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The crosses in the fields curated by Francesco Deplanu We are made of history ... of millenary traditions handed down from gesture to gesture ... One shot shows us a field at the end of the harvest in the southern area of Umbertide, in front of the so-called “Skyscraper”. If we look at this photo from an economic history perspective, we can see a productive world modified by mechanization. Change that we can immediately identify in the "round bales". Mechanization began well before, in the early 1900s and led to a sharp decrease in workers in the fields. This contributed to a radical change in the type of settlement: from scattered to centralized. Here it meant the beginning of a clear growth of the city settlement and also the extension of the inhabited area in a southerly direction, especially starting in the 60s ... up to "eating" the "fields" and the houses rural. If we place ourselves in the respective "immaterial culture", however, we also see a folkloristic-religious sign, of a simple religiosity that has been handed down for centuries: the " feast of the holy cross " or " Inventio Crucis ". A cross intertwined with blessed olive branches to protect the harvest, to "guarantee" one's life, manage the fear of the future to protect one's labors. In short, a propitiatory rite. The origin dates back to the recovery by the Emperor Heraclius of the "True Cross" from the hands of the Persians in 628 AD, but it is claimed that, with the celebration of this "recovery", a festivity of the spring period already present since the fourth century after Christ has definitively crystallized, in short, more than two centuries earlier. It was celebrated in May or September? In central-northern Italy, the "feast of the holy cross" is usually "celebrated" on May 3, although the religious feast is located in September. In fact, in the Gallican custom, starting from the 7th century AD. C., the feast of the Cross was held on May 3 but the feast in this month, already formally secondary to the Catholic rite, the Roman liturgical calendar was removed in 1960/1962, following the reforms of the "Missale Romanum" which took place with John XXIII. But it wasn't there the recovery of nature in September ... and in the countryside they continued to celebrate in May. These spring rituals, functional to propitiate the trend of agricultural life, took place during the period of the " Rogations ", or two holidays: the greater on April 25 and the lesser of three days in May, where with prayers and processions the deity was asked for clemency for the harvest. This is attested in different parts of Umbria, for example in Trevi, as well as in numerous areas of Italy. Today the processions of the " rogations " have completely disappeared ... however "the crosses in the fields" remain, even in our countryside. The current state of archival research it does not allow us to attest in what period the rituality of the "feast of the holy cross" was defined in a stable form in the area around Umbertide; there remains even the doubt that for the less recent past there may be a "secular" documentation that reports this aspect, because it belongs to the culture of the humble of those who could not write or had a "voice". Rather, the diocesan archive for past centuries should be investigated, as well as the secondary elements present in photographic sources from the early 1900s. and finally the oral sources. Fortunately, the memory remains by prof. Angeletti in his 2019 text " If only the stones speak " that fixed some moments of the "rogazioni" in Montemigiano, above Niccone, during the period of the world conflict. We are also certain that in the "Fratta" the rituality of the "rogations" existed for some time since in the period of French domination, and then specifically Napoleonic, the "Seminary", dependent on the Diocese of Gubbio, closed to celebrate the days dedicated to this holiday. Cesarina Giovannoni, in her unpublished graduation work “ Events of an Umbrian country in the French age. Fratta (now Umbertide) from 1796 to 1814 ", in fact, it lists these holiday periods. In a note, a "Table of holidays in the schools dependent on the Episcopal Seminary of Gubbio" appears, where it is indicated that the school was closed for the month of May for “ The three days of the Rogations, on the 15th eve of St. Ubaldo but only after lunch and for the feast of the saint, on the 26th for the feast of San Filippo Neri ”. In April the 25th of the month was already indicated as a holiday for the " Feast of San Marco Evangelista ". There persistence of the tradition of the "cross in the fields" is also visible in this other photo, near Niccone along the road that leads to Mercatale di Cortona, between the Niccone stream and the state road. Here we see how in a similar way the historical changes, that is, the cultivation of tobacco and modern irrigation technology, have not made this millennial custom disappear. The "holy cross" stands out on the hills with the Montalto castle in evidence. And then several crosses are visible in various plots that rise towards the Castle of Civitella Ranieri ... to propitiate the harvest of different types of crops. In the northern area of Umbertide known as the "Petrelle" it can be seen in the grasses ... and also in the first meters after the limit with the Municipality of Montone, at the crossroads of S. Lorenzo, you can see a cross between the fruit trees. But the custom is present throughout the territory as they are also found near the town of Spedalicchio di Umbertide, in the plain and at the beginning of the road that climbs towards S. Anna. Finally they can be seen again in the plain south of Umbertide, near the stadium and with Monte Corona in the background. But always observing in the perspective of "immaterial culture" we see how rites and traditions adapt, overwriting previous customs, even with deeply different cultural and religious systems. In fact, propitiating the divinity to protect the fruit of one's work is an action ancestral. In short, we are a complex stratification of "stories" ... Stories that have the common dominator in the connection between the material life and the spirituality of the men who have inhabited this territory, linked by the need to survive. In fact, ingratiating yourself with the divinity to protect the fruit of your work is not an urgent need that dates back only to the origins of Western Christianity: the " rogations " in fact incorporated the " Ambarvali " of the Roman period (a term that we can translate as "around the field ": etymology: from Latin ambarvalĭa, neutral term pl., comp. of the pref. ămb- 'around' and a derivative of ărvum 'field'). It was Pope Liberius in the fourth century after Christ who pushed to replace and incorporate in the Christian religious and ritual sentiment the festivities of the "Ambarvali" which continued to take place in the countryside on April 25 and early May. For the date of April 25 another Roman holiday is connectable and "superimposable" and was always linked to another "propitiation", that is a functional ritual to remove the scourge of rust: the Robigalia . This time, these rituals took place in a wood dedicated to the secondary divinity goddess with a double aspect of the “rust of wheat” (Robigus). Like most of the geniuses of vegetation and rustic life he was fatal and at the same time propitious, male or female. In this case, the sacrifice of animals was present in ancient Rome. In short, various propitiatory rites in the same period of the year and with the same dates, in the period of the "masses", date back to the Roman cultural system and refer to the same function. Detail of the inscription (also reachable by clicking on the image) from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Inscrição_dos_sacerdotes_arvais.jpg What we can see is that even in the pre-existing "pagan" rites of the Roman world the request addressed to the deities was the dominant feature. We insert here a translation of the inscription relating to the "Ambarvali" in ancient Latin where you can see the request to the "cruel Mars" to "pass over", or to save the harvest. The Latin text of the above inscription can be found in several online sources, the Italian translation is taken, however, from the wikipedia page cited at the bottom, together with the image of the inscription of "carmen arvale" present only in the Portuguese wikipedia. « [...] enos Lases iuvate snow lue rue Marmar [si] ns incurrere in pleores Satur fu fere Mars limen sali sta berber. [sem] unis alternnei advocapit conctos enos Marmor iuvato. Triumpe triumpe triumpe "Oh Lari help us, do not allow Mars, that the ruin falls on many, Be sated, cruel Mars. Go beyond the threshold. Stand still there. Call upon all the gods of the harvest. Help us oh Mars. Triumph, triumph, triumph, triumph and triumph ! Similar invocations were also present in the "Rogations" which were still established liturgically until a few decades ago. In the "Blessing" of the Roman ritual of the CEI we can still read them among the "Other blessings for special occasions" (Appendix 1), specifically in the "supplications", to which they had to be answered every time "hear us Lord", the phrases: " Give us a forgiving season", "Give us the fruits of the earth", “Give everyone wisdom prosperity and health ". As far as we know during the Rogations in Monteleone di Orvieto the "invocations" for the blessing of the waters were declaimed ": " From lightning and storms, deliver us, O Lord; from the scourge of the earthquake, deliver us O Lord; from plague, hunger and war, deliver us O Lord; for the mystery of your holy Incarnation, deliver us O Lord. " This latest news comes by Fernando Corgna who wrote " Monteleone d'Orvieto: History of the town, of the churches and of social and religious life ". In Umbertide Prof. Angelo Angeletti tells some aspects related to the "invocations" that were recited during the processions between Montemigiano and Niccone when he was