting the dive from the Romeggio area and not from Civitella Ranieri as it had happened in the morning. Even the hamlet of Niccone, being at the crossroads between the state road and the road that, along the valley of the Niccone stream, leads towards Lake Trasimeno and from this into the Valdichiana, in Tuscany, could be included among the military objectives. for the two bridges over the river and therefore be subject to bombing actions that the Allies systematically operated, trying to hinder the retreat of the German troops. retreat that had begun after the allied landing in Anzio. The possibility of undergoing aerial bombardments and the fact that large groups of German soldiers had already taken possession of some houses in Niccone and the surrounding areas, advised most of the families of the small hamlet looking for a temporary and safer accommodation in the open countryside near the houses inhabited by the numerous sharecroppers scattered throughout the territory There were thousands, perhaps millions of families in Italy who at that time found accommodation and food with our "peasants", even if this term was and still is used by many people in a derogatory sense. But I believe that their great willingness, costing great sacrifices, to host all those who from the centers, even minor ones, tried to escape the fury of the war, was the greatest demonstration of their generosity, their altruism and their goodness. And this negative attitude towards land workers has been persistent for a long time and perhaps still is. Their great availability was demonstrated, in fact, not only by housing entire families but also by giving them more than enough to feed themselves. who gave us concrete help. I want to thank once again, sure to interpret the desire of many other "citizens", all the farmers in the area and especially the family of Pio Fornaci, known as the "Fornacino", for the great and disinterested hospitality granted to my family. Sometimes I wonder how many of us would be available, should it become necessary for unfortunate necessity, to give to the few remaining farmers or to others in need, part of our houses, our beds, our tables. As I have already said, also my father, a craftsman, who practiced as a barber. he had started looking for an accommodation and found it just beyond the hamlet of Molino Vitelli, at the home of “Fornacino”. The farm was owned of the Boncompagni family, owner of large agricultural estates. My father, my mother and my younger sister had moved into this new “home”, a single room of about twenty square meters which at the time represented a “palace”; I joined them later. At that time I was a soldier assigned to the infantry battalion at the "Biordo Michelotti" barracks in Perugia. I deserted by escaping from the military hospital of Santa Giuliana in Perugia, where I was hospitalized for tests after a 15-day convalescence leave; I did not intend for any reason to serve the Nazi-fascists of the RSI .. I was denounced for desertion. By bicycle I returned to Niccone, found the house empty and learned that my parents were displaced. I got back on my bicycle and looking from one side and the other of the road that crossed the whole hamlet, I noticed many German soldiers who had occupied some houses. Pedaling at a good pace, be careful not to run into some roadblock. I came near the house of the "Fornacino". I am not describing the joy of my parents in seeing me appear at the end of the road that leads from the main road to the farmhouse. This joy was partly mitigated by concern for what might have happened due to my desertion. It was known of the frequent roundups that fascists and Nazis undertook in search of those who either had not presented themselves to the call of the RSI or had deserted the weapons. And it was precisely the constant concern for the roundups that had made me take the decision to build, in the middle of a forest, not far from home, a "den", a refuge that could hardly be discovered, so much had been on my part, the care in camouflaging it with the surrounding environment. Fortunately, only once did I successfully use it to escape a roundup by the Republican National Guard. According to what I later learned, that roundup concerned precisely the search for deserters or reluctant to the continuous calls to arms that Nazis and Fascists posted on the walls and which now also concerned sixteen-year-olds! QUELLA PRIMAVERA DEL 1944 DESPERATE CRYING OF A WOMAN I remember perfectly that Sunday morning of June 26, 1944, when around ten I heard in the distance the cries of a woman coming from the fields that lead from the "Fornacino" house towards the Dogana, a place where she lived with other families, that of Trinari, on the right side of the large curve near Spedalicchio. They were the excruciating screams of a woman who, running through the fields of wheat already ripe enough and close to harvest, urged the men to immediately move away to the houses and flee to the woods to hide, because German soldiers in war gear were shooting all those who found. in the fields and in their homes. It was Ersilia Epi resident in Montecastelli, who had gone to visit her daughter displaced by the Trinari family or in the vicinity and who claimed to have witnessed the capture, by German soldiers, of the men of the area then locked up in a tobacco dryer; he feared they might be shot. f The woman, no longer young, always ran past the house and, without stopping for a moment, repeated, as a kind of begging, that terrible warning: "'Flee men, flee men !!" I was speechless, looked my mother in the face, also terrified by those screams, and without a moment's hesitation walked away across the fields; I tried to take shelter behind the vegetation of the rows of vines already thick enough with the leaves of the new shoots. I had a goal in mind: to reach the home of the Sonaglia family, a sharecropper who lived above the hamlet of Niccone. Owner of the farm, voc. "S. Maria ”, was the IFI company of Montecorona. The two brothers Sonaglia, Eusebio and Dante, with their respective wives and children lived there together with their father Benedetto. It was one of the largest farms on the whole Montecorona farm. I remember that in threshing time, which lasted a few days, the siren, as well as sounding at the beginning and end of the threshing or when the meal was announced, also sounded when 100 quintals of wheat had been reached. For many years I remember that this siren sounded even three times, to the great joy of those who, after their efforts, saw their sweats partially rewarded. In fact, at the Sonaglia home, my father had for the convenience of displaced customers, moved the barber shop, or rather, he was a "walking" barber, so as to be able to maintain relationships with people now scattered a little everywhere and at the same time send on with his earnings, the "wheelbarrow" that was very hard to push. As I ran along the rows of fields in the shelter of the vegetation and quickly moved away from the area, I mulled over what could have happened to my mother and my sister, then 11, who I had left alone at home. With this thought fixed in my mind, every now and then I slowed down and thought if perhaps it was not the case to go back; but the warning of the woman "run away men" sounded insistently in the ears. Accompanied by these thoughts, I continued with an ever faster pace, to go towards the Sonaglia house; I wanted to reach my father as soon as possible. The journey that I knew well and that in other circumstances had seemed short to me, seemed to never end at this juncture. As soon as I reached the Sonaglia house I looked for my father and I immediately told him with my heart in my mouth what had happened, the reason why I had left my mother and my sister at home. He was very shaken and worried and told me to stay around because he would find out as soon as possible what was really happening. We parted with the promise that in a few hours we would meet again to decide if and how to return to the “Fornacino's house”. As I walked away, I noticed my father's strong concern for what I had told him. He was also worried about my brother Attilio, who had fled from the barracks in Orvieto where he was in the military, who just that morning went to Romeggio to visit some friends. Being a deserter himself, he had to be warned of the imminent danger and not to return home. My father, during the great war of 1915/18, had been a prisoner of the Germans and knew, from direct experience, what degree of aberrant treatment the Germans were capable of inflicting on all those who tried to thwart their plans. I thought to myself of how much pain war brings and I was disgusted that I too was the cause, albeit involuntary, of the pains that tormented my parents in those days. My father's prudence was worth nothing: now we were all, and not just us, at the mercy of an enemy who had no scruples or pity. Speaking of my father, I like to remember that it was he, thanks to his experience as a prisoner of the Germans, who advised the Sonaglia family, since the winter of 1943, to dig a hole under the floor of the hut, a pit of about two meters of depth, adequately large, to hide, before the passage of the front, some food supplies and the little linen of the wedding trousseau, kept in the famous "trunk" which, at that time, almost all women, married or about to marry they had. I and my cousins Sonaglia did the excavation of that underground compartment: Elvio, Pietro and Luigi, known as Nino, whose real and first name is Lenin, a name that today, but above all then, in 1922, had an irresistible charm. When Eusebius, Lenin's father, went to the Civil State to "mark" him, register him, no one objected and in the birth register of the year 1922 the child was registered with the name of Lenin. On the other hand, those who objected and did not accept that the newborn was given this name, was the parish priest of the parish of Montemigiano, Don Pericle, despite the insistence and grievances of his father, refused to mark him with that name and entered him in the parish register with Luigi's name. The child thus had two names for several years, that of Lenin for the State and that of Louis for the Church. Later, when Eusebio went to the Civil Status of the Municipality to have the birth certificate of his son to enroll him in the vocational training school, the clerk, reading that "name" on the card, was stunned, but could not fail to issue the certificate. The headmaster of the school did not behave in this way, refusing to register him with that name. For this reason Lenin risked not being able to attend school. The father, who did not intend to have his son interrupt his studies, went to the Court of Perugia and asked to change his son's name. The Court issued a sentence, duly transcribed in the birth book of the Municipality of Umbertide, in which it is declared that from that day the name Lenin was "written and must be understood" as Luigi. Evidently the fascist power also considered an 11-year-old boy with the name Lenin, as an enemy, a "subversive". From the Sonaglia home I reached the one of the Pinzaglia family in a few minutes. It is the farmhouse that was then owned by the Boncompagni estate (Fontesegale) and which is located upstream of the Niccone school. In this farmhouse many young people who resisted the calls to arms of the Nazis and Fascists found hiding places. Being eighteen or twenty at the time and living with what little membership guaranteed was difficult. For what was given to us we thanked with the only coin we could dispose of: every now and then we lent a hand in the work in the fields. Another heartfelt thanks. In that house, also in consideration of the good relations existing for a long time, I had always found an excellent welcome. Since the winter of 1943/44, many of us young people from Niccone who had not responded to the enrollment ordered by the German and Fascist tenders, found great help and understanding with this family. often in the company of rats, in order to escape “possible roundups by the Nazi-fascists. Among those young people I remember with emotion Ezio Forni, a giant about two meters high, whom he will later find together with his brother Edoardo, called Piri, aged sixteen, and his father Canzio, one of the many and good stonecutters of Niccone, horrible death in the massacre of "Penetola". Those who know the peasant world, especially of that time, know that when there are certain jobs to be carried out such as harvesting, sowing, forage, tobacco, grapes, they cannot be postponed to the next day, risking, for a hailstorm or otherwise, of losing the harvest and that, Sunday or a holiday, it is necessary to work on time. For this reason, that Sunday in the fields they worked, where it was possible, to harvest the wheat; now near the end of June it was tradition that for the feast of St. Peter it had to be the harvest completed. The Pinzaglia family had also started this work and I contributed by tying the "grigne" of wheat. When the sun went down I returned to the Sonaglia family, where my father was waiting for me, who in the meantime had inquired: according to what was said, it seemed that everything had returned to "normalcy". Together we resumed, very carefully, the way back from the “Fornacino”. Although my father had a bicycle at his disposal, we retraced together the same path that I had taken in the morning, through the farm roads, leaving the "main road" which could have reserved for us the meeting with some patrol of German soldiers or with the sentries who they had been placed to guard the various bridges and bridges that had been mined for some time by German soldiers close to retreat. Passing through the Arcaleni and Pinzagli houses, always part of the Boncompagni property, we came to the Sassetti family and here we found several people, especially young people, who like me had moved away from the "Trinari" area, and were afraid to make the decision whether to return or less with their families or maybe stay for just one night "out of the area threatened by German soldiers. My father decided to go home, also because my mother would have been alarmed if at nightfall she hadn't seen any of us return. A he told me to stay around and the next morning we would meet again to bring me new news. We were about to leave when two people arrived whose names I do not remember, who informed us about what had happened in the morning at the "Trinari" house. German soldiers, encamped in the area, began, under the threat of weapons, to kidnap all the men found nearby and, after having locked them up in the drying room of the abacco, kidnapped two young women who, always under the threat of weapons, were raped in turns. When Epi saw that the German soldiers were closing the men in the drying room, she thought that they wanted to take these men to Germany, or pass them by arms, and for this reason she immediately took care to go from house to house to warn of the danger. The story filled us with anguish and terror, I thought of my mother and my sister who were left alone at home; those soldiers could have used the same violence against them as well. I left my father telling him that if necessary, he would find me at the house of the Ormindo family, a dear and very good man who was a "cellarman" at the Boncompagni estate, in the large "farm" of Fontesegale, where I too had worked for some time as aide to the Mistruzzi factor. The farm is located between the hamlets of Cioccolanti and that of Montecastelli. GRIDA DISPERATE DI UNA DONNA FROM NOW ANOTHER DAY Rather short in stature, red hair and a friendly face full of freckles. He worked as a "cellarman" together with Lucchetti, and I must say with excellent results if the wine from that farm was considered one of the best in the area. I challenge many of the wines of today in comparison with that wine from Fontesegale. I also had the opportunity to appreciate Ormindo for his high sense of attachment to work: in any weather, even in the coldest months, he never lacked despite the fact that he lived about three kilometers from the farm, a distance that he always covered astride the "pants'" . I spent the night sleeping in the hut near Ormindo's house and the house inhabited by the Biagini family, known as “Beppetto”, in the company of other young people whose names I don't remember all of. Among these certainly the Alboni brothers, Gianni and Vittorio. Bruno Montanucci and others. The following morning, Monday 27 June, the harvest was resumed from Pinzaglia and. I remember perfectly, it was harvested in the fields near the house inhabited by the Morelli family, known as “Bichio” owned by the parish of Montemigiano. Around 11 we noticed two armed German soldiers, one of them with a wicker basket; they walked towards Ormindo's house. The soldier with the basket also wore a cook's "zinarola". I remember his teeth that I could see between his lips and that about half was made of steel teeth. Certain details are never forgotten. The harvest continued and I helped to tie the "grigne" of wheat. Suddenly Vittorio, the brother of Giovanni Alboni, a brave fighter of the “Cremona” division, who lost a leg in a fight in the Alfonsine area (Ravenna), arrived running out of breath and bleached in the face. Vittorio at that time must have been fifteen, he begged us to immediately find a pump to inflate the tire of a bicycle taken by the two Germans we had seen shortly before. If I don't take the pump to the Germans immediately, he told us, Bruno runs the risk of being killed. He did not even finish uttering the sentence that a gunshot was heard, coming from the very area from which Vittorio had arrived. Immediately the thought went to Bruno and we all assumed that the Germans had killed him. In no time at all, some on one side, some on the other, we all ran off to hide. The fright and fear were so great that I entered the first door I found; led to the stable of "Beppetto", I lay down in the "crib" in the midst of the snouts of some oxen. trying to cover myself with straw and hay so that, in the event of a check by the two Germans, everything would be normal. After a few minutes, I heard in the distance voices of men and women interrupted every now and then by a few words of incomprehensible German. When these people got close, I plucked up my courage and went out of hiding. joining the group. The two Germans, who were talking to each other, gave me the impression that they were half-smiling and this attitude made the situation less dramatic. What exactly happened? Why and by whom had the shot been fired? The two soldiers, arrived at Ormindo's house, asked his wife for a little fresh vegetables; the woman replied that she did not have any, neither in the house nor in the garden and to make sure she invited the two soldiers to follow her to the nearby garden. Once on the spot the two soldiers saw leaning against the hedge that delimited the perimeter of the garden, a bicycle and took possession of it. One of them got on the bike, but got off immediately as the tires were completely flat. For this reason they asked Bruno, who was nearby, for a pump to inflate, threatening him, if he did not immediately proceed, to shoot him. This was the background that led Vittorio to look for a pump from us. When the two Germans returned to the garden, with the bike next to them, together with Ormindo's wife, the latter, to lower the tension that had been created, went into the house and went out with a flask of wine to offer it to the Germans. They, perhaps fearing a trap, before drinking it made everyone present taste a little and then gulped down all the contents. DA ORMINDO UN ALTRO GIORNO BRUNO'S STORY “I too, like many young people of 1925, was a“ deserter ”as I fled from the“ Biordo Michelotti ”barracks in Perugia, which at that time was in Corso Cavour. To "escape" I had jumped an outer wall of the barracks that overlooked a small ring road and which had a height of five to six meters, but at that moment it seemed much lower. After an infinity of adventures and fears from Perugia to Umbertide, I managed to get to my house which was located above the town of Niccone, owned by the Gnomi family. Since the house, not far from the national road, was easy prey for the retreating German troops, protagonists of real cattle raids and anything else that happened to them, we decided in the family to remove the animals, in particular the oxen, in open countryside, as far as possible from the communication route. I moved with the cows near the Pinzaglia, Morelli and Biagini families, to the word "Simoncelli". I was guarding my livestock, or rather mine and that of the owner, who grazed near the houses, when two German soldiers, I learned later, who were staying in my house in Niccone, suddenly emerged from the vegetation, forced me, under the threat of weapons, to follow them. One of the soldiers had with him a bicycle that he leaned against a plant and, having removed the rifle from his shoulder, bullet in the barrel, with a very scrambled Italian, he asked me if I had a pump to inflate the tires that were on the ground. The other soldier had continued to walk and was no more than twenty meters ahead of us. To the strange request of the soldier I replied hoping to make him understand that I did not know anything, neither about the bicycle nor the pump. To my negative answer, the German raised his rifle and fired. The bullet passed within inches of my head. The other soldier, unaware of what had happened behind him, when he heard the blow he gave his legs up, stopping only when the "comrade" ', with words incomprehensible to me, managed to make him understand that the blow had started from his He went back and as soon as he reached us, he engaged the bayonet, put the bullet in the barrel, pointed the rifle at my body, telling me to keep my arms raised, and began to shout that there were partisans. "Be partisans" he kept saying , without the other soldier, the one who had shot, saying anything. I thought I was being killed. I was in that situation close to death, when Ida di Pinzaglia passed by, unseen by the Germans. glance, he accelerated his passing until he disappeared in the middle of the vegetation. I later learned that Ida, meeting some people, had already narrated my death and great was the surprise she felt when, a short time later, she saw me wandering around safe and sound in the vicinity of guard de "my" cattle. In fact, the two Germans, perhaps tired of threatening me, had let me go and headed towards the house of Biagini and “Ormindo”. I would like to add another detail to Bruno's story. When the soldiers, even after Ormindo's wife had offered wine, kept repeating that the partisans had fired, I looked for the shell of the bullet near the area where the shot was fired; I found it and showed it to the soldier; he laughed and kept repeating "here partisans, we will return", "here partisans, we will return". All this happened around eleven in the morning. The two soldiers left, taking their bicycles with them, albeit with flat tires: they were always ready to raid anything, even of little value. So much so that a few days earlier, on a Sunday afternoon, always in pairs and armed to the teeth, they came to my house from the “Fornacino” and opened all drawers and small drawers in search of some valuable object. This time they were satisfied with a few bars of soap and a few handkerchiefs. Convinced that the threats pronounced in the morning would not be followed up, we remained to discuss for a few minutes and then, tired of the work of the harvest and still gripped by fear, some on one side, some on another we went to eat, making an appointment for the afternoon in a hut near the home of the Biagini family. I had lunch with the Pinzaglia family. Around two in the afternoon we found ourselves in the hut. There were many of us, all from seventeen to twenty-four, young men and women, who instead of taking a nap to rest preferred to spend a few hours together talking a bit of everything; the main topic was always war. We talked for some time and then some, overcome by fatigue, forgetting what had happened in the morning, fell soundly asleep. Two or three others and I stayed awake continuing to talk about our problems, in a low tone of voice, so as not to disturb the rest. About twenty minutes passed. our conversation and the sleep of the others were abruptly interrupted by the din of the door suddenly opened and slammed against the parapet. Not seeing anyone, we thought of a sudden gust of wind. Not even the time to assess whether it was really the wind that opened the door with such violence that we saw the barrels of two rifles held by the two Germans in the morning emerge. Suddenly the threats uttered by the two came to mind; fear and fright made us utterly mute. One of the soldiers, shouting like a maniac "raus-raus", with the barrel of his gun forced us to leave the hut. When we were all outside, still with their guns pointed at, they grouped us together. While one checked the group, the other put the rifle back on his shoulder and began questioning us one at a time. The first to be called and brought a few meters from the others was me. The German, with words pronounced in a crippled Italian, with the help of gestures, asked if I was the owner of the bicycle they had taken away in the morning; he called her "mascine"; she also asked why she had not been provided with the pump to inflate the tires. I was desperately trying to make him understand that I didn't know anything about what had happened in the morning, that I wasn't the owner of the "mascine" and didn't even know who he was. As I tried to make myself understood, I pointed out my dirty and scratched arms and said that I was at the harvesting work and that I didn't know anything about that damned bicycle. I kept repeating over and over, “io arbait, io arbait”. But he didn't want to understand and angrily repeated that I was the master of the “mascine”; suddenly he took the rifle off his shoulder, and put the bullet in the barrel, pointed it in my stomach, continuing to scream. I believe that no pen can describe the terror that pervades a person threatened in that way. Feeling the gun barrel loaded and ready to shoot at you is hallucinating; it is no longer even possible to speak; incomprehensible words are pronounced, without any meaning, only stammering. I don't remember how many minutes, or maybe seconds, I remained in that situation, when the other soldier, with a slightly hinted smile of pity, turned towards the ward and shouted "kaput, kaput". Terrible word that millions of men, women and children, ordinary people and without guilt, millions of innocent people had heard before they died: "kaput - kaput". This horrible word had the effect that can give a resounding slap to the unconscious: that is, I bring myself back to the harsh reality. I regained my courage and went back to explaining to the "inquisitor" that, not being the owner of the bicycle, I could not have the pump and that they would let me go. The German insisted "kaput-kaput". I cannot say how long that strange and incomprehensible "interview" lasted. Finally the soldier, having removed the rifle from my belly, took a few steps towards his dormitory and approached the group of my companions who remained waiting for "their turn" who had followed the whole scene with fear. As soon as the soldier who had threatened me turned his back to go towards the others, with a sudden jerk I rolled down a steep "crag" and managed to disappear from his sight. For a few minutes I hid among the bushes at the bottom of the slope, my heart wanting to come out of my throat, straining my ear to try to hear a few words. After another few minutes, not hearing any noise, I went out of the hedge and in small steps, trying not to get noticed, I went away for the fields, hidden behind the rows of vines in the direction of the Sonaglia house. When I reached her, I told those who had seen me arrive overwhelmed by fear, what had happened. I was recounting the facts when we heard in the distance, again from the direction of the Biagini family, the terrible screams of a woman calling for help. From the tone of our voice we immediately realized that something serious was happening. A few minutes passed and everything seemed to calm down. Slowly I recovered from the fright at what had happened to me and walked back towards the Biagini house. I asked the people present what had happened. They told me that the two German soldiers, always the same, continued the interrogation of my other comrades. Then they moved away in the direction of Montemigiano which is a couple of kilometers from the house. The two soldiers passed in front of a little hut. far from the farmhouse of "Beppetto". A family of Niccone, also displaced, had found hospitality in the hut. A girl who was fifteen at the time was part of this family. When the Germans saw her, perhaps believing her to be alone, they rushed on her trying to rape her. Of this disgusting episode, which fortunately ended without serious consequences, I bear the direct testimony of one of the women who lived the hallucinating experience and who still today, almost forty years after the event, finds in talking to me the same dismay, the same emotions. and the same terror. It is Mrs. Anna, who remembers as follows: IL RACCONTO DI BRUNO THE MEMORY OF ANNA ......... "I had been married for about four years and my husband had been brought by the Germans to Germany as a prisoner of war after the events of September 8. I lived in Montecastelli but, due to the war, I was displaced together with my family who lived in Niccone, in a farmhouse in the parish of Bastia Creti and precisely in the place called “Mansala” not far from the hamlet of Spedalicchio, in the valley of the Niccone stream. That morning of Monday 27 June I returned to the Montecastelli house to take some objects and also to realize how the situation was in that area. Through the paths of the fields and woods, trying to avoid running into German or fascist troops. I came near a group of houses called “Simoncelli”, where the Biagini, called “Beppetto” and Ormindo families lived, not far from the parish house of Montemigiano. I knew that there were displaced families of Niccone with whom I was a friend; I decided to pay a little visit to feel how they were doing. One of these two families with whom I was on excellent terms had found refuge in a hut attached to the house of the colonist Biagini. A girl who at that time was fifteen years