a child, in the period between the Second World War: << in spring the Rogations were made which had St. Vincent as patron saint, celebrated, honored and invoked to implore good harvests and to avert the many calamities that could put bread at risk; for this reason, in April, in the most delicate period for the countryside, the Rogations were recited ... >>. During the ceremonies, the men of the countryside listened to the Latin of the litanies and responded more heartily to what they heard precisely, that is the fear for the harvest, or that they really managed to understand in the language of the liturgy: << There were other things that left me perplexed: they were the litanies sung during the procession to which people responded in unison "Free nos Domine! " But when the priest sang "A plague, a fame et bello" the "Libera nos" dropped in pitch almost to become little more than a murmur because, after the invocation to keep away the plague and hunger on which everyone was dying. chord, that "beautiful" sounded somewhat out of tune; much clearer and more shared was the "Libera nos", when the priest sang "a fl agello terraemotus, a sudden death" and everyone, absolutely everyone, would have liked to respond a hundred times to the invocation "a folgore et storm": that was the prayer really important sung by men and women as they watched their fields and vineyards. >>. That deliver us from "beautiful", or rather from "war", was not understood, while it was well understood the reference to natural disasters. We are stratifications of stories ... always in our territory, in fact, we can see that the same need for propitiation of products by one's own work is easily traceable also in the previous agro-pastoral economy society of the period between the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Here the bronzes of the Umbrian-Etruscan world, found in Monte Acuto, in the shape of bovine, sheep and other animals served as " thanks and request for protection for the donor's breeding " Luana Cencaioli quotes, reporting the opinion of D. Monarchi in his work on the “ Votive bloodline of Grotta Bella ”. We conclude by showing below the entrance to the sanctuary of Monte Acuto seen from the south and from below. In the votive cabinet, the traces of which have been identified inside the "enclosure", immediately after the entrance highlighted in the photo, the votive statuettes now preserved in the Museum of Santa Croce in Umbertide were recovered. The need for "propitiation", or to invoke protection for the livestock that is found in the "bronzetti of Monte Acuto", belongs to that same need to protect ourselves from the uncertain and frightening future that has taken on different forms over time based on one's own religious reference system… and which we find in our “crosses of the fields”. PHOTOS: Francesco Deplanu, images taken between May and June 2020. SOURCES: - Roman Church Liturgy: http://www.liturgia.maranatha.it/Benedizione/a1/A2page.htm -Carmen Arvale: https://latin.packhum.org/loc/149/1/0#0 http://www.mikoflohr.org/data/texts/CIL_6_2104/ https://it.qwe.wiki/wiki/Carmen_Arvale https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Inscrição_dos_sacerdotes_arvais.jpg -Rogations and Ambarvali: Angelo Angeletti: “If only the stones are left to speak”, Digital book Srl, Città di Castello, 2019 (pp. 54-55). https://www.garzantilinguistica.it/ricerca/?q=ambarvali http://www.treccani.it/encyclopedia/rogazioni_%28Encyclopedia-Italiana%29/ https://www.storiaromanaebizantina.it/ambarvali/ http://www.webdiocesi.chiesacattolica.it/cci_new/documenti_diocesi/207/2016-05/12-451/CAL_LIT_estrà_SULLE_ROGAZIONI_pag170_171.pdf https://storiediterritori.com/2020/05/18/un-tempo-questa-era-la-settimana-delle-rogazioni/ https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradizioni_di_Monteleone_d%27Orvieto Robigalia http://www.treccani.it/encyclopedia/robigalie_%28Encyclopedia-Italiana%29/ -Unpublished thesis by Cesarina Giovannoni: “ Events of an Umbrian town in the French age. Fratta (now Umbertide) from 1796 to 1814 ; "1968. (p. 38). - “ Umbrians and Etruscans. Border peoples in Monte Acuto and in the territory of Umbertide ”, edited by Luana Cenciaioli, Ministry for Cultural and Environmental Heritage Archaeological Superintendence for Umbria - Municipality of Umbertide, 1996; (p. 41-44). Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com

1915 - ELECTRICITY ARRIVES IN UMBERTIDE From candle to light bulb by Amedeo Massetti and Mario Tosti By the light of a flame In the nineteenth century, going around at night in Fratta was not at all easy, especially when there was no moon. Our ancestors took care to establish the rules in the Statute of Fratta. "We establish and order that no person should go to the castle at night from after the third sign of the bell rang by the town crier, to one hour after sunset for the time in which a miserere is recited, under penalty of 10 soldi per each person and each time. Those who bring lights or embers lit in the vicinity of the house or shop are excluded from the penalty; or doctors or others who brought medicines for the sick or who went to look for the midwife; or even the bakers or whoever brought or brought back the bread from the oven; or for other legitimate causes approved by the podestà. Anyone found by the podestà or by the secret guards with the light or the ember that has gone out against their will, by the wind or other accident, is also excluded from the penalty, provided they are under oath. " Since it was not very convenient for everyone to take their torch for a walk, after a few centuries it was agreed to install fixed night lamps in the most popular places in the historic center of Fratta. Only four or five oil lamps illuminated the darkness of the alleys in the early nineteenth century, as scrupulous and attentive guardians who watched the intimacy of the family and covered the profiles of the houses with soft and suffused light. But they too quickly went out and the faint lights of the few icons, embedded in the walls, which the piety of the faithful lit up every now and then, remained on. In the year 1845, the Frattisan nights were lit by only seven oil lamps. One of them, that of the Piazza dell'Orologio, was larger than the others, with a "more modern" crystal tube; it made more light and consumed more oil. According to the lighting man, it required more work than all the others put together ... The halo of faint light cast by the flames should have created a serene and romantic atmosphere. The maintenance work was less romantic, since the Contractor had to "prepare the street lamps, turn them on and dim them by climbing them by means of a ladder which, being contrary to sound police laws, was a burden to the Contractor himself ... All for 62 scudi a year. " At the end of the century there were 28 street lamps, but the town had also grown and the brightness remained very dim. They remained lit all night only on days of celebration or danger; at the first light of dawn, the man in charge of the street lamps made the rounds to turn them off in order to save the oil, which was at his expense. The arrival of electricity With Perugia, Sansepolcro and Città di Castello rejoicing in the light of the bulbs for some years, Umbertide could not afford to remain in the dark. We began to talk about this need in 1912: the soul of the initiative was Francesco Andreani , a lawyer of great value, elected mayor of Umbertide after the elections of 30 January 1910, which determined an epochal turning point in the Municipality. A preliminary study had been made, probably inspired by the 39 oil lamps currently in existence: perhaps due to the concern about the costs of the new light source, an attempt was made not to take a step longer than the leg, assuming the installation of 35 lamps. . Walking along the way, the appetite increased: the originally planned lamps increased to triple, as shown by the session of the City Council of 24 July 1912, which represented the first formal act towards the goal of electric lighting. Therefore the entire fee charged to the Municipality swelled to £ 4,000, considered by the administrators to be not too burdensome, compared to the great benefits for the country. After three years of ups and downs, on 21 December 1915, with the First World War in progress, the Società Anonima Elettricità Umbra brought electricity to Umbertide. The price of electricity for private individuals was that charged in the city of Perugia by the Concessionaire itself: 60 cents per kWh, when the average hourly earnings of a worker was 25 cents. In the end, 104 light points were called to illuminate the nights of our grandparents and great-grandparents. If, at first, the new form of energy was greeted with amazement and excitement, the shortcomings of the revolutionary service soon cooled the enthusiasm, which turned everywhere into lively protests from the public and the irony of the press. Even the people of Umbria unleashed strong complaints, so that on 9 August 1916 the mayor was forced to take a pen and paper to beat his fists on the manager's table, with almost poetic tones: "It has been noted, and the public expresses complaints, that some time the switching on of the public lighting is carried out in the evening when darkness is advanced and it is switched off before the light of dawn is manifested. Although the expression of the contract regarding the switch-on and switch-off times is a bit vague, please, however, SV Ill. to arrange that this expression is not interpreted in a strictly unilateral way by the employees of the Company but with a criterion of fair breadth. Trusting, thank you and respect. ". The Company, after a week, replied hastily that the hours were the same for all the other municipalities, including that of Perugia, and that no one had complained. However, he left a crack open, proposing a meeting with the Director. And the Mayor had to take the bait, to no avail. Electricity in every home In 1931 the Società Anonima Elettricità