old was part of this family and, finding her at home, she stopped me talking. She told me she was alone because her parents were working in the fields helping the farmers. We sat down and started to tell about our life as displaced people. After a few minutes we heard noises around the hut. We got up to realize what was happening. We did not even get to the door when we saw the rifles held by the two German soldiers. Immediately one of them, pressing the rifle to my ribs. he threw me out of the hut and the other pounced on the girl, trying to throw her to the ground. The girl began to scream with all her breath in her throat, trying to defend herself with all her might from the German. Hearing cries for help coming from inside the hut, I too began to scream to get the attention of those who were in the neighboring houses; several came out and rushed towards me who was still screaming. When the soldiers realized that the situation was not turning, despite the weapons. in their favor, they fled in the direction of Montemigiano. thus leaving the girl free who, for the narrow escape, began to cry with joy. After some time, while we were still commenting on what had happened, we heard shots coming from Montemigiano. These shots alarmed us a lot because we feared that something serious might have happened. Then we learned that the shots were aimed at animals that the Germans wanted to kill to eat. I stayed for a few hours in the company of that girl and those who had helped us. I could not say exactly how much time passed, I only remember that someone again pointed out to us the two German soldiers who had passed a few hours earlier. At this sight I had a premonition: “just see what time he is going they take with me that I called for help. As I ruminated these words in my mind, I saw the two soldiers approaching. Then with small steps, walking backwards so as to always look them in the face, in order to understand their intentions, I tried to reach the colonist's house in order to enter and then close the door. One of the soldiers stopped and, loading his rifle, suddenly turned to the others who in the meantime were watching the scene, threatening them to stay still otherwise he would have fired. I remember well the one who had a "zinarola" over his trousers, perhaps he was a kitchen attendant, accelerated his pace and came even closer. When he was near he invited me to go with him into the garden. At my clear refusal he began to push me towards the cellar of the settler which was under the kitchen, in a basement. This too was used as a dormitory so as soon as the German saw a "net" he pushed me back badly and I could not help but fall on it. I started screaming for help, trying to free myself. Seeing my resistance and always holding my wrists, he began to violently stamp my feet with his boots, causing excruciating pain and small wounds that began to bleed. Nevertheless, I tried to resist with all my strength. Suddenly a woman appeared, no longer young, whom I immediately recognized as Angela Pinzaglia, the milkmaid who every day, morning and evening, brought milk to the inhabitants of the hamlet of Niccone. He was holding it in his hand a large falcinello and, bringing it close to the German's throat, forced him to leave me. The German, taken aback by the threat of Angela, took the rifle off his shoulder, with a quick gesture put the bullet in the barrel and facing the woman threatened her with the terrible word "kaput". Hearing this word. now sadly known to all, I hugged Angela and shouted “mom, mom. save me, ”I fainted. Later when I came to my senses I learned that one of the two soldiers had fired a rifle shot in the direction of the people present and that the bullet had passed so close to Bruno Pacieri that it had taken his cap off his head. Then the two soldiers, given the situation that had arisen, in the meantime other people had gathered who under threat of making them pay dearly, they had not gone without first pronouncing threats in German against everyone. Every now and then I, upset, would start screaming and fainting again. They laid me down on the bed for a while and when the sun began to set some willing. Bruno Pacieri, Renato Romeggini, Luigi and Nino Sonaglia with others accompanied me to Montemigiano. When I arrived and passed in front of the parish church that was open, I went into crisis again and, with desperate tears, I entered, thanking Our Lady for the narrow escape. I was terribly frightened that the parish priest, Don Pericle Tirimagni, realizing my situation, did not allow me to take the road back to the house where I was displaced, five or six kilometers away from Montemigiano. and hosted me in the house until the following morning parish church. "All these events took place on Monday 27 June 1944. In the evening, tired and exhausted from what had happened during the day, I went to sleep with many other friends and peers in the hut from which the German soldiers had forced us in the early afternoon, under the threat of weapons, to get out. IL RICORDO DI ANNA THAT JUNE 28 AT DAWN It was not yet dawn when suddenly some of us were awakened by sharp shots from firearms, occasionally bursts and even louder detonations. The exhaustion was so great that not everyone who slept with us heard these shots. Instead Bruno Montanucci, probably more accustomed than others to fatigue and the loss of a few hours of sleep, got up immediately, went out of the hut to realize what on earth was happening trying to see where the shots were coming from. Almost immediately he went back into the hut and woke up those who slept; he said that the house of "Bendino" in the word "Penetola", where the Ivorio and Luchetti families lived, was in flames. We all got up and went to see. The scene that was not completely visible at the first light of dawn had a terrifying aspect. In the meantime we continued to hear the fire of the weapons incessantly and we, terrified, wondered what on earth was happening; we tried not to think about the worst. From time to time we seemed to glimpse, through the smoke and the glare of the flames that flared up more and more, shadows walking around the house. As the daylight increased, the picture that appeared to our eyes took ever more precise contours, making the scene even more terrible. The fire was inside and outside the house. What happened? And why all those shots? Of partisan and guerrilla actions, not even talking about it. No training, neither organized nor in embryo, was operating in that area. The closest partisan formations operated in the Pietralunga area and in the Trasimeno area, which is also very far from us. We noticed that the cattle were in the fields around the house. The sight of cows, sheep, pigs grazing freely in the fields, instead of reassuring me increased our worries. If those shots weren't aimed at cattle, who had the Germans fired? And why had they set the house on fire? The idea that those shots, those volleys, could be aimed at men, did not even cross my mind. Not only mine, but not even that of those who were with me. We all refused to think that this level of barbarism could be reached for no reason. Then there appeared on the path that from the colonist's house leads, over a small bridge over the Niccone stream, towards the road to Mercatale and Cortona, eighteen armed German soldiers with backpacks on their shoulders that appeared swollen. They walked in single file and sang. Suddenly an isolated allied aircraft appeared in the sky, coming from the south. It was one of those small reconnaissance planes called "storks" for their resemblance to the well-wishing birds. The soldiers crouched down the slope that skirted the path, resuming the march as soon as the plane got lost behind the hills that looked towards Lake Trasimeno. We began to move away from the area, always looking at the German soldiers that we will lose sight of when they entered the middle of the vegetation that is along the banks of the Niccone stream. We went up the hill slowly, before returning to our houses, looking back to try to know the truth about what happened. Speaking of free cattle we all made a consideration, which unfortunately proved to be wrong. If the cattle were. free, even the people could only be free! Proceeding with caution, we passed near some peasant houses and Some of my friends separated from the group. Four or five of us remained to reach the Mazzoli house, a farmhouse also owned by the Boncompagni family, where other Niccone families had found hospitality. From time to time we met someone who asked us for news. When we arrived not far from the Mazzoli house, someone, perhaps Mario Tacconi, I don't remember well, briefly informed us about what had really happened. Terrible news. The shooting had caused several deaths. They were certainly all members of the Forni and Nencioni families. The fate of the other members of the colonial families was unknown. I didn't stay even a second longer to get other details that, taken by fright, I started running towards the Fornacino house where my family were. It was a breathless race, with my heart in my throat, with tears in my eyes. To the fright, to the pain, to the effort, there was added the thought for the fate of my parents. I wondered if the German soldiers, who had certainly passed on the way back near the house where we were displaced, had repeated the monstrous crime. What would I find of my family? Would I have found them alive? This thought, with the passage of time, became a nightmare and caused me more harm than physical effort; I kept running home; when I got close and my father, who in the distance had noticed me running in an unusual way, came to meet me. Only when he saw me did he have the feeling that something terrible had happened. I hugged him and asked him how the others were doing. What I felt knowing everyone was fine, I can't describe. I burst into tears of joy at knowing them all alive, and of pain for what had happened to Penetola. I told in a few words, stammering and crying what had happened. They too, although further away, had seen columns of smoke coming from that direction. They had not been able to explain why. They were thinking of a fire in the forest or other brushwood. Now he knew. He tried to cheer me up, but could hardly find words. Knowing the brutality of war and knowing what the Germans were made of, it was now necessary to be constantly on the alert and with eyes wide open to prevent, if possible, other episodes. Now another reason anguished us. In the house where we were displaced, Nello Migliorati's family had also found hospitality; whose wife Annetta was the sister of Erminia, one of the women murdered together with their daughters. How were we going to do it, where were we going to get the courage to tell her what had happened? I was certainly not in a position to tell him. It was my father's turn; with a half lie he said that there had been a shooting and that there had been very serious injuries. Nello had to immediately reach the locality "Penetola" where his relatives were displaced. I later learned that the sight that appeared in the eyes of the first who came was terrible. Women, men and children, even at an early age, lay on the ground, scattered all over the place. Some were even burned in different parts of the body so much so that the willing rescuers, to take them to the cemetery, had problems loading them into the farm cart. In truth of what I affirm, I say that Guido Medici, a fighter in the great war. several times sent to the assault with the bayonet and accustomed to the brutality of war, he kept a handkerchief over his eyes for several days. Like an automaton he wandered around the house where he was evacuated, with his head in his hands trying to forget the terrifying scene that had impressed itself in his eyes and mind. Also on this episode I have collected the testimony of Bruno who, contrary to what I had done, had always remained in the area to guard "his" cattle. .......... "A few hours after the shooting - so Bruno says - when the Germans had resumed their way back to Spedalicchio for a few minutes, from where the soldiers responsible for the massacre had arrived, continuously following looking at the surrounding area, I saw a man, who I later learned was Domenico, known as Menco, a relative of many murdered, running away from the house holding his hands on his face and shouting in despair. With the other locals, I Marcucci. the Sassofrasso, known as the "Mosconi". and the Angeloni, called the "Bistoni", went to meet him. In the midst of the cries of pain he told us what he had seen and begged us to take a chariot to take the dead to the cemetery. Some went to Penetola's house, I with the others went back to take the cart. I did not go to load the dead and awaited the return of the sad load together with the custodian of the cemetery who was the “Vecchio del Moro”, Giorgi. They arrived with the tragic load which consisted of six bodies. They were those of Forni Canzio with their sons Ezio and Edoardo and of Nenciohi, Ferruccio with his wife Milena, and Eugenia, Ferruccio's sister. Describing the scene is difficult. Even today, after almost forty years, it is not "possible" for me to speak without a magone who takes me by the throat. Eugenia and Milena's mother-in-law, Conforto, known as "Sostegno", another son of Erminia and brother of Ferruccio and Eugenia and the four teenagers of the Ivorio and Luchetti families. relatives and acquaintances ..... With my memories and testimonies told, could I consider the chapter of the "Penetola" massacre closed? Or was it necessary to also have the testimony of some survivor of the massacre? eyewitnesses what happened in that distant 1944? What right did I have to ask for the umpteenth time to tell that tragedy? Was it right to renew the pain and despair of the victims' families? or reflected on these questions. If these pages were to be the testimony of those tragic events, it was also not only right but essential that they be described and told by those who had been direct witnesses and victims of them. So I asked the person who suffered more than the others if he was willing to recall the terrible story. This person is Mrs. Dina Avorio, one of the few survivors still alive, who lost three children in the tragedy and who still bears the irreversible signs of that terrible tragedy in her flesh and spirit. QUEL 28 GIUGNO ALL'ALBA THE STORY OF DINA “At that time we were sharecroppers of the Montalto estate owned by the Gnoni family and we lived in the farmhouse called the word“ Penetola ”. We too, like thousands of other peasant families, did not shirk the moral duty of giving help to their fellow man and therefore, despite being a fairly large family, twelve people, we agreed to give a roof to those who asked for it: war and the front began to be felt very close. The families that we welcomed and to which we willingly gave a "accommodation" were that of my brother-in-law Capecci with his wife and a six-year-old son, that of Nencioni, made up of Ferruccio, his wife Milena, his daughter Giovanna, his mother Erminia; that of Fomi Canzio with his wife Rosa and children Ugo, Ezio, Edoardo known as “Piri”. Our family was made up of twelve people and precisely: me, my husband Mario and the