Umbra was absorbed by UNES, which took over the service in Umbertide, with the cabin operator Armando Settembre, helped by Romeo Guasticchi and Mariano Manuali. With the growing possibilities offered by electricity, the City developed the capabilities to build and operate new plants. In this task the engineer Egino Villarini played a fundamental role. In fact, for having been part, as secretary, of the National Liberation Committee, he was well known and appreciated in the Municipality; therefore it was natural that in the first years of the postwar period his collaboration was requested and obtained. The opportunity arose when the then manager of the maintenance sector, Mario Tacconi, asked him to examine some estimates for the modernization of the public lighting systems in Via Roma and Via Garibaldi. It was immediately evident how exaggerated the prices were; therefore it would have been much more advantageous to carry out the work economically, with the means and staff of the institution, avoiding tenders. Since then a collaboration relationship was born that would last until the end of the century and beyond. The engineer, having made the calculations, took care of the procurement of materials, obtaining favorable prices thanks to the contacts he already had with suppliers. But to make the connections, a collaborator was needed to take care of the manual work. The choice fell on Giuseppe Tarragoni, a former tailor, then employed in the Municipality of Umbertide as a roadster. From that moment the couple became inseparable. Arranged via Roma and via Garibaldi, via Cibo, via Soli, piazza Marconi, part of the historic center and more were also modernized. Giuseppe learned quickly and well, coming to be hired as an electrician. Electricity accelerated the transition from the old to the new: the symbol of the transition can be well represented by the electric pumps that the engineer Villarini mounted on the treks of a landowner, together with the wooden cabins for the electrical panels, so as to be able to make the shuttles from one point of the Tiber to the other to irrigate the fields. The collaboration of engineer Villarini with the Municipality, which lasted more than thirty years, ended with the lifting of the waters in Monte Acuto. Reached the maximum peak, the time has come for a well-deserved rest. CAINO, the ferryman from oil lamps to electric lights Giuseppe Bettoni, known as Caino , was a knife grinder. To round off he had accepted the task of the Municipality to turn the street lamps on and off. In order to carry out his function, early in the morning Cain wandered through the streets and, either because of that mocking spirit that animated him, or because he did not feel completely alone, he loved to call his acquaintances who lived in the streets where he passed. So he shouted: "Gigia! Stay in bed that nengue!" or "People, alzative 'ché there' l sole" , even if it was not true. In short, he was a precursor of the meteorological service, but with surprise. With the arrival of electricity, the role of dispenser of light by means of a lever, allowed him to gain undying notoriety in the village. In fact, when the light went out, at the same time everyone's thoughts went to him, the only one able to do the miracle: fiat lux! A few minutes of darkness were enough for the common plea to be intoned inside every house: "Cain, the light will burn!" . And if the time was prolonged, the comments spread from window to window: “What is Cain doing tonight! He is sleeping?" , "It is up to you to see, that if he plays with Martina (his wife)!" . The frequent miracle of the defeated darkness, thanks to his intervention on the main switch placed on the external wall of the Town Hall in Via Grilli, had made him deserve a popular refrain that imagined him wandering among the stars of the firmament competing with his street lamps to lighten the night: “I see the moon / I see the stars / I see Cain / making pancakes” . 'THE CUCCO Raffaele Bracalenti, known only as ' l Cucco , was built between the forge and the anvil in the dark cave of the municipal workshop in Via Soli. Particularly devoted to autarchy, perhaps due to unconscious plagiarism suffered during the dictatorship, he had even built, refusing to buy it in the shop, an umbrella with a metal hat shaped like a hammer and fixed at the top to a water pipe from three quarters of an inch. And woe to anyone who thought it uncomfortable! But what does a blacksmith have to do with electricity? The truth is that Cucco had a particular passion for light bulbs, especially for burned out ones, which he considered a precious brass mine, at zero kilometers. To exploit it, he had set up a rigorous procedure, based on a brass pact with the maintenance worker: do not throw away the broken bulbs, but return them to the workshop, an essential condition for having as many new ones in exchange. It is not known what happened to the glass; but inevitably each butt of the old lamps ended up in a basket which, having reached the optimal batch for casting, was emptied into the crucible above the forge. The molten mass was poured into a plaster mold in order to cool in the form of a tube, from which Raffaele, after a day's work, produced a tap for the water of the public fountains. Two birds with one stone: cremator of light bulbs and manufacturer of taps! ZUMBOLA The collection of bills could not fail to be entrusted to Gino Sonaglia, known as Zumbola , who had all the ideal requirements. In fact, with his resume as a collector of rabbit and lamb skins, he knew all the heads of families in the suburbs and in the countryside; with the people of the capital, being a friend of everyone, he knew their stories and residences; moreover, there was no dance party missing, a precious opportunity to get to know the youth. In 1953, UNES jumped at his candidacy as the ideal public relation. To the knowledge of the clientele and the ability to take it by the side of the hair, he added the natural gift of a smiling gaze, reinforced by an intriguing mustache: avant-garde of a jovial and expansive character that captured friendship. Zumbola was the best way to lightly face the thankless task of asking for money for something you don't eat, like light, even from those who didn't have a penny. Gino returned the trust with the utmost commitment. The collection procedure began in the family, where his wife Elvira and their children Luciana and Zumbolino jr fanned the bills on the kitchen table, to group them in order of street, hamlet, country words. With the bag on his shoulder, Gino tackled the tour, every month for companies, every two for families. To take the debtors with caution, preparing them for bloodletting, he did not ring the bell or the knocker of the door, but announced himself from a distance with his powerful voice, interspersed with whistles that broke the eardrums, singing their name with cheerful metrics. From the "Calendar of Umbertide 2015" Ed. Municipality of Umbertide - 2015 Concept and editorial project: Adriano Bottaccioli ; Texts: Adriano Bottaccioli , Mario Tosti , Amedeo Massetti , Fabio Mariotti. The texts on this page are excerpts from the book: "From the candle to the light bulb" by Amedeo Massetti and Mario Tosti, Local Publishing Group - Digital Editor srl - Umbertide (Pg), also containing ideas taken from the book "Umbertide in the nineteenth century" by Renato Codovini and Roberto Sciurpa - Gesp Editrice, Città di Castello, 2001.

THE COAT OF ARMS OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF UMBERTIDE Reflections by Roberto Sciurpa The coat of arms of the municipality of Umbertide dates back to 1189 when the Fratta was subjected to Perugia and changed its original coat of arms (the lily). Guerrini describes it in detail (1) and it is worth reporting its description because over the years it has undergone not marginal adaptations and some interesting details have even disappeared. “... This was composed of the figure of a bridge over running water and in a red field. The bridge has three arches and in the middle of their lights there are initial letters FOV which mean Fracta oppidum Uberti and which therefore by solemn vow of public calamity were converted into Fracta oppidum Virginis. Above the three pillars there are three towers, with the Virgin Patroness of the Castle dominating in the middle; and to the right the Grifo, which indicates the dependence on Perugia; on the left the emblem of the Apostolic Chamber which signifies the high dominion of the Pontiff. And finally an ornate crown encloses the shield all around where we can read these words: Defensores Populi et insignis Comunitatis Terrae Fractae ”. The italics are by Guerrini who wants to highlight the essential characteristics of the coat of arms. The interpretative doubt is linked to the letter "V" which is found in the light of the arch and which for some means "Uberti" and for others "Virginis" (according to Guerrini both would be right). As it is easy to guess, the two sides, at least in the past, were conditioned by logic. belonging (clerical or anti-clerical), but today that both the iconoclastic wave of the Enlightenment and the acrimonious antipapalian resentment linked to the events of the Risorgimento has faded, it is possible to express a serene and detached judgment on the matter. Indeed, a thorough reflection could lead. at least according to my point of view, to reconstruct the truth also on another interesting detail linked to local history, as I will say later. But let's proceed in order: 1. In the space of a few decades at Fratta there were two important events: the opening to worship of the Church of Santa Maria della Reggia and the Tuscan siege of the troops of the Grand Duke. The first (last years of the 16th century) marked a fundamental stage in the faith and customs of the people. The monumental temple that housed the miraculous image of the Madonna, so dear to the piety of the faithful, had finally been completed. From that moment, thanks also to the majestic visibility of her house, the Madonna became the point of reference for all the people. The old patrons (S. Andrea and S. Erasmo) still venerated and loved, slowly faded into the background because the ancient castle was increasingly entrusted to the patronage of the Virgin. In November 1643, in fact, during the siege of the Tuscan troops, the inhabitants overwhelmed by fear gathered in the church of San Giovanni inside the city walls, to implore the Madonna for salvation. It was not a question of winning or losing a battle, but of surviving or dying in the rubble and flames of a fortress that would surely have been razed to the ground, according to the military custom of the time. The people of Fratta, on that occasion, entrusted themselves to the Virgin and not to the secular patrons. A lot of water mixed with sleet fell; the Tiber swelled, discouraging any attempt to ford; the siege was lifted without firing a cannon shot; the Tuscans left and there was talk of a "miracle", giving rise to the conviction of the miracle granted by the Madonna to a castle which thus became oppidum Virginis. And the image of the Madonna inserted above the central tower of the coat of arms, now disappeared with the other surrounding details, seems to reinforce the belief that FOV meant Fracta oppidum Virginis at least from this period onwards. At each centenary anniversary, the "miracle" was commemorated with great solemnity by popular piety. This event consists of the "solemn vote for public calamity" of which Guerrini speaks and which makes Giulio Briziarelli so doubtful that he wonders what the miraculous event had been. (2) 2. I believe that Umbertide is one of the few cities, if not the only one, that has left the ancient Protectors, considered everywhere sacred and untouchable because they are linked to the faith and traditions of one people, to entrust itself to the protection of another, although of higher rank such as the Virgin. And that detail I mentioned in the introduction is also linked to this fact. This is the canvas placed in the church of San Bernardino. Certainly the official accreditation that sees reproduced the image of St. Anthony in adoration, as indicated in some photographic publications relating to the city and in tourist brochures, is incorrect. The symbolism of sacred iconography is an important key to understanding and must be kept in the utmost consideration. The character represented is a martyr because the angel shows a palm which is the symbol of martyrdom (St. Anthony is not a martyr). Furthermore, the person represented is also a bishop, as evidenced by the presence of the miter and the crosier. The abbots are comparable to the office of bishop, but in the pictorial works they are represented with their typical habit and not with the solemn vestments of the bishop's office. The presence of the angel is emblematic. It is true that in sacred iconography the figure of the angel is very widespread, but in the specific case it is said that in the life of St. Erasmus the legend speaks of the recurring role of an angel who accompanied the holy bishop to Syria, then to Dalmatia. , finally to Formia and to martyrdom. If the legend is combined with the reproduced subjects, the Immaculate Conception and the castle of Fratta, it can reasonably be assumed that that saint character had something to do with the small village and that he was even the protector who entrusted his protégés to the superior protection. of the Virgin. The canvas, therefore, could represent the "miracle" of 1643 and "The consignment" of the city to the Madonna by Sant'Erasmo. Popular tradition (3) has always indicated in the painting the memory of the prodigy. hypothesis was founded, the canvas should date back to around 1644 and it could be observed that the dome of the church of Santa Maria della Reggia was no longer there at the time. It is true, but it is a secondary detail, in my opinion, because the completion works of the dome, begun around 1621, were not yet completed. Perhaps the temple was covered by wooden scaffolding and the upper part of the church was incomplete, aesthetically uninteresting and indefinite so it was preferred to reproduce it with its characteristics originals. 3. During 1862, the Mayor of the time had appointed a commission to study the change of the name of the city. A measure to this effect was suggested by a dispatch from the government commissioner at the request of the Ministry of the Interior to avoid confusion caused by the numerous toponyms bearing the name of Fratta. "The commission was composed of the municipal secretary Dr. Ruggero Burelli, the chief engineer of the Municipality of Genesio Perugini, who was completing the history of Fratta left incomplete by the canonical uncle Antonio Guerrini who died in 1845, and by the lawyer Costantino Magi Spinetti. The report presented to the Mayor closed by suggesting a range of four possible names and advocated that of Umberta or Umbertide because it is more closely linked to the memory of its alleged founders descendants of Uberto Ranieri. "Fracta filiorum Uberti is always called even in the ancient Perugian statutes", mentioned a passage in the report. It is worth noting that it does not state that Uberto or Umberto is also the name indicated by the letter "V" contained in the coat of arms (FOV) in order to reinforce the indication suggested in favor of the choice of Umberta or Umbertide by the City Council. It would seem evident that in the conviction of the three commissioners that "V" did not refer to any of the Ranieri, but meant something of different. 4. In Lauri's Latin, the ancient and correct expression of the Perugian statutes “Fracta filiorum Uberti” becomes “Fracta insigne Ubertinorum oppidum”, with a very strange philological contamination. In this regard, it is useful to recall the sharp judgment that Luigi Bonazzi gives of the cited author: “With Bonciario we generally returned to Latin vomit. The fellow disciple, Baldassarre Ansidei, prefect of the Vatican library, and the scholar Giambattista Lauri, both placed between one century and the next, continued to latin with fury, especially Lauri, on the same themes as the fellow citizen rhetorician, one until 1614 , the other up to 1629 ... " (4) . Uberto Ranieri's descendants are called by Lauri "Umbertini" as if the sons of Pietro, Giovanni or Giacomo could be called "Pietrini, Giovannini or Giacobini". Such a license is completely foreign to the Latin language, as indeed to the Italian one, which at most could have tolerated Ranierorum and never Ubertinorum. But the Latins and the Latinists have always prefixed gens to noble names, therefore gens Claudia, gens Cornelia, gens Fabia, and, if anything. "gens Raniera" would have been the correct expression. Bonazzi's judgment on Lauri's "Latin with furore" seems completely founded. It seems very strange, therefore, that the letter "V" stands for "Uberti" because this does not correspond to the historical truth as the founders were his sons (Ugo, Ingilberto and Benedetto) and even more strange that it stands for “Ubertinorum” due to philological incompatibility. I agree with what Guerrini affirms, towards whom I have respect and admiration for the seriousness and scruple, unrelated to some of his critics, with whom he has treated the history of the Land of Fratta. Personally, however, on the basis of the considerations set out in n. 4, I have serious doubts that 'Y' could mean "Uberti", even before 1643. That letter could, in fact, refer to Ugolino who ceded the Fratta to Perugia on February 12, 1189 or to the much better known Ugo, king of Italy, from which the Ranieri descended. It seems strange that history is entrusted with the name of Uberto who had the sole merit of having given birth to the person who rebuilt the castle destroyed by the Goths. One of Uberto's sons, an important element not to be underestimated , was called just Ugo as the most famous ancestor (the grandfather). Note: (1) See History of the Land of Fratta now Umbertide, Tipografia Tiberina, 1883, page 174. (2) See Umbertide and Umbertidesi in history, Unione Arti Grafiche, Città di Castello, 1959, page 247. (3) Testimony of the Bishop of Gubbio, Monsignor Pietro Bottaccioli. (4) Luigi Bonazzi, History of Perugia, Vol. 11, p. 251, Union of Graphic Arts, Città di Castello. 1960. Sources: “A FREE MAN - Roberto Sciurpa, a passionate civil commitment” - by Federico Sciurpa - Petruzzi publisher, Città di Castello, June 2012 Roberto Sciurpa tells the story of Umbertide to school pupils The Municipality of Umbertide Enlargement of the coat of arms of Umbertide located to the right of the access door Unknown author. The Madonna and Sant'Erasmo. Roberto Sciurpa and Petruzz i, in 2007, during the press of the last volume of the history of Umbertide. The cover of the book that his son Federico dedicated to his father Roberto The royal decree of 29.3.1863 authorizing the name change The poster communicating the name change from Fratta to Umbertide