children Renato of 14, Antonio of 11, Carlo of 8, Maria of 6 and Giuseppe of 4, my brother-in-law Luchetti Avellino with his wife Rosalinda and children Remo, Guido and Vittorio; another brother-in-law, Fernando, was in the military and therefore did not have our terrible experience. We had settled down like this: we, the Capecci family and Ferruccio with their wife and one of their daughters, Giovanna, were settled in the house as best they could. The Forni family and the remaining members of the Nencioni family, Erminia, Eufemia and Conforto were housed in the tobacco drying room, about thirty meters from home. Life went by in a "normal" way and we were all waiting for the allied troops, whose artillery shots we could distinctly hear over the hill towards Perugia, would arrive to take us away from the nightmare of Nazi-Fascist domination and war on the front line. A few days before that terrible 28th June 1944, Canzio's wife, Rosa and his son Ugo, left “Penetola” and found accommodation with the Domenichini family (known as Giancamillo), towards the locality of S. Anna. This was because Rosa had been seized by a strong fright due to the bombing actions of the allied aviation which gave no respite to the German troops now retreating towards the north. Our house was located about three hundred meters from the "Niccone road" which leads to Lake Trasimeno. At the point where you leave the road to reach our house, there is a small bridge that had been mined by the German troops. A few soldiers were employed as sentry on the bridge to whom one of my sons, Antonio, brought fresh milk from our cows every morning. The relations of all of us with the soldiers on guard at the bridge had always been very good, if not downright cordial to the point that one of these soldiers used to deal with me. when he called me and when I met him, the nickname "mami". In short, not a disagreement, never a gesture of intolerance, nothing that could arouse suspicion or anything else. At one o'clock on June 28th we were immersed in sleep, when we heard loud knocks on the door of the house on an external balcony which was accessed by a flight of steps. Not even the time to go and open it when a violent push opened it all wide with great noise. My husband Mario, who in the meantime had got out of bed, found himself in front of four soldiers in "German uniform" and with the insignia of the "SS" units. To my husband's question about what they wanted and the reason for that sudden visit, one of the four, "in perfect Italian", told him that outside the house there were other soldiers who wanted fresh water to drink. My husband went down the stairs, accompanied the soldiers who were out to the well not far from the house and after a while he returned. In the meantime, almost all those who slept in the house had gathered around the four soldiers, who were talking among themselves, without deigning us to look or to say a sentence. We asked the reason for that "visit" late at night, but no one answered. After some time one of them, not the one who had asked for water, told us that we were "partisans". It said: “banditen. banditen ". Then he added that they had been ordered to shoot us. Shoot us! For what reason? What had we done? To our protests of innocence they responded with mockery and kept repeating "all die, all die," banditen, banditen. "In the meantime, accompanied by the German soldiers who had remained outside, all the other people who slept in the tobacco drying that, under the threat of weapons, they had been forced to follow them. Terror was painted on everyone's faces. We kept asking for explanations, asking why we were sentenced to death, begging us not to do it because we were all innocent. Nothing we had committed. not a gesture, not a word that could have "offended the Germanic honor", but they continued with the usual phrase "all die, banditen." We again begged for our salvation or at least that of the children. charge small creatures because they deserved death? Nothing to do: not even the children were to be spared. We ALL had to die !!! we could no longer communicate even with each other! A "German" soldier arrived, one of those who had remained outside and forced us all to enter a single environment. Occasionally some other family members who had remained in other rooms would arrive. In the end we counted: we were 24 people. Before locking ourselves in this unique environment, we were literally stripped of all our possessions, even the most insignificant. Those who slept outside had suffered the same fate. They had been plundered of all their belongings before being led into the house. Once again, before all the soldiers left, we begged for safety. at least for children. Nothing, they didn't even answer. where some soldiers were on guard, we saw other soldiers accumulating hay in the adjoining rooms. The soldiers were constantly going outside and returning with large armfuls of hay which they systematically deposited in the rooms. Why did the soldiers pile up all that hay? Did they intend to use it as bedding to spend the night and maybe shoot them in the morning? We pondered this fact when acrid smoke and dense began to invade our room. The smoky air was unbreathable. We tried to escape in other environments, but the fire had already flared up and we were pushed back by the flames and the smoke.No one will ever understand what we felt in those moments, not even I would know exactly what happened.In that atmosphere of terror, I remember that one of the first to find death was my son Renato, who, wanting to understand what was happening outside, cautiously approached the window and, always staying behind the glass, looked out. A flash, an immense flame and a tremendous roar hit us. When I recovered from my daze, I looked towards the window and saw my son lying on the ground with a horribly mutilated arm and other wounds to his face. I approached to bring him help but he, perhaps aware of his imminent death, said to me “Mom, it's over, don't think about me anymore, think about my brothers. Try to escape from this hell ”. These were his last words. Death had come through a bomb that one of the soldiers stationed outside the house, had thrown against the window after having glimpsed the face of my poor boy. Those who had saved themselves from the explosion of the first bomb, left the room trying to take shelter in other rooms not yet reached by the flames. My husband and I were petrified by pain, close to our Renato, when another flash and another detonation tore through the room still saturated with the acrid smoke of the previous explosion. The "beast" had thrown another deadly device through the window, now torn up by the first bomb. I felt terrible wounds all over my body. I began to bleed in several parts, but I always remained conscious. I approached my husband looking for help, but he too was injured by the shrapnel of the deadly device, in the side and in the leg. Despite the injuries and the pain that was beginning to be felt, I tried desperately to be useful to my children. I had one, the youngest, 4-year-old Giuseppe who with his 6-year-old sister had escaped the massacre. Because of the smoke that impregnated the environment, Giuseppe fainted from time to time and I had to shake him so that he could resume "living". Always in the grip of terror we continued desperately to seek refuge in the environments still spared by the fire. I remember that in order to remove the flames we used vinegar that was in a "keg". We soaked the clothes in vinegar and then threw it against the door and the walls of the room that had overheated. We were thus able to extinguish some tongues of fire that licked the doors, opening a passage for us. The shots and volleys of automatic weapons continued to come from outside. I still have before my eyes the figure of Conforto who, with a knife in his hand, wandered from one environment to another trying to do something to get out of that pit of hell. In fact, with the strength of desperation, he had managed to break some tiles on the floor of a room that was above the sheep shed. Little by little he had managed to make a hole in the floor such as to allow, always with difficulty, the passage of a person. From this hole he had his sister Eufemia descend first, then his niece Giovanna. He then returned to our room and begged his mother, who was close to me, to go downstairs too. Erminia was reluctant to go down, but when Conforto told her that Eufemia and Giovanna had already got out, she followed her son and went down to the stable too. Comfort came down last. Later, when the tragedy was over; Erminia, Conforto and her mother, all three were found murdered by bursts of machine guns. Giovanna, on the other hand, was found with a slight wound in the shoulder, at the height of the neck, hidden under a cart in the farmyard. At one point I realized that three of my children, the older ones, were no longer in the room with us. I immediately went in search of them in those environments where it was possible to go. Nothing. Had they tried to escape the tragedy? But where had they gone from to go outside, if the main door that led to the stairs leading out was still burning? They had alighted from some window "? No one had seen them! Outside, there were still shots at times, albeit with less intensity. It was becoming more and more day and from the window we could see the surrounding hills and woods. Where were my three children? What were they? Had it happened? For some minutes we had not heard the gunshots anymore. I remained in the room for a few more minutes: the silence had become total. The soldiers had gone away? Not hearing any noise, I took myself to the window that faced the house of "Bendinello", a neighboring settler, who lived with the Bendini and Bioli families. Slowly I opened the window, but without looking around. a hill, four people looking towards our house. In one of these I recognized the owner of the farm, Gnoni Gio Batta. Always hidden inside, I tried with desperate feats of the hand to recall their and let him know we needed help. But they didn't see me, also because of the smoke still rising from the house. A few more minutes passed; we stayed in the house, we didn't risk going out. Besides, where could we get out if the front door was still burning? After a while my sister-in-law's husband, Capecci, managed to enter our room and took us to another room facing south. From the window of this room, with some sheets tied like a rope, he had made his wife, son and other people come out into the open. But of my children, nothing. Slowly I, my husband and others were lowered too. As soon as we hit the ground, without even standing up, we rolled up the slope like so many "empty cans". The terror, the pain of the wounds were nothing compared to the anguish of not knowing where my children had gone. Slowly, still on all fours, we entered the surrounding vegetation. The Ovens tried to escape from a window that was to the east of the house. Under the window was the enclosure attached to the pig barn. And it is precisely inside the “bregno” of the pigs that the lifeless body of Edoardo (known as Piri) was found, almost as if he were sitting on the ground. Those of the father Canzio and of the other son Ezio were a few meters away from the pig stall, slaughtered with machine gun shots. Ferruccio and his wife Milena were found near the main door of the house, almost on the balcony overlooking the outside. They had tried to escape the tragedy on that side but, seen, they too had been prey to the "beasts" lurking and shot down with machine guns. I don't know how long we spent in this situation. After a while we saw some German soldiers, accompanied by people in civilian clothes, coming towards us. What to do? Run away again? To go where? From their gestures it seemed to us that they wanted to tell us not to fear. But despite this, my brother-in-law Avellino didn't want to wait and in no time at all, he started running and disappearing into the thicket of the nearby wood. As the soldiers approached, they tried to make us understand that they had come to help the wounded and, if necessary, take us to the hospital. In fact, my husband and I, who had more need and urgency to be treated, were loaded onto a military van. They would take us to the Città di Castello hospital. During the journey, about 20 kilometers, we heard the soldiers talking among themselves and every now and then they uttered the words "partisans" "banditen". When we arrived near Città di Castello, through the provincial road of Trestina and we were over the bridge over the Tiber, we seemed to understand that the soldiers were willing to throw us down. In fact they stopped. Then they left again and they crossed the bridge. After crossing the bridge, finding no indications from the hospital, they took us back with the vehicle that was moving at a walking pace. And they always repeating “partisans, banditen”. An old woman appeared to whom the soldiers asked for information from the hospital, which because of the war had been transferred to the seminary in the center of the city. The old woman understood the word hospital and perhaps thinking she could not sufficiently explain the path and also given our condition, the wounds were bleeding profusely, she got on the vehicle and accompanied us to the hospital. The soldiers unloaded us badly by handing us over to the first service person they encountered. In handing over to us they repeated the usual words "partisans, banditen". Hearing these words, even the stretcher bearers who had arrived in the meantime remained undecided on what to do and almost did not intend to hospitalize us. After some explanations they understood the situation and gave us the first attention. On the other hand, the attitude of the hospital staff was also understandable as there was the death penalty for those who had assisted the partisans. During this whole ordeal my mind was always turned to my children. What happened to them? Had they managed to escape the tragedy? So why was no one giving me news? It was a constant torture. The next day or after “a few days, I don't remember, we received a visit from some German soldiers, including some officers. They wanted information and clarification on what had happened and if there had been any serious actions by any of us unleash violent retaliation. They listened to us and before leaving they said that the transport of the bodies to the cemetery had been authorized. I looked at my husband and we immediately understood that the tragedy had not spared our creatures. In fact, Renato, Antonio and Carlo had not escaped. A few days passed and the German soldiers returned to question us again, and again they made us tell the facts of that terrible night. We understood that there was no trace of those who had somehow received "offense" or of those who had authorized the retaliation in the German area command. Mystery. Our hospital stay lasted for about a month and when the wounds "of the flesh" began to heal, we were discharged and brought back to our remaining loved ones who, in the meantime, had moved to a farmhouse further upstream than ours, which had been destroyed. from the fire and the wickedness of "men". IL RACCONTO DI DINA THE OTHER VICTIMS