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY FRATTA curated by Fabio Mariotti THE CASTLE OF FRATTA The castle within the walls was divided into three areas: the Terziere Inferiore , the Terziere di Mezzo , the Terziere Superiore which included the northern part of the castle (Rocca, north-west bulwark and was also called Terziere della Campana). The Terziere di Mezzo included the part towards the Tiber, the houses in front of the church of San Giovanni, the central square (square of the Marquis of Sorbello), the northern part of the Vicolo delle Petresche with the hospice of the Capuchin Fathers of Montone behind it, the part north of the middle road near the central square. It was also known as Terziere della Greppa. The lower Terziere (or Terziere della porta di sotto, also known as the door of the slaughterhouse) included the area around the southwestern bulwark, the southern part of the via delle Petresche (via Spunta current), the via regale (or straight, via Cibo), of the middle road and the San Giovanni road that led to the church of the same name. The castle walls In 1736 the Tiber, with its floods, ruined the central part of the west curtain and destroyed four houses built on that point of the walls. The budget of the defenders of Fratta amounted to 1,032 scudi. Wanting to hasten the reconstruction, they asked Clement XII for a subsidy and the pope replied that he would give five hundred scudi, however, when Fratta proved that he had found the rest. The defenders were able in a short time to find their part but, seeing that that promise from the pope did not arrive, they began to buy the timber for the armor, the bricks and the lime and entrusted the work to the master builder Bartolomeo Ferranti of Rome. They took action on September 15, 1739, but the pope had not yet paid the promised subsidy at the end of the year. The defenders gave the task to a Mariotti, a Frattegiano resident in Rome, and he replied that Clement XII was very ill and that the defenders of Fratta had to work hard to get the five hundred scudi. He adds that if the pope had died, it would have been much more difficult to obtain them. It is not known when the work was finished, but it was certainly done very quickly as winter approached. A plaque was affixed to the wall with the inscription "Clem XII Pont Max MDCCXXIYIX.", Which can still be seen about fifty meters before the bridge. The Tiber It had a different trend from the current one and was dangerous for two reasons: - the current was perpendicular to the road that led to the Niccone valley and to Città di Castello, even then of great communication, so it could have been cut. By 1758 he had come fifteen meters from the road and was threatening to cut it off. - if this had happened, the bridge would have remained dry, with evident damage to the town and with serious compromise of activities such as military defense, weir, mills, gardens, public wash house, sewage disposal. Work was done, using many large poles. In 1726 the bridge of the Reggia was consolidated, over which all the traffic, even heavy traffic, passed from Santa Maria to the church of the Madonna della Reggia and to San Francesco and Montone. The bridge was made of wood, except for the two brick ends and in 1770 the judiciary of Fratta decided to enlarge it. In 1787 the municipality incurred an expense to cover the top of the Rocca. The roof of the tower is rebuilt. The villages adjacent to the Castle The Borgo Superiore It is located north of the castle within the walls and includes the Castel Nuovo (formed by the two streets of the Boccaiolo and the one that leads from the Piaggiola to the market gate), the "Mercatale di Sant'Erasmo" (today's Piazza Marconi), the area of furnaces and the church of Santa Maria della Pietà. Palazzo Ranieri Owned by Count Curtio Ranieri, son of Costantino, it was in the Piaggiola road. In 1756 the count enlarged it. In front there was a public well (the widening that forms between the end of the Piaggiola and the Boccaiolo road) called the well of Sant'Agostino, near the church of the same name. Mill of the Fathers of San Bernardo (Castel Nuovo) It is located along the small road (now called del Molinaccio) which leads from the end of the Piaggiola to the Tiber. It was close to the castle walls and belonged to the Fathers of San Bernardo or Barnabiti. These had two small convents, one in Fratta and one in Migianella. In the Borgo Superiore there are still two tower-houses, one in the Mercatale area and another at the Porta del Boccaiolo. They consist of a bottom below and a room above. They were built for peasant use. The Lower Village It is also called "le Fabbrecce" because there are blacksmith shops and in the mill outside the Borgo, the scythes were rounded (as in the fourteenth century! Nothing had changed). It included the area of the street that led from the bridge of the Reggia to Piazza San Francesco, the Via di Santa Croce (now Via Soli) and the area outside the Borgo gate. At the beginning of the century, the road that began outside the San Francesco gate and led towards the Madonna del Moro was called the Caminella road; then strada del Piano (during the French occupation at the end of the century, strada Consolare del Piano); at the beginning of the twentieth century via Secoli. Along Santa Croce there was the Osteria della Corona, owned by Count Ranieri. The square was already called Piazza San Francesco. It changed its name later to go back to that name. Roads In 1790 work was carried out on the road to Montone, in the section under the convent of the Observant Friars of Santa Maria. The width is eight feet, like all the other roads leading to Fratta, the bracing of which is redone every year. The doors In 1788 an arm wrestling was put on the Porta della Saracina (there was still this mighty tower at the beginning of the bridge). Other works were done on the door of the market and that of the nuns. In 1790 the door of the Saracina is set up. In 1792 it was the turn of the bridge and work was done to lower the door to the market. Sources: - Renato Codovini - “History of Umbertide - Volume VI - 18th century” - Unpublished typescript. - Calendar of Umbertide 2001 - Ed. Municipality of Umbertide - 2001 (Texts by Adriano Bottaccioli - Walter Rondoni - Amedeo Massetti - Fabio Mariotti). South-west bulwark of defense The plaque on the walls dedicated to Pope Clement XII The ancient houses on the Tiber. In the red circle the headstone - On the left, cadastral map of Fratta from the mid-1700s - Above, map of the medieval Fratta with the castle doors The cover of the 2001 Umbertide Calendar The historian Renato Codovini Il Castello di Fratta Il modo di vivere, di morire, la solidarietà e gli svaghi La chiesa di Sant'Andrea di Castelvecchio Il Castello di Fratta Le chiese minori di Fratta e i proietti L'Amministrazione e la Pubblica Sicurezza Gli appalti e le proprietà pubbliche Agricoltura, Commercio, Mestieri e Istruzione Il Tevere, i ponti, le mura del Castello Il sistema elettorale comunale L'Amministrazione e la Pubblica Sicurezza ADMINISTRATION AND PUBLIC SECURITY The municipal administration In the eighteenth century the public administration of Fratta has two different offices. From 1700 to 1787 the building located in today's Piazza Fortebracci, formerly the seat of the convent of Santa Maria di Castelvecchio (current seat of the Riuniti theater). From 1787 to 1799 in the palace of Castel Nuovo, formerly the seat of the convent of Santa Maria Nuova, suppressed in 1787. There are three administrative bodies: the judiciary, the council of twelve and the general council (or 42). The judiciary is made up of the four defenders, also called "priors" or simply "the magistrates". Once elected, they met and nominated the "chief magistrate" or "first prior". Person of great importance in social life, he came from the "first class". The election of the council was made between only two classes, the primary people of the place, civilians and landowners and the artists (craftsmen). The former are destined to obtain the rank of head of magistrate, the office of public chamberlain and the harangue of the council. The second the other three parts of the judiciary: the second, third and fourth prior who are distributed by seniority. The council of twelve met for decisions of greater importance, when they wanted to be sure that there would be no opposition to what was to be established. It was made up of the four defenders, the four counselors of the defenders, the three health conservatives and the chamberlain. He could not impose new taxes, vary the prices of abundance, discuss quarrels between citizens and the public administration, make decisions about wars, invasions, earthquakes, plagues. He was summoned by ringing the big bell with twelve taps. The council of 42 was the general council, that is the council of the twelve, increased by the representatives of the classes that had the right to be part of it and by the exponents of the major villas (hamlets). Organs: - Councilors (municipal). People who made up the two municipal councils (12 and 42). They were partially renewable, one third at a time, always removing the oldest ones. They belonged to the first and second classes. In 1798, following the French occupation, women were appointed municipal councilors for the first time. Three in Fratta and one in Preggio. - Defenders. There were four of them and they remained in office for four months. They were elected by means of a "bussolo" vote, but they did not receive any salary since theirs were an honorary office. Only at the end of the mandate were they compensated with a small sum as a gift, not exceeding one and a half shields. - Counsel for the defenders . There were four of them and each "on the sidelines" of a defender (or prior), to whom he gave advice. almost like today's personal secretary. They were chosen from among those who had been defender in the previous quarter, assuming that he had acquired some experience in the affairs of comitative government. - Gonfaloniere. First prior and head of the judiciary, he was called so only at the beginning of the restoration, after the end of the Roman republic. in August 1799. - Consular prefect of Fratta. Office of the French administration, reporting directly to the prefect of the canton of Fratta. He was the head of the commune of Fratta and also "president of the commune". - Prefect of the canton. Figure established in the last decade of the century, when there was the French invasion. The prefect was responsible for everything that took place in our canton, including the municipality of Preggio and Poggio Manente (San Paterniano) as well as Fratta. Employees and officials: - Archivist. Usually a notary. He drew up acts for the municipality but also for the citizens. - Balio. He was in charge of liaising between the judiciary and other community bodies and private citizens. He took four scudi a four-month period. - Camerlengo. Collection and payment clerk. He did not take any premium on the collection as he received a normal salary. - Chancellor. He had more or less the functions of today's municipal secretary. His office was called "chancellery" or "priority secretariat". - Commissioner and judge. Public official appointed by Perugia. His main task was to enforce the law and punish the guilty, but in the most difficult, delicate and controversial cases he had the order to send the guilty to Perugia subjecting them to the examination of the higher court. - Conservatives of health. Three people who remained in office for two years and had to belong to the first sphere, that is, to the first class. They spoke to the city council when called and their job was to give an opinion on what was being discussed in the meeting. - Donzello. Clerk to all minor duties, he had the lowest salary paid by the administration to an employee. - School teacher. His salary was paid partly by the municipal administration, partly by the parents of the children and another by the brotherhood of Santa Croce. - Doctor led. He was also paid by the municipality. - Moderator of the public watch . Supervisor, maintenance, loading and various checks of the public clock. - Portinari. Surveillance of the gates of the town who opened every morning and closed in the evening at about "two hours at night". - Preacher. Ecclesiastical, priest or friar, about three times a year he preached in the churches of the town. He stayed in Fratta for a few days, staying in a convent. - Praetor. Charge born at the time of the French invasion. - Commissioner. Charge that arose at the time of the French invasion. He kept the books of the canton's administration. - Scribe. Person in charge of copying documents, letters, reports of board meetings, etc. - Sindicators. We find this use in the first half of the century. The mayors controlled the community accounts and remained in office for one year. - Letter dealer. He was the postmaster, also hired by the municipality. - Public appraisers. We find them in the first half of the century. They were people responsible for estimating properties or various activities both for the interest of the municipality and for private citizens. They remained in office for a year. - Community representatives in Perugia and Rome. People involved in unraveling community affairs in these cities. Being well established in state offices, they had practice in public administration and were known by various employees. Management of the Municipality Revenue for taxes There were the chamber tax, the municipal tax, the privileged and fair tax, the allotment of the ground coffee. The community of Fratta imposed them on the population and then calculated its percentage on the sum; the remainder was sent to Perugia. The chamber tax was requested by the reverend Apostolic Chamber of Perugia, which kept a small sum and sent the rest to the central government of Rome. The privileged and fair tax related to the various privileges that the city of Perugia granted to its dependent communities. The ground tax concerned everything that was brought to the mill and was the most detested by the peasants. Then there was the focatico tax. It hit all the "fires", that is, the hearths, the families. It remained until the 1960s under the name of "family tax". In 1706 only eleven families paid for it; in 1728, fifty-seven. The "property tax" hit the owners of houses and land. In addition, there was the "undressing and jail tax". By "bare" was meant unnecessary clothing and by "galleys" a tax intended to strengthen the state's navy. Finally, there were other occasional taxes, such as the "tax on the million", introduced in 1713 by the papal government which needed as many scudi. Revenue for procurement They were preferred by the municipalities as they were easy to manage and made it possible to collect the maximum on set dates. The contracts were made known by posting a notice outside the door of the town hall: on the appointed day, the "piper" would station himself in certain points of the town, sound the trumpet and let people know the time and place of the competition. Which took place with the "virgin candle" method every three years. Procurement of the oven. Granted in 1710 to Ercolano Fanfani. It ensured the production of bread for the whole country. Wage contract. The prerogative of distributing the salt belonged to Perugia, which gave it out to the various communities. Fratta, in order to get the necessary, had to go and pick it up in Perugia or, when there was none in the warehouse, in some town on the sea road: Fossombrone, Fabriano, Jesi, Ancona. Contract of the oil shop and grocery store. It consisted in granting a contractor the service of selling edible oil and kinds of delicatessens in the municipal shop, at the prices established by the municipality and written prominently on a sign. Procurement of the land stamp. Those who wanted to occupy a part of the public land (for example street vendors) had to pay a certain fee. Procurement of the meat stamp. The "butchers" of Fratta had to "skin" the animals in the public slaughterhouse. After removing the skin (which was used for the sole of the shoes) they cut the animal and the pieces were stamped by the "meat boiler". The operation served to make it clear to those who bought which was ox and cow, calf, sheep or mutton. The "bollatore delle carne" made the butchers pay the stamp, then paid the municipality, in two or three installments, as established. Public procurement slaughterhouse. Whoever won the tender sold the meat in this shop for two or three years by paying the agreed sum, in half-yearly installments, to the municipality which had the purpose of keeping prices calm to favor the poorest population. Contract for damage given and deposit of pledges. The depositary of the "damage given" was assigned to the surveillance of public goods, movable or immovable, he noted, in his interest, the damage caused by citizens to public goods, brought these facts before the judge and commissioner. This was also joined by the contract for the "depository of the pawns" , that is the office that advanced money to whoever deposited a pledge. Procurement of measures. The possibility of having large quantities of goods weighed was the prerogative of the Noble College of Exchange of Perugia. The operation took place with a large scale, publicly owned, called "the big steelyard". Procurement of firewood. Those who intended to bring firewood into the village had to pay a right in money to the municipality. Who contracted the collection to a private citizen. Procurement of the foietta. The right to tax the sale of wine "al menuto", ie sold by glasses or foiette, was also contracted out by the municipality to third parties. Procurement of the cenciarìa. He charged the collection of rags. The contractor collected a fee from those who collected the rags and was also a collector. Contract for the pen . Collection of the excrements of the animals that passed through the country, assigned by means of a contract to the one who offered the highest price. Tiber wood tender. It used trunks and branches that were deposited under the bridge after the floods. Tiber fishing contract . It struck those who wanted to fish in the stretch of river under the jurisdiction of the municipality, that is, upstream of the bridge. Expenses The municipal administration of Fratta divided the expenses into "recurring expenses", "Occasional outgoings and expenses", "various gratifications". The "recurring outings" yes they distinguished in outputs for the achievement of the purposes of the institution and for alms. Among the former, the main item is the payment of employees and employees of each degree. A recurring exit was the seasonal arrangement of the roads which, both in the country and outside, they had to be bridged every November. Another expense was the annual cleaning of sewers, wells and fountains. It does not seem strange to consider among the recurring expenses also those "for alms", because at the time the municipality used to give money to some brotherhoods for the patronal feasts of Sant'Erasmo, San Bernardino and SSma Annunziata. He also bought wax (candles), "powder" (for the barrels), oil for lighting and other useful things in the processions. At Christmas and Easter the municipality also used to give gifts: to the representatives of the community in Rome gave two capons; to the four defenders, at the end of the mandate quarterly, two scudi. The "occasional expenses" were used, for example, to repair municipal-owned houses and farms, roads, bridges, town gates, to pay interest liabilities on debts, cops' living expenses. All those rewards, finally, that the It was common to give the refreshments offered in the form of gifts and tips to distinguished visitors to guests (for example for the arrival of the bishop), gifts to the commanders of the foreign troops of passage so that they did not do too much damage, donations to the convents. Public safety While the public administration was delegated, in Fratta, to the judiciary and to the municipal councils, in the eighteenth century public security was strictly the responsibility of the commissioner, who was appointed decenviral (that is, of the Perugian judiciary). The commissioner and ordinary judge, in this double capacity, had in his first role the competence over the public safety of the whole territory and the investigating power given to him by the Perugian executive. On the basis of this power, it resolved all issues relating to public order that arose in a territory of about five or six thousand inhabitants (Fratta and hamlets), up to the arrest of those responsible. For certain crimes he sent the guilty to Perugia, to his superior judicial body or criminal office, as it was then called. In the event of minor disputes (those which today, for example, are the responsibility of the justice of the peace) he invited the parties to go to a notary and in his presence formulate a "peace act" between them. In case of crimes of greater gravity (usually acts of banditry), where the