For many years I lived with those poor victims in the same hamlet; I lived in the same building with the Forni family and therefore, knowing them well enough, I would like ... for what emerges from distant memories, to talk about them recalling some facts. Of the Forni family, who was closest to me, Canzio was the head of the family, Rosa his second wife and their children Ugo. Ezio and Edoardo (called Piri). As I have already mentioned, Canzio was part of that large group of Niccone stonecutters, for whom it is necessary to say a few words as their work was required and very important. In fact, most of the stonecutters of the municipality and neighboring municipalities were concentrated in the hamlet of Niccone. I list them according to my memories: Giuseppe Medici and his son Orlando (Guido), Menotti Nencioni, the Testerini brothers (Dante, Primo, Secondo), Canzio Fomi and Ferruccio Nencioni (victims of Penetola), Magino Faloci, Antonio Nanni, Carlo Mattioni , According to Magrini and, the only living ones, Marino Baccellini and Duilio Truffelli; the latter is the rebuilder of the Rocca fountain, which was rebuilt in 1978 by the municipal administration. Their specialty was the processing of “sandstone” or serena stone which they extracted mainly from the “Giappichini” quarries near Molino Vitelli, “Fariale”, near Mita and from Monte Acuto. This type of stone was used for pavement of sidewalks, for gutters, fireplaces, columns and doorposts, stairs, window sills. Some important works of these stonecutters are the facade of the parish church of Niccone, the external columns of the Collegiate church, the door of the town hall and some chapels of the various cemeteries scattered throughout the territory. The martyrdom of Canzio and his sons Ezio and Edoardo, according to reliable rumors of those who were in the house of "Penetola", can thus be reconstructed. Despite the guard that some soldiers kept at the windows, it seems that Ezio found a way to throw himself outdoors, followed by his father Canzio and his brother Edoardo. From the way the corpses of Ezio and his father were found, it seems that Ezio had managed to throw himself out of that hell and take a few steps in the direction of "life". Knowing that his father had jumped out shortly after, not seeing him, he turned back. Instead his father, seen by the Germans, had been mowed down by a burst of machine guns. Ezio saw him and stooped to help him; at that moment the Germans came out and he too was killed and fell face down on his father's body. From Ezio's position, the conviction arises that the facts have had this development. Edoardo was found by the rescuers, sitting on the ground with his back leaning against the wall surrounding the pig barn, as if he were sleeping. Perhaps he too had managed to climb out of the window, but not to escape the lurking "criminals". Ferruccio was also a stone worker and a passionate hunter; who does not remember his hunting tales? They were so precise in all the smallest details that when he told them he made us relive the scenes, the sensations, as if we had been present on the hunt. Ferruccio's mother, Erminia », his wife Milena, his sister Eufemia and his brother Conforto (called Sostegno), all met a horrible death in the tragic night. I have a vivid memory of Conforto (known as Sostegno), as together, he as a private owner, I as an intern, we met at the middle school license exam (Avviamento) and together we prepared for the exams. He worked in Milan at the tram company of the Lombard metropolis and since he wanted to progress in his career, he had returned to his native country to take his secondary school diploma. In Milan he would then undertake evening courses for working students and would have liked to graduate from high school. He was thirty-six at the time of his death, not married not because he lacked opportunities, but he said that before getting married he wanted to secure a better position. Eufemia, she too was not married, had always dedicated herself together with her mother Erminia and her sister Virginia (the only survivor of the tragedy because she was displaced elsewhere with her family) to manage Niccone's grocery store. Milena, Ferruccio's wife, was a talented and sought-after dressmaker for women. The two daughters, Gaetana and Giovanna, who were 13 and 5 years old respectively, were saved from the tragedy that struck the Nencioni family. Gaetana was displaced elsewhere with her maternal grandmother Settimia; Giovanna, finding herself in the place of the massacre, luckily managed to take refuge under a farm cart. The soldiers raged against her too, firing a few rifle shots that luckily failed. All this happened on June 28, 1944. After a few days, while I was walking through the surrounding countryside and precisely near the house of the colonist Ciubini, a sharecropper of the Boncompagni, I saw a black soldier approaching, holding a can, which looked like a mess tin; with a crippled Italian, with the help of his hand, he asked for fresh milk to drink. It was the clear sign that the nightmare was about to end and, now free from the fear of being "taken" by the fascists and the Germans, I ran like a colt not yet tamed, towards the house of "Fornacino" bringing the news to everyone. The next morning the bulk of the allied troops had already established, a few hundred meters south of the “Fornacino” house, a line of fire, which for a few days shelled northwards where the German troops had withdrawn. LE ALTRE VITTIME THE VICTIMS Penetola di Niccone (Umbertide), June 28, 1944 IVORY Antonio - 11 years IVORY Carlo - 8 years IVORY Renato - 14 years FERRINI Milena in Nencioni - 41 years OVENS Canzio - 58 years FORNI Ezio - 21 years OVENS Edoardo - 16 years LUCHETTI Guido - 18 years NENCIONI Conforto - 36 years NENCIONI Eufemia - 44 years NENCIONI Ferruccio - 46 years RENZINI Erminia in Nencioni - 68 years LE VITTIME Photo: Giovanni, known as Gianni Bottaccioli. Photos, like the whole work, granted by the daughters Elvira and Giovanna. Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com

Penetola THE MASSACRE OF PENETOLA We present here a reconstruction that the teacher and head teacher Paola Avorio has conducted over the years on one of the cruelest massacres that occurred with the passage of the front to Umbertide, precisely to the word Penetola di Niccone. Massacre that affected his family. His researches converged in the book "Tre Noci". He kindly grants us this long and accurate excerpt from his work. Photo: June 25, 2011. The presentation of the book "Tre Nuts" (Photo Fabio Mariotti). THE MASSACRE OF PENETOLA (edited by Paola Avorio) In the night between 27 and 28 June 1944, in the Umbrian high Tiber, in a farmhouse called Penetola di Niccone, 6 kilometers north-east of Umbertide, twelve people were brutally killed by soldiers belonging to the 305th engineers battalion of the German army stationed in the Niccone valley. The operational dynamics of the massacre are currently known to us, while strong doubts and perplexities remain about the causes and modalities of the massacre itself, in many respects atypical compared to the many others that the German army stained itself during the retreat towards the line. Gothic in the summer of 1944. One of the most atrocious episodes among those that occurred in Umbria during the Second World War took place in Penetola. As with many 'hidden' massacres (1) of the war on civilians (2) which broke out in Italy after 8 September 1943. [...] On the basis of the analysis of various experts consulted, that of Penetola appears what many have called a "retreat massacre", in which soldiers of the German regular army generally strike between 24/36 hours before the arrival of the allies and their consequent retreat towards the Gothic Line. Unfortunately, this rather usual dynamic is accompanied by completely anomalous behavior compared to the massacres carried out by the retreating German army. Like most of the farms of the time, in 1944 the word Penetola was inhabited and managed by sharecroppers who, in this case, worked on behalf of the landowner Giovanni Battista Gnoni, tenant of Montalto di Niccone, Umbertide, Perugia. The family of sharecroppers residing in Penetola consisted of 12 people: Mario Avorio, his wife Agata Orsini (called Dina), their five children Renato, Antonio, Carlo, Maria and Giuseppe, Mario Avorio's adoptive brother, Avellino Luchetti, his wife Rosalinda Caseti, their three children Guido, Remo and Vittorio . During the passage of the front, in June 1944 the family of Mario and Avellino's sister, Speranza Luchetti, her husband Andrea Capecci and their son Giuseppe had been hosted. The cottage is about 2 kilometers from the town of Niccone, which in June 1944 was occupied by German troops. The inhabitants of the Umbrian hamlet had taken refuge with relatives and friends in the farmhouses in the surrounding countryside, both to escape the Germans and to have food at hand. Having to leave their respective homes in Niccone, the Forni and Nencioni families, openly anti-fascists, had greater difficulties in finding shelter. They were hosted in the Penetola farmhouse by the Avorio and Luchetti families. The Nencioni family took refuge in Penetola: Ferruccio Nencioni, his wife Milena Ferrini, one of the two daughters, Giovanna (the other daughter, Gaetana, was with her maternal grandmother Settimia in another family), Ferruccio's mother, Erminia Renzini , Ferruccio's brother, Conforto Nencioni, Ferruccio's sister, Eufemia Nencioni, Conforto Nencioni, an employee of the APM of Milan, had been among the most active organizers of the Milanese tramway strike in March 1944. Denounced and sought after by the men of the fearful Muti, the Milanese fascist militia, escaped capture and took refuge in Niccone, at his birthplace. The members of the Forni family who took refuge in Penetola were: Canzio Forni, two of his three sons Ezio and Edoardo, his wife Rosa and their eldest son Ugo, were displaced by another family. On the night between 27 and 28 June 1944 these 24 people slept in Penetola, some in the rooms of the cottage, some in the nearby annex. Around one o'clock on June 28, 1944, armed German soldiers knocked on the door of the cottage and woke everyone up. Those who slept in the annex were awakened, their belongings robbed and brought into the house with the others. Everyone was locked up in the room facing the woods. The animals were brought out of the stables. The soldiers took the hay from the haystack and the lumber found on the spot, piled them on the walls of the room where the 24 people had been locked up and on the walls of the house and, using petrol, they set a devastating fire. The fire broke out immediately. The room was soon filled with smoke and fire. The door to the room caught fire and many of the people tried to escape the flames by taking refuge in the farthest corners. They resisted the smoke fumes with the help of vinegar, contained in a small demijohn (caretello) that was in the kitchen. The eldest son of Mario and Dina Avorio, Renato, just fourteen years old, he was hit almost immediately by a grenade as he tried to look out the window of the room, completely losing his left arm. He tried to persuade his desperate mother to stop thinking about him bleeding to death, then tried to escape through the main door: his body torn apart by gunfire was found on the landing at the top of the access staircase. His two brothers, Carlo and Antonio, escaped the control of their parents, committed to helping their eldest son, and tried in vain to escape from the flames that enveloped them. Their bodies were found embraced, mostly charred, inside the house, in a corner of the large kitchen. The eighteen-year-old son of Avellino Luchetti, Guido, also tried to look out the window: he was hit by a rifle in the head and fell to the ground lifeless, one step away from his cousin Maria, whom he had protected until a moment before. to die holding her in his arms. Canzio, Edoardo and Ezio Forni alighted from a side window, inside the small pigsty, once on the ground they were all killed with close firearms. The body of Canzio was found on his back, the face partly consumed by the animals themselves, that of Edoardo sitting on the manger, Ezio not far away in the grass. The bodies of the spouses Milena Ferrini and Ferruccio Nencioni were found near the front door of the house, devastated by flames. Shortly before, Ferruccio had helped his brother Conforto to lower his family into the sheep shed through a hole in the floor that Conforto himself had managed to drill. Even today Giovanna Nencioni remembers perfectly the moment when her father lowered her from the hole, asking her to wait for him while he went back to pick up his mother and wife. Conforto, Erminia, Eufemia and Giovanna Nencioni, discovered by the soldiers in the sheep shed, were hit at close range with bursts of machine guns. The only survivor is little Giovanna who fell wounded to the ground and who later managed to escape to safety under a cart in the farmyard. Towards dawn the soldiers left. Dina Orsini counted eighteen who go off in single file along the path that runs along the wood, backpacks on their shoulders full of stolen objects. Shortly after, leaning out of one of the side windows, he saw the owner of the farm, Giovanni Battista Gnoni, on the hill towards the Castle of Montalto. He tried in vain to be seen. The access stairway to the house had collapsed. The survivors were trapped in the house. In the absence of help, they alighted from one of the side windows using two knotted sheets. Those who were able to do so fled across the fields. Mario and Dina, seriously injured following the explosion of the bomb that mutilated their eldest son, hid in the nearby moat. They were pulled out only after a few hours and by some German soldiers who took them to the distant hospital of Città di Castello, traveling 20 kilometers under the danger of Allied bombing. Only twelve of the twenty-four people locked up in the cottage survived: 11 survivors belong to the families of the Ivorio and Luchetti sharecroppers, no survivors between the two families of the displaced Nencioni and Forni except little Giovanna. The German soldiers stationed at the Castle of Montalto took Mario and Dina to the Seminary of Città di Castello, used as a hospital, where they arrived at 2.00 pm on June 28, 1944. The whole area was occupied by the troops of the German army, but the airspace above had long witnessed strong incursions by the allied air force, which hit relentlessly everything on the ground even vaguely resembled a target to be shot down. In fact, the next day, June 29, 1944, the whole town of Niccone was bombed by the allies. Inexplicable therefore, if you look at it with the eyes of those who study the Nazi massacres, the gesture of those two soldiers, clearly dictated by higher orders, who had to risk their lives to save that of Mario and Dina. The rector Mons. Beniamino Schivo (3) was at the Seminary of Città di Castello. On the day of the Penetola massacre, he turned 34. Also for this reason the date of Mario Dina's arrival is well remembered, which the two soldiers unloaded in front of the seminary door calling them 'banditen', partisans, found with weapons but, despite this, rescued, and at what risk! Germans like those responsible for the massacre. The nuns who ran the hospital drew up a timely register with the dates of admissions, treatments administered and discharge of the patients in which we find confirmation of the dates of entry and discharge of the two spouses. A few days after the massacre, German soldiers, accompanied by an interpreter, arrived at the Seminary of Città di Castello and questioned Mario and Dina. The latter recounted the episode in a testimony: “ The next day or a few days later, I don't remember, we received a visit from some German soldiers, including some officers. They wanted information and clarification on what had happened and if there had been any serious actions on the part of any of us to unleash the violent reprisal. They listened to us and before leaving they said that the transport of the bodies to the cemetery had been authorized […]. We understood that the tragedy had not spared our creatures […]. A few days passed and the soldiers returned to question us again. We understood that there was no trace of those who had somehow received 'offense' or of those who had authorized the retaliation in the German zone command ”(4). The transport of Penetola's victims to the Montemigiano cemetery did not happen without difficulty. The rescuers were the peasants and displaced people from the nearby farmhouses, who found themselves faced with gruesome scenes and the objective difficulty of transporting so many corpses, some of them charred. They also had to resist the authorities' initial proposal to bury the bodies in a common grave. Eventually they managed to get the authorization to transport the bodies to the nearby cemetery of Montemigiano. Given the condition of the bodies, the acquaintances and family members who took part in their transport and burial could not fail to have psycho-physical repercussions of various kinds, some even permanent. In the meantime, the other survivors were housed in the 'refuges' and in some farmhouses of friendly families. On 26 July Mario Avorio and Dina Orsini returned to Penetola. While waiting to rebuild the house, they were hosted in various places, including for a period in the gardener's house at the Montalto Castle.No report of damage to the Penetola cottage has ever been made by the owner, Giovanni Battista Gnoni or by his son, Antonio Gnoni, then in his twenties. Through the many direct testimonies, it was immediately ascertained that the group of German soldiers responsible for the massacre had left Casa Trinari, in La Dogana della Mita. Dino Trinari, then seventeen, has repeatedly stated that he had never been questioned about the incident either by the republican authorities or by the police. In the historical archive of the Municipality of Umbertide it is possible to consult some documents written personally by some family members of the Forni and Nencioni families, as well as other families and business owners in the town of Niccone During the allied bombing of 29 June 1944, the following day at the Penetola massacre, many houses and the few businesses in the town of Niccone were damaged. These documents present in the Umbertide Historical Archive and drawn up in September 1944 concern the request for compensation for such damages (5). It was not possible to find any document or news, even indirect, on the massacre or on damage to property and people present in Penetola, despite the survivors of the families of the victims having repeatedly declared that they had filed complaints or given testimony, even at the municipal offices . Immediately after the war, the municipal archive was damaged by a fire. Mario and Dina Avorio, Avellino Luchetti and Ugo Forni went several times to the municipal offices and to the Carabinieri of Umbertide. Of all the accesses, only two are documented. In both Mario and Dina Avorio have always claimed not to have found written what they had declared to the competent authorities and have never agreed with the inaccuracies that had instead been reported. The documents are: 1) report drawn up by Mr. Agostino Bernacchi on behalf of the Mayor of Umbertide Giuseppe Migliorati, in turn appointed by the Royal Deputation of Homeland History, provincial seat of Perugia (where the document, not present in the municipal archives, was found), to report on the events that occurred from 8 September 1943 to April 25, 1945. 2) minutes drawn up by the Marshal of the Carabinieri of Umbertide with the declarations of Mario and Dina (Agata signed) Avorio and Ugo Forni, issued on 27 November 1944; minutes forming part of a report requested by the Central Command of the Province of Perugia aimed at ascertaining all the facts committed during the period of the passage of the front (Document found at the Central State Archives in Rome and not present in copy in any Umbrian archive). The signatures affixed to these minutes by the declarants Mario Avorio and Agata Orsini do not correspond to those with which they signed all the documents of their life. They have always stated that they refused to sign the document because many of their verbal statements had been omitted. In an allied army document dated July 13, 1944 (6) you can read these few lines: “In the village of Niccone 13 people were locked up in a house and burned alive by the Germans. Reason: some shots had been directed from the hills towards some German soldiers ”. And this completes the inaccurate, approximate and often misleading Italian and allied documentation relating to the Penetola massacre. On the other hand, the annex to the war diary (KTB) of the General Command of the 76th Armored Corps of the German Army confirms the numerous oral testimonies regarding the presence of German soldiers in La Dogana di Mita, known at the time as the Trinari house. The same document leaves no doubts as to whether those soldiers belonged to the 305th Engineers Battalion of the Wehrmacht: General command of the LXXVI armored body Allocation to June 25, 1944 (Pages 65-67), point V: Pi. Btl 305 (Engineers Battalion 305) Use: Barrier in the sector of the main front line up to and including the Niccone valley 1. company: main front line up to Castel Rigone / San Giovanni 2. company: up to the Niccone valley included 3. company: retired, meets in the Niccone Valley to replace the blocking action of the 818 mountain engineers battalion Place of settlement: 1.5 km NW Mita, in the Niccone Valley Forces: Actual Forces 10/86/567 Combat Forces 6/36/238 (7) After September 8, 1943, the war was fought also for Italian civilians. To the bulletins from the front were added those from the Italian cities and countryside, a scenario of clashes between the different factions and violent aerial bombardments. On April 25, 1944, the center of Umbertide was heavily bombed by the Allies during the demolition of the bridge over the River Tiber. Seventy-four people lost their lives as a result of this 'successful' military operation which aimed to prevent the retreat of the German army through the main road and rail links, the 'Stassenmeldungen', as they are defined in the German military reports of the epoch. The road that also currently connects the towns of Niccone belonged to this category and Molino Vitelli at Lake Trasimeno and the retreating German army soldiers did not take long to arrive after the defeat of the Battle of Trasimeno, in the last days of June 1944. The military maps show meticulously, with directional arrows, every minimum movement of the troops. Many were drawn up on transparent paper because they were superimposed on geographical maps of the same scale, so that, looking at them together, they provided a detailed picture of the movements of the troops on the territory. The front line, on which the X army of the German army was positioned, was codenamed the “Albert” line and ran from Castiglione della Pescaia, on the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the Adriatic Sea, passing through Mount Amiata and Lake Trasimeno. As for the German troops, the paratroopers of the 'Hermann Göring' battalion operated in the Chiusi area, the 1st paratroop division was positioned in the center of the front line, while the infantry divisions 305 and 334 occupied the eastern side. Opposite were the allied troops of the 6th South African Division, the 4th British Infantry Division, the Canadian and New Zealand 1st Armored Brigade and a Moroccan Infantry Division. The preceding and following maps (8) show the position of the various divisions on June 26, 1944. In the top one, the demarcation and front line known as the “Albert line” is clearly visible. The positions of the allied troops are also reported in detail. Starting from the east we find the Indian, British, Canadian and New Zealand, South African and Moroccan troops. The card below focuses the same allocation of the German troops in the north-eastern area of the Albert Line, with the relative commands of the army and division corps represented respectively by the square and triangular flags In both cards and especially in the following detail, extracted from the second, it is clearly visible how the Niccone valley (highlighted by the arrowhead) is entirely occupied by the 305th Infantry Division. (With the lines, from top to bottom, the localities of Niccone, Montalto and the Dogana are highlighted) The battle of Trasimeno was a typical example of a slowdown battle, already experienced by the German army on the Russian front, through what the military define "active defense", characterized by small but very bloody clashes along the entire 'front' line. The purpose of the German army was mainly to contain the timing of the allied advance, with an orderly retreat towards the northernmost line of defense that had yet to be completed: the Gothic line. In the area directly behind the fighting line, the German troops assigned to the operational management of the retreat were allocated: stabilization of bridges, demining or placement of mines, inspections and inspections aimed at discouraging or combating any partisan formations, displacement of the civilian population from the places of military interest, or from which it was possible to obtain easy supplies for the troops or shelters for the same. In this sense, the whole Niccone valley became a settlement area for the German troops engaged in the battle of Trasimeno and, later, in the retreat to the north. There were various road bridges that were located on the main road that connects Lake Trasimeno to the state road towards Città di Castello. Absolutely a priority to protect them to allow the withdrawal of heavy vehicles and, subsequently, to undermine and destroy them, to prevent the advance of the allied troops. The map below is a section of a larger map (9) showing the situation as of July 1, 1944 of the communication routes and bridges mined or blown up. In the center of the map, with the number 133, the bridge near Penetola is clearly visible, on the provincial road that runs alongside the Niccone stream (the bridge and the town of Penetola are highlighted with arrows). Two German soldiers were constantly guarding this bridge. Dina he went there every morning to bring milk to the two sentries. Often he sent little Antonio to bring the milk to the soldiers, so much confidence had become that he did not fear any risk for his son just eleven years old. Dina remembered them as very young and very thin. One of the two sentries, seeing her emerge from the road after the stream, always went to meet her and repeated continuously the word 'mutti', a confidential term which in German means mother. It was not clear whether he wanted to thank her for that gesture or tell her about his own mother, but it is certain that Dina had the faces of those soldiers well sculpted in her mind and that none of them was neither wounded nor killed in the days preceding the Penetola massacre, like someone. he wanted the men of Molino Vitelli to believe two days earlier. With this justification, on June 27, 1944, the German soldiers stationed nearby locked up all the men of the town of Molino Vitelli in the nearby drying room, threatening to kill them because of the wounding of the sentry guarding the bridge on the road to Mercatale. Molino Vitelli is a small village located along the main road, two kilometers west of Niccone. Shortly after the inhabited area there is a farm, known at the time as Casa Trinari, from the name of the sharecropper who lived there, also known as La Dogana, precisely because an ancient connection road passed and still passes through it. between Umbria and Tuscany, known as 'via di Sant'Anna', from the name of the place of passage. This road is important because it connects the two roads, parallel to each other, which connect the city of Cortona with the SS 3bis state road in the two crucial points close to the towns and the streams of Niccone and Nestore. Two battalions of engineers had been placed to defend and block these two routes, respectively the 305th (Pi. Btl. 305) and the 818th mountain engineers battalion (818 Geb. Pi. Btl). (The arrow indicates the La Dogana locality. In evidence the main roads connecting Cortona and the SS 3 bis that connects Città di Castello and Umbertide. Between the two highlighted streets it is possible to see dozens of cross streets, which can be traveled by the troops of German engineers who moved mainly on foot). The Trinari farmhouse in La Dogana represented for the German military one of those strategic positions to control and garrison, while for the inhabitants it was an absolutely not very quiet area and therefore to be displaced. In fact it was one of the first houses to be occupied by the German troops who arrived in the valley. About twenty soldiers settled there. The names of these men and their commanders, material executors of the Penetola massacre and ferocious murderers of men, women and children, are written in the enrollment register of the second company of the 305th mountain engineers battalion of the German army stationed in central Italy. in the spring-summer of 1944. In a statement dated 26 June 1944 from the General Command of the LXXVI Armored Army Corps (10) it is established that the 305th Infantry Division will assume command of operations east of the Tiber starting at 12.00 on 27 June 1944. Al command of the 305th division is General Hauck. The most significant document regarding the ascertainment of the responsibilities of the 305th Engineers Battalion for the Penetola massacre dates back to the previous day, to 25 June 1944, and has already been reported at the end of the second chapter. In it, the exact reference to the location of the second company of the 305th Engineers Battalion is fundamental: 1.5 kilometers northwest of Mita, which corresponds exactly to the La Dogana locality, known at the time as 'Casa Trinari' and from where the soldiers responsible for the massacre left. Dino Trinari, then seventeen, had stayed with his father and uncle at La Dogana, because the fields and cattle could not be abandoned. The German soldiers occupied the habitable floor of the house and housed Dino and his family in the stables, calling them whenever they needed food or other things. Among the twenty or so soldiers present in the house, Dino remembers two in a particular way. A boy originally from Trieste, with whom he exchanged a few sentences from time to time, given his excellent knowledge of the Italian language, and another soldier, who also used to take care of the provision of the group, whose teeth could not be overlooked. metal teeth (11). The commanding officers were lodged not far away, at the Castle of Montalto, from where they gave the various orders going downhill from time to time by the troops. On June 26, 1944, Dino Trinari saw some officers arrive at the Customs in a car and talk to the soldiers. One of these told him that the officers came from the command of Montalto. On the morning of June 27, the soldiers stationed at the Trinari house locked up all the men they managed to capture in the area inside a tobacco dryer in Molino Vitelli. They claimed that one of the sentries guarding the bridge on the road to Mercatale had been injured and that people would be executed (12). The soldiers ordered Dino Trinari, his father and his uncle to be locked up in the stable, reassuring them that nothing would happen to them. Once all the men rounded up were locked up, Dino saw the officers from the day before arrive again, still aboard the same car. He saw them go up to the habitable floor of his house, followed by some local women, led by force under the threat of weapons. Later he learned that those women had been raped by the officers, while the soldiers kept their men locked up in the school of Molino Vitelli, unaware of everything and with the anguish of being executed for something they had not committed. The officers left the Trinari house around noon. Soon after the soldiers released the men locked up in the school claiming that the sentry was not in danger of death and that therefore no one would be killed in retaliation. No sentry appeared to have been injured or even killed. However, according to the measures of revenge established by Kesserling, the dreaded Sussmassnahmen contained in the infamous ordinance of June 16, 1944, even in the event of the wounding of soldiers, not only for their death, executions had to be carried out and therefore the 'lightning kidnapping' and the release of all the men in the area by the soldiers, without any reprisals, cannot be explained at all, despite the alleged wounding of the bridge sentry. The kidnapping, on the other hand, can be understood very well if it is placed in relation to the violence against women by the command officers. The same rape could have been an occasional event, unfortunately very frequent in the behavior of the soldiers of that period, since the visit of the officers was actually due to the need to give orders to the soldiers for the massacre of the following night. In fact, as soon as the officers were gone, one of the soldiers approached Dino Trinari holding a card with the farmhouses in the area listed on it. The soldier asked Dino to show him where the house already marked among others on the map was: it was the Penetola cottage and Dino unwittingly indicated the way to reach it to the soldier who, evidently, had already received very specific orders on what to do. That evening the soldiers dined outside in front of the Trinari house: they ate and drank heavily. The one who served as cook in the afternoon had been seen wandering around armed together to a fellow soldier, in the vicinity of the farmhouses in the area to collect, by removing it from the mouths of the peasants, all that could be used at the soldiers' banquet. The two had also fired several rifle shots aimed at threatening some peasants. They had also tried to rape women (13). Dino's uncle and father were seated at the table and forced to drink for the amusement of their guests. After having eaten and above all drunk in large quantities, the soldiers began to confuse inside and outside the house, throwing water, objects, destroying everything they could find at hand. As soon as midnight passed, they put their backpacks on their shoulders and walked towards Niccone, avoiding the main road, following the more hidden path at the edge of the wood that runs along the stream. Path that leads to the Penetola farmyard. It was about one o'clock when they reached the house. They woke the inhabitants, robbed them of all their belongings and locked them in a single room: 24 people including men, women and children. Dino Trinari, who just got ready to go to the fields, saw the 18 soldiers return along the stream and across the fields, their backpacks much more swollen than when they had left, some half-open they were so full of things stolen from the families of the settlers and of the evacuees of Penetola. One of them told him: "We burned three houses and killed 30 partisans". They went upstairs to sleep. At dusk on June 28, in total tranquility, they left telling Dino that they had to reach Florence. They took the direction towards S. Anna, crossing the hills, away from the main road. As proof of the veracity of this testimony, it is enough to observe the paper attached to the German document of 25 June 1944 previously cited: the soldiers stationed at La Dogana set out on the evening of 28 June 1944 towards the north through the road that from La Dogana, leads on the connecting road between Cortona and Città di Castello. The direction of travel and the date of the move are clearly evident on the map: bis 28. 6. (until June 28, ed). (the line indicates the locality La Dogana) In the night between 28 and 29 June 1944 the HuD division, already stationed at Umbertide, took the place of the 305th Infantry Division and related control of the area (14). The command of the HuD division takes office at the castle of Montalto in the late afternoon of June 30, 1944, as is clear from a document of the division itself (15). It was probably some officers of this division, already in place on the morning of June 28, who gave the order to take the wounded Mario and Dina Avorio to the Seminary of Città di Castello and to question them in the following days. The fact that during the interrogation the officers had declared to Mario and Dina that they had not heard of any retaliatory orders, reinforces the conviction that the soldiers responsible for the massacre did not respond to their division, but to the 305th Infantry Division, which had already evacuated the area. In the case of Penetola, two loud 'screeches' cannot be ignored with respect to the dynamics that precede and follow a Nazi massacre. The aid given by German soldiers to the victims of a massacre carried out by the German troops themselves is singular; aid given at the risk of one's life, covering a long journey and presenting the victims as 'banditen' (partisans) to the caregivers. Behavior that, as examined in many other massacres committed by the Germans, does not seem to have ever occurred as a result of a massacre order. Even more unusual was the double interrogation of Mario Avorio and Dina Orsini, hospitalized at the Seminary of Città di Castello, by German soldiers, who sought the reasons for it from the survivors of the Nazi massacre. Just 6 days after the Penetola massacre, on 6 July 1944, at 3.45 pm, the headquarters of the allied tactical command arrives at the Castle of Montalto, where on 9 July at 7.30 pm, the parish priest Don Ettore celebrates a mass together with the officers of the allied command (16). From the castle the latter certainly could not avoid observing the devastation of Penetola, nor did they miss the opportunity to inquire about the events, since they were in the house of the owner of the cottage, but everything was liquidated with a lapidary and imprecise account of three stripes. And for years everyone wanted to believe that in Penetola he had killed himself because "some shots had been directed from the hills towards some German soldiers", as the only mention of the story in the allied documents states (17). On June 28, 1974, thirty years after the massacre, a plaque and a monumental stone were placed respectively on the wall of the Penetola farmhouse and on the provincial road, near the path to reach it. I don't hate we ask who stays, only memory, so that others do not have to die by the murderous hand. The memorial stone in memory of the victims of Penetola on which these words are reported is placed on the side of the road, clearly visible even to the fast motorist. With its few but incisive verses it reminds all passers-by of the events narrated up to now and hands the memory over to future generations. The monuments in honor of victims and fallen are a bit like road signs of danger: they prevent those who are not aware or have no memory of the abyss from ending up in it. Our civil and moral responsibility towards future generations is to continue to make these 'signals', the verses and events that they pass on significant, and, if possible, to broaden their echo, with truth and justice, through written and oral testimonies. . Paola Ivory NOTE: 1. As regards the definition of 'hidden massacre', see the study by Mimmo Franzinelli, Le massacre hidden. The cabinet of shame: impunity and removal of Nazi-fascism war crimes 1943-2001, Mondatori, Le Scie, 2002. 2. The term 'war on civilians' is coined and amply illustrated by Battini and Pezzino in War on civilians, Venice, Marsilio 1997. 3. Monsignor Beniamino Schivo was born in Gallio (Vicenza) on June 28, 1910. After completing his studies in the seminaries of Città di Castello and Assisi, he was ordained a priest on June 24, 1933. He has held numerous and prestigious positions in the diocese of City of Castello. On June 16, 1983, Pope John Paul II appointed him apostolic protonotary. During the passage of the front through the Upper Tiber Valley in the summer of 1944, he remained in Città di Castello, helping wherever needed, including setting up a makeshift hospital on the premises of the Seminary. He managed to hide and save the family German Korn, of Jewish origin, interned in Città di Castello. He was awarded the recognition of 'Righteous among the Nations' by the Yad Vashem foundation of Jerusalem and the gold medal for civil valor by the President of the Italian Republic, on January 24, 2008. The motivation for this last honor reads: " Priest of high human and civil qualities, during the last world war, racial persecutions underway, with heroic courage and commendable self-denial, helped a German family of Jewish origin to escape from Città di Castello, where she had been interned , subsequently providing her with hiding places, food and clothing. A wonderful example of consistency and moral rigor based on the highest Christian values and human solidarity ". On 28 June 2010, Monsignor Beniamino Schivo turned one hundred years old. 4. G. Bottaccioli, “ Penetola. Not all the dead die. 6/28-1944 ", p. 26, (from Dina's story). 5. Historical Archive of Umbertide, Cat.2, Cl.4, Claims for damages following the aerial bombardment of the town of Niccone by the Allied Air Force on 29 June 1944, presented by Edgarda Forni, Aldo Forni, Medici Decio , Caprini Medici Adele, Pietro Giunti, and others, on 5 September 1944. 6. Psychological Warfare Branch Report - Allied Political Information and Propaganda Service, in Public Record Office (PRO) War Office (WO) 204/11008 8 Army reports: No29, 13-07-44 in Roger Absalom, (ed.) , Perugia freed. Anglo-American documents on the occupation of Perugia (1944-1945), Florence, Olschki editore, 2001 7. Military Archive of Freiburg, RH 24-76 / 13 Anlage zum KTB nr 2, rda 8. Military Archive of Freiburg, in RH 24-51 / 85. 9. Military Archive of Freiburg, in RH 10. Military Archive of Freiburg, RH 24-76 / 13 Anlage zum KTB nr 2 s. 51 11. Giovanni Bottaccioli is also well remembered of this soldier who in his writing "PENETOLA Not all the dead die" op. cit., which so reports “ The soldier with the basket also wore a 'cook's zinarola'. I remember his teeth that I could see between his lips and that about half were made of steel teeth. Certain details are never forgotten ". 12. Giovanni Bottaccioli, op. cit. p.9. 13. See G. Bottaccioli, op. cit .. 14. Military Archive of Freiburg, RH 24.51 / 101 Anlage zum KTB nr 2. 15. Military Archive of Freiburg RH 26-44-60, s. 131. 16. The Allies in Umbria 1944-45, Proceedings of the Day of the Allies conference, Perugia, 12 January 1999, Uguccione Ranieri di Corbello Foundation, Perugia, 2000, p.71 et seq. 17. See note 9 in Chapter One "Three Crosses" of Paola Ivory.

Departures The stories of those who left and often came back: in the meantime, let's start with the stories of Settimio and Gino. Gino Monsignori, i mari australi e la Svizzera Settimio Presciutti e la Svizzera Departures Settimio Presciutti and Switzerland (edited by Loredana Presciutti) " Settimio Presciutti was born in 1924 And wife in 1951 Annunziata Bomboletti three years younger, born in 1927. Both coming from peasant families, they moved to Umbertide in the Corvatto area (after the sports field along the strada tiberina) where my father had built a small house. Porter for the masons first, he takes the elementary school certificate thanks to the “ Maestrone” Lamberto Beatini and participates in the street competition (he does not win it, recommendations already existed at the time). He then decides to buy a three-wheeler to transport breach and anything else for construction. However, he was defrauded in the purchase by the seller, signed the bills of exchange, got into debt and was forced to emigrate to Switzerland in 1960, alone, leaving me and my mother to earn it to live he worked by the hour in various homes. Photo: Settimio a Ruti in Switzerland In Ruti in the canton of Zurich, he is employed as a worker in blast furnaces, plants used in the steel industry to produce cast iron starting from ferrous material where temperatures of 1200 ° C were used. Working in this environment without protection, he inhaled fine dust whose accumulation led to respiratory problems that forced him, even after returning home for several months to expectorate. black from the residue it had accumulated. 1/1 Photo: Documents of Septimius and Annunziata After about 8 months, unable to live alone, he also asks his wife find a job, otherwise he would have returned to Italy. And so my mother also left in February 1961, leaving me with dear friends who lived next to their apartment, who treated me like a daughter and whom I continued to call uncles until their death. My mother worked at Maschinenfabrik, a company that produced textile machines and he worked there until 1964 when they both left Switzerland to return to Italy. A document of the “Direktion der Polizei Fremdenpolizei” of May 20, 1964, found folded inside the passports, reminds us of the situation of our emigrants. It is a " Residence permit for family members ", with the details written in German and then in Italian and Spanish: “ From your application for an employment permit, or insurance for the issuance of a residence permit, it appears that there are family members with you who obviously intend to reside in the Canton of Zurich as well. We expressly draw your attention to the directives valid for the whole of Switzerland, according to which family members of foreign workers can only be allowed to stay without gainful activity with the head of the household after the latter has spent three years in Switzerland without interruption. Before that date, family members can stay here only temporarily, for visiting reasons. We have provisionally granted or secured a residence permit to take up employment in the Canton of Zurich. In doing so, we have assumed that your family members will leave Switzerland within three months of accounting for your entry. You therefore have the right to decide whether, under these conditions, you would prefer to give up taking up employment and staying in the Canton of Zurich. " Photo: Settimio and Annunziata to Rudi in Switzerland Settimio Presciutti e la Svizzera Thanks to these sacrifices, my father finished the house he had begun to build as soon as he got married on several occasions during his vacation. I believe the greatest pain for my parents was to leave me in Italy; my mother always told me about the sorrow she felt when, returning for short periods of vacation, I called her "aunt" . " Photo: Settimio at work in front of the new house at "Corvatto" Sources: - Family archive Presciutti - Photo: fam. Presciutti Gino Monsignori, the southern seas e Switzerland Australia (edited by Miriam Monsignori) "My father, Gino Monsignori, in the summer of 1954 is an ambitious young man of just 22 who wants nothing more than to create a future of greater well-being and growth than the conditions, albeit dignified, given the war and the large family, which he lived until then. He had tried to create his future in Italy, applying to join the Guardia di Finanza (rejected because he was too young, he had not yet turned 18), in the Railway, but since then if you did not have the "right knowledge" (obviously not those related to competence ...) it was not easy to enter the "good places" and the residual jobs that were found were seasonal and did not give enough economic satisfactions that could create the foundations of that future to which he aspired so much. So, this enterprising young man, one morning in August 1954, takes the train of the old FCU (which then worked well or badly) and went to Perugia to the Provincial Labor and Maximum Occupation Office (established in 1948 and until 1996 which then also acted as emigration centers, based in the most suitable locations for expatriation and repatriation of workers), to ask if there were places in the world where they could go to work. They replied that yes, there would be a country that is looking for labor, it is a bit far away and is called Australia. Well, he answers, takes the question and takes it home. In 1951 an agreement was signed between Italy and Australia by which the two Governments undertook to assist the permanent emigration of suitable persons from Italy to Australia. He talks about it with a friend, Enzo Grottelli, who also comes from an even larger and more needy family who asks him to fill out an application for him too. In November they are both called to go to Milan to carry out all the medical examinations necessary to verify eligibility to emigrate to that country, because Australia does not want sick but healthy and strong people to enter its soil to carry out the activities for which it requires personnel. They stay in Milan for three days where they undergo medical examinations by Australian doctors supported by Italian staff, and where their profiles are also examined and their people checked. Gino Monsignori, i mari australi e la Svizzera At the end of the three days, paid by the Australian Consulate, they are sent back home telling them that the suitable ones would be notified by letter with the date and place of departure. The letter arrives and sets the departure for Australia for the month of February 1955 from the port of Genoa. Gino and Enzo embark together from the port of Genoa, the journey lasts over a month during which they have the opportunity to learn some notions of the English language through the teaching of staff made available by the Australian government. On the outward journey, the ship passed through Port SAID passing through the SUEZ CHANNEL, beyond which it reached the RED SEA, stopping in ADEN, a city of YEMEN at the other outlet of the CHANNEL, where it was refueled and then left again for the 'INDIAN OCEAN and, after another 10 days at sea, touched the coasts of a new stage of the journey, COLOMBO, in SRI LANKA, south of INDIA. A few hours of rest and they left for FREMANTLE, the first port of Australia, where they arrived after another 14 days on the OCEAN without seeing land. A day and a night of rest and, off to Melbourne, another five days of travel and they finally arrived at their destination. In Melbourne they got off and were escorted out of the city to what we now call shelters. There they were really welcoming, it was a neighborhood made up of many wooden houses where a maximum of two people stayed and in which Gino and Enzo stayed about three days after which they told them that there was work in Tasmania and if they wanted they could try to go there. They accepted and again took back a ship and in about six hours they reached the wild island Tasmania today, let alone then. After docking at Porth Arthur and reaching the capital Hobarth they were accompanied to the interior of the island where they were building a hydroelectric power station. There they explained to them that the work consisted of creating artificial passages to divert the waters in favor of the power plant. Gino recalls a landscape rich in waters, rivers and very tall trees, so high that to see the sun he had to raise his eyes to the sky where weak rays of sun filtered through the thick vegetation. Gino's outward journey There, too, they made the houses available to them for a maximum of two people, then they had the canteen to eat and they also gave them blocks with which they could return the money for the trip as they were paid by the companies. The work was not bad but there were only a month left because beyond that there was nothing, they were isolated and life was just work and even if they were there to earn it was not good, they were still twenty years old. Gino, the first on the right, with two friends in Australia So Gino and Enzo returned to Melbourne and from there they went to Queensland, to Ingham, a beautiful town where there was a need for staff to cut sugar cane. Very strenuous work, remember that you have never sweated so much in your life! He did it for three seasons, he worked at a piece rate and earned a lot, to understand: what in Italy he earned in a month with an average job Gino managed to earn in a day! Gino gave all that money back to his family who was building a new house, in part they contributed to this and in part to other needs. At a certain point, however, he felt the lack, not of home, but of his country, Italy, where he had lived, of our culture that when one has the opportunity to see other countries one realizes even more how special it is. , and that's what you miss, nothing more. This is why Gino decided to return to Italy, while his dear friend Enzo wanted to stay there, where he married an Australian lady, has two children and a farm of over 50 hectares where he grows sugar cane. He came back to see Gino twice, the last about 6 years ago, they stayed in touch and there is no Christmas, Easter, birthdays when the phone rings early in the morning and at home we all say “this is Enzo! Answer dad ”, if the phone is slow to ring in those days it is a big concern. Frames from the documentary on Italian emigrants in Ingham in Australia made by Maio Torrisi: " Gentleman of the flashing blade ". Work area of Gino Monsignori and Enzo Grottelli My father says that the return trip in 1958 was beautiful, he came home, he had more money in his pocket and it was a kind of cruise. This time he was alone, Enzo as I said wanted to stay there, the only element of sadness. He wanted to change his route, left Sydney with the ship Castel Felice ( read here the story of the ship ) of the Sitmar company passing through Java, Sumatra (Jelon island !!!!) and up to Singapore crossing the Suez Canal again to dock this time in the port of Naples. From the return trip Gino brought back this parchment which appears to be the evolution of the ex-votos of many overseas emigrants, no longer thanks to God and the wish for a safe journey, but an "institutional" attestation to the ancient sea divinity of the journey in oceans. Swiss Upon returning from Australia, in the summer of 1959, my father stopped by the family to help her with the work in the countryside in Campaola where my grandparents had agricultural land to cultivate and the forest from which they drew family sustenance. But after having had that experience on the other side of the planet, it is easy to understand how Campaola, a town in the mountains that divide Umbertide from Gubbio, was narrow due to its wide views. So at the beginning of 1960 this time he took a train and, first he headed to France and then to Switzerland where there was a large group of people from Umberto I including his brother-in-law, Floridi Evelino. He immediately went to the German canton in the Zurich area and there he began looking for a job and a place to live. He stopped in Rümlang, a small town in the Canton of Zurich in the Dielsdorf district where there was a beautiful productive fabric, with many more or less large factories. In one of these he immediately found work, a job that he continued throughout the period he remained in Switzerland. The factory where Gino worked The story continues with a curious anecdote: since he had won some money at the Totocalcio (Italian habit), he had managed to rent a room near the workplace he had just found. It was a small room that was located above a butcher's shop, equipped with all comforts and above all it was only his and he did not have to share it with anyone. Every now and then he came home, for the Christmas holidays, in the summer for the holidays. The journeys were an odyssey, trains full of compatriots generally coming from the south who brought typical products from their countries of origin, from oranges from Sicily to salami and chillies from Calabria and oil from Puglia. My father told me that once during the journey to Switzerland, one of the wagons began to drip olive juice from the passenger suitcases placed high on the luggage racks! Train journeys were always very crowded and chaotic, people crammed standing along the corridors with the famous cardboard suitcases piled in the intercommunicating passage between two carriages. This happened up to Chiasso, a city on the border with Switzerland. Noise was the watershed: people were identified there, the necessary carriages were added to seat all passengers. Everyone had to have their seats until they reached their travel destination. On one of these return trips my father Gino met Adriana, my mother whom he then married in September 1963. He decided to take her with him to Switzerland where he had a good job and a good accommodation. At this point the room was a bit small, so he looked for an accommodation more suited to his new status as a "married man". He found a large apartment to share with another couple with shared kitchen use. The roommates were from Puglia. Some time after the beginning of the cohabitation, my father, speaking with the owner of the apartment, realized however that he was the one to pay most of the rent and so the cohabitation was interrupted. My parents, given the experience, worked to find an apartment just for them. However, it was not easy to get a decent rented house because the Swiss were very suspicious of foreigners and had to be referenced. My father's reference was a gentleman who worked in the Zurich city hall who acted as guarantor for this young couple who thus managed to obtain a small apartment, a room, a kitchen and a bathroom in Rümlang. My mother, after a first period of acclimatization and arrangement of the house, had decided that she too wanted to look for a job and so first with my father on Saturday morning and then alone she went in search of a job asking in the numerous factories in the country. He found one in a rather large factory where he was not very comfortable. So she left that occupation and soon after she found a job in a small Jewish factory that made pantyhose where she was in charge of what we would now call "quality control". She really liked the work, the environment made up of many young Italian girls from all regions, from north to south, from Veneto, Friuli, Puglia rather than Sicily. It was a wonderful time for Gino and Adriana, they always tell me that they saw a lot of money, they had a nice house, jobs they liked and they were integrating into the rigid Swiss environment both with language and habits. Then one beautiful day in March of '66 my mother realized she was expecting a baby and from there my father immediately wanted to move house and for this he made use of that person again. he worked in the municipality which acted as guarantor for a bank-owned apartment with two bedrooms in a new building. I arrived in November '66 two days after the Florence flood. My grandmother Caterina who came to see her granddaughter did not know until the end if she would be able to pass by train in that Italy divided in two by the flooded Arno in Florence that prevented the passage of trains. My father was waiting for his mother-in-law in Milan to accompany her to a country that seemed so far from the reality from which she came, even the climate, the cold and the abundant snow at that time. My grandmother always told me that in the morning when she went out to the streets of Rümlang to do the shopping, everyone greeted her, they were obsequious (remember that one day during a snowstorm her umbrella slipped away and a gentleman who passed bring it back). She didn't understand their language because they spoke German, they were kind and courteous, according to her, because they mistook her for Swiss because of her fair complexion and light brown hair. The same thing happened to my mother Adriana, blonde blue eyes, her easy integration also passed from here ... Then when I was born, everything was more difficult, also because I did not eat and consequently I did not grow, I had problems with milk so Gino and Adriana took me back to Italy to my maternal grandmother who kept me until my parents decided they could not stay there with me away and that is the spring of 1968. My father remembers that when he went to the Zurich station to contact the manager who would be responsible for organizing the transport of the furniture from their home to Umbertide by train, the latter, after having gone to see where they lived to understand the expedition to be made. She said: "You Italians are all the same, when to start feeling good going home ...". Sources: - Presciutti Loredana - Monsignors Miriam - Presciutti Family Archive - Archives of the Monsignori family - https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/it/articles/041807/2009-10-29/ - https://www.australiaforeveryone.com.au/ships-sitmar.html Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com Edmondo de Amicis ... " Piled there like horses On the cold prow bitten by the winds, They migrate to inhospitable and distant lands; Tattered and emaciated, They cross the seas to look for bread. "... (1882) "The Emigrants"