powers and possibilities of the commissioner proved powerless, he asked Perugia to send one or more teams of cops. They, with the force of arms, were able to put an end to those emergency situations and to restore the normality of life, bringing the offenders to Perugia. In the village the behavior of the cops was rather heavy and savage and the population paid the price, but this was well tolerated by the "good government" for which the fear that they knew how to instill in the people was obviously convenient, as it facilitated their way to act. The cops also came in times of epidemic diseases and if there was to fight the bands of brigands. In these cases they also went to guard the border areas and blocked the road with large iron gates to prevent transit in both directions. During their passage they stayed at the Osteria della Corona where they could stay for several days, but they were always frowned upon by the population as they committed abuses of all kinds and even harassed the hosts and their families. The Count of Civitella, who owned it, decided for these reasons to close not only this tavern to the public but also the one located in the San Giovanni street. It is the first case of "lockout" of an exercise. The municipality then bought a house to be used for housing the cops when they came to Fratta. It was bought in 1770, in via di San Giovanni and became the office and residence of the commissioner-judge. In this way it was possible to free the two rooms of the town hall which had already been used for this purpose for several years. Security problems also arose at the time of French domination, due to the harassment carried out by those troops. The commissioner-judge could not move as he wanted in these situations: the military occupation had effectively nullified many of his possibilities. In May 1798, for example, the French soldiers of General La Vallette, coming from Città di Castello, committed various abuses, including the destruction of furniture and books from the convent of San Francesco. It is due to such vandalism that nothing has remained on the life of our convents whose friars had come to Fratta in the last decade of the 13th century. In December 1785 the central government of Rome forbids all games in taverns and taverns. In 1788 soldiers were sent to Fratta to oppose a gang of criminals. In 1791 it was necessary to arm other soldiers, in the face of new raids by brigands who escaped, in July, from the Macerata prison and considered very dangerous by the government which had made prizes available to those who had captured them. A great scourge of time was that of collecting grains, which were then sold outside the kingdom. To put an end to this illicit trade, the municipality issues a notification against the "grabbers of wheat products". On August 13, 1795, a decree tends to limit the underworld of our province by forbidding those who go to the Monteluce fair from carrying weapons. In 1788 an ordinance was issued against "wounders and those who insult in the streets, with or without weapons". On 26 March 1797 two companies of the Colonna regiment pass through Fratta, the Vespiccini company and the Colonnello company. On June 26, Corsican soldiers "fled from Faenza due to the French invasion, commending themselves to the mercy of this public". He is fed. On February 2, 1798, carriages from Cisalpini pass. Sources: - Renato Codovini - “History of Umbertide - Volume VI - 18th century” - Unpublished typescript. - Calendar of Umbertide 2001 - Ed. Municipality of Umbertide - 2001 (Texts by Adriano Bottaccioli - Walter Rondoni - Amedeo Massetti - Fabio Mariotti). Today Teatro dei Riuniti, from 1700 to 1787 seat of the Municipality of Umbertide The town hall in the early 1900s Old photo of the church of S. Bernardino Ancient image of the Castle of Civitella di Civitella Ranieri THE WAY OF LIVING, OF DYING, SOLIDARITY AND LEISURE The way of life At the beginning of the eighteenth century most of the people of Fratta struggled in misery. The few owners (and this throughout the Papal State) had a good game to keep wages low, given the large supply of labor, fed by many poor people looking for work. There were other elements to burden this picture: the frequent famines, the extraordinary taxes to compensate for the various flaws in the central administration, the devaluations of the currency to fill the sudden cash gaps. The people were totally subject to higher taxes. He didn't feel the need to rebel, but he certainly felt the weight of it. The entertainment The Frattegiani's opportunities for recreation and distractions were not many and all more or less orchestrated from above. The theater, as the local academics society had a certain activity; patronal and religious festivals in general; the public joy in the cases of the most sumptuous marriages and in the passage through Fratta of the cardinal protector; the festivities in the immediate surroundings of the town. They could lock themselves up to play in the Osteria della Corona or in that of the Staffa but, above all, they had the greatest set of distractions and entertainment during the carnival period. It began on the day of Saint Anthony and ended on the "fat Saturday" with the midnight dinner, called "la sabatina", made up of fatty foods. Weddings They were characterized by three moments: the private policy, the notarial deed, the ceremony in the church. With the private policy, the families established the economic conditions under which they would allow the marriage of their children. The parties then went to the "notary", together with the witnesses, to ratify the agreement. Finally, the ceremony followed, celebrated "according to the rite of the Holy Roman Church", preceded by a public "denunciation". The marriage was registered by the priest in the special book which, in 1741, had the five baiocchi stamp of the reverend Apostolic Chamber. The processions They all had a religious character and there were no civil processions or parades. Their development was linked to the many festivals of the time; then there were others that originated from contingent events (rain, earthquake, disease, etc.). In the seventeenth century they were still called with the old medieval name of "lumi", for which going in procession was said to "go to the light" (taking place almost always in the evening, there was a great display of lights, with candles, "fàcole" of pitch , oil lights). They were planned a few days earlier by a certain fraternity which appointed a group of five or six brothers who were entitled to the honor of the organization. These were called "above" and had the task of looking for the necessary money in the "begging" done in the countryside or in the streets and squares of the town, especially on market or fair days. Elements common to all the processions were the presence of (lay) companies and (religious) congregations with their brothers, closed in their cloaks of different colors and shapes. The representatives of the community for the occasion wore the ceremonial dress (the purple rubbone), while the soldiers, often Corsican mercenaries, came specially from Perugia. Another element was the "machine", that is the large wooden scaffolding equipped with two large and long poles which served to support the statue of the saint for whom the procession was made and which was carried on the shoulder. Finally, the banners of religious and secular associations among which wooden sticks with cloth and fringes sprouted, carried by the sacristans of the churches, in the midst of a cloud of smoke, smells and sizzles of burning pitch released from the many "fàcole", candles, lights and a burst of barrels that framed that whole. In the end, those who had intervened wearing the "hood" were given food consisting of bread, cakes, torcoli, wine, the distribution of which often gave rise to "abuses and dishonesty" and several times the bishops of Gubbio suspended "the brothers' tycoon that go in procession ", and replaced it with distribution of candles. But given a certain rarefaction of the people in tow, everything returned as before. Parties and sweets In the eighteenth century there were about twenty feasts a year and they all had the common and main component of religiosity. The banners of the art corporations, religious fraternities (or companies), congregations (only priests) intervened together with that of the community of Fratta. These associations, together with the municipality, thought of the decorations, both of the town and of the churches. They were made with great pomp, of the drapery type (the "drapoloni"), of silk or damask, as well as they could consist of light weaves (structures) of wood or light metal, of various designs, covered with fabrics or flowers ( even fake), ribbons and lace at will. It was possible then, but only on major occasions, to the construction of real triumphal arches for the streets and gates of the town. Among the characteristic festivals there was the "flower festival of May", promoted by the company of Sant'Antonio. On such occasions, in the organizing church, there was always a "choir of musicians" and singers. On 8 September 1795, for the feast, the famous Frattegiano singer Domenico Bruni arrived in the church of San Francesco, passing through one of his numerous artistic tours that he sang among the amateurs of the town, without any compensation. In the evening, the houses were lit with candles in the windows and everyone waited for the climax of the "barrels and rays". The costume In the eighteenth century the "sumptuary laws" of the seventeenth century on the way of dressing were in force in the Roman ecclesiastical kingdom, which forbade citizens (not the rich) certain luxurious ways, discriminating and further distancing the various social classes. In 1703 Pope Clement XI issued an edict in which he ordered low-status women to renounce any adornment, imposing the use of ordinary fabrics and non-violent colors. It was then forbidden to those of the people and petty bourgeois (edict of Clement XII in 1730) to put gold and silver trimmings on headdresses, fabrics and ornaments. The way to die In the parish books we find various "systems" to pass on to a better life. In 1715, with a touch of romanticism, - "... died at 10 pm on the moon ...". There are also descriptions of violent deaths, such as "... assaulted by two brothers, one of whom took his gun and shot him in the chest and so wounded he fled the Tiber on the boat of Ascagnano". In 1740, for a woman who throws herself into the Tiber "... At other times she had done other wisdom". A woman dies "from a serious fall made on the precipitous stairs of her house". Another, certain "Francesca di Brizio found in the house all burned with the exception of the head". Then there are death records and testamentary dispositions which show the religious sentiment of the people. Sant'Antonio da Padova enjoyed a certain cult in our country, so much so that he had his own altar in the church of the Compagnia del Soccorso, in the monastery of Santa Maria Nuova. In 1722 a Frattegiana told the notary "I want to be buried at the altar of St. Anthony of Padua, my lawyer and protector dressed in the habit of St. Anthony ...". In another testament of 1794 we find instead the extreme will of a sinner (or presumed such). He explains how his funeral must take place: "... from the house where I live my body is to be taken directly to the church without any turn of the streets and this in order not to remind the public of the scandals given in my life. When it reaches the church it is immediately buried without to expose the corpse of such a great sinner to the public's view, without wax, or music, or other similar things that vanity has been able to invent ". Funerals and burials The dead person, after having received, sooner or later, the visit of his parish priest for the absolution and registration of the death in the parish books, remains entrusted to the relatives and is stripped, washed, then wrapped in a sheet, ready for the funeral (or fùnere, as it was said then). That was the responsibility of the parish priest of the parish to which the dead man belonged and, if he was in a company or in a congregation, the association sent its own representation of brothers dressed in "hoods". The dead man was placed on top of the bier, with the top layer covering him, then carried on the shoulder to the church. Often the testator, among other things, indicated the place of burial. In fact, the dead were buried in the rear part (cemetery) of the church, but some were placed in existing mounds under the floor. There was therefore a distinction between outside, where the poorest were buried, and inside, where the brothers of the lay companies and the wealthy were placed (noble sepulchres), while the truly rich had their chapel. The noble tombs, for the rich, were obtained in front of the altars (even the main one) or on the sides of the same. In the entombment, the simple burial of the corpse wrapped in a sheet was carried out. The box was used only exceptionally, when it was a person who had acquired a great human value in life, or for the rich or for those who died outside the country and whose body had to be brought back to Fratta, transported on the wagon to horses. The burial in consecrated land was conditional on the fact that the dying person had first confessed and communicated, with the exception of those who had died suddenly. In the latter case it was the priest who ascertained whether the deceased had confessed some time before and, in any case, had always lived as a good Christian. The unconsecrated land was near the church cemeteries. Solidarity Wheat mountain It was commissioned by Don Giuliano Bovicelli di Fratta, a priest in Rome where he held the office of secretary to Cardinal Sacripante. Bovicelli, in the year 1715, donated the sum of one hundred scudi to the brotherhood of San Bernardino, of which he was a brother, with whom "... he wanted and longed for a mountain of wheat to be created in order to buy grain for the poorest population ". The brotherhood immediately bought two hundred wheat "stands" and started this institution. The wheat mountain stored grain for harvest and then gave it free to the poorest during the winter and spring, when it was difficult to find it. After the legal institution of 17191a confraternity began looking for a suitable seat where to arrange both the grain and the administrative office of the mountain. He succeeded only many years later, in 1764, when he bought a small house owned by the company of the Most Holy Sacrament in the central square, called "del Marchese" (Piazza Matteotti). The pawnshop Poor people who needed small loans of money turned to it and brought their little things as collateral, that is, movable goods of all kinds. For this service the municipality requested a sum to be calculated as a percentage. This was truly negligible, that is, much less than what would have been paid by resorting to the loan of the Jews, then present in Fratta, whose interest rates were much higher. The community of Fratta was authorized to manage this institution by the municipality of Perugia, from which it had contracted it out and to which it had to pay a sum. annual. The municipality could therefore manage it on its own but could also subcontract it, as it did in the year 1748 when the Monte was sold under contract to Ubaldo Moretti di Fratta. Free study The community of Fratta could send "two young people to the Episcopal Seminary of Gubbio every year, to remain free there, as long as they have the necessary requisites and are suitable to set out on the Ecclesiastical Way". Assistance to the "exposed" The "exposed" were newborns abandoned at the door of churches or hospitals, sent by the community to the hospital of Santa Maria della Misericordia in Perugia. Here many foundlings die because the nannies cannot be paid. Those who take babies to breastfeed them "... Also have five or six in the chest", so nourishment is scarce and deaths are many. Before 1739 the external nurses received a "dirty" grain mine a year, too little for Cardinal Martino Enrico Caracciolo, apostolic visitor in that year to Perugia, who assigns each six paoli a month, plus a shield, a tantum, after the eighteenth month. These children went around with a tag attached to their neck to indicate the date of baptism and the name. Gifts for spinsters In the eighteenth century some local brotherhoods, including that of Santa Croce which was the richest, bestowed a dowry on a spinster. In this way, girls who had to marry but who could not afford the necessary expenses were helped in this way since 1612. The dowry, one a year, was granted upon written request to spinsters born in the village (such as their parents), attaching a certificate from the parish priest who attested to both the birth, the age and the patronage of these girls. The brotherhood then chose a certain and limited number of girls and subjected them to an examination. The vinciti-ice could have the dowry only if and when he got married. There was also a deadline, which was 35 years; if the girl did not marry by this age, the brotherhood would take back the dowry. Another reason why the dowry was denied was that the girl, before marrying, did not live honestly. The entertainment Theater Already in the seventeenth century an association of theatrical art lovers was operating in Fratta called "Accademia degli Inestabili". In 1746 it had to proceed with its reorganization, which suggests that it was in a strongly negative phase. On the other hand, public and private music teaching was very active. In particular in the oratories, where the youth met for religious representations, with singing and instrumental schools linked to the various religious functions of the feast days. The Fratta theater was located since 1746 in the town hall, in today's Piazza Fortebracci. On the first floor there were some offices and the council meeting room which was given to the "unstoppable academics" for their performances. It had two "lodges" which probably served for municipal councilors, but were open to the public for the theater. You entered via a stone staircase placed outside. In 1770 it was still in the hall on the first floor of the town hall but this room was by now insufficient for the activity of academics. They therefore decided to expand it and asked for two adjacent rooms that served as the office of the commissioner and judge as well as for the passing cops. In 1746 we know that they wanted to reconstitute a theatrical association on a different basis from the old one: perhaps the "unstable academics" had dissolved, in whole or in part, towards the end of the 17th century. In the mid-eighteenth century the members of the "Accademia degli Inestabili" were eleven, from the main families of the town, such as the Fabbri, the Francesconi, the Burelli, but then the number grew and other illustrious personalities took part, such as Dr. Prospero Mariotti, his son Annibale and doctor Giulio Fracassini. The academy had a coat of arms formed by a noble shield where a hand was drawn. He held three gold cords intertwined together that ended with leads like a small tassel and, all around, the motto "Difficile solvitur" (it will hardly melt). Outside the theatrical season (ie outside the carnival), the amateur dramatists of the country acted instead, who were mostly the academics themselves and the members of their families. The plays were performed to train young people in stage disciplines rather than to give entertainment to the population. In the mid-eighteenth century, dramatic companies of a nomadic nature were a rarity and the first came to play in Fratta in 1748. It was the company of Giovanni Gazzola, a professional "histrionist artist" who, after many difficulties in obtaining authorization, was able to delight the Frattegiani with the affected parts of Pulcinella, Brighella and Doctor Belanza. Our theater closed, like everyone else in the Roman kingdom, from 1791 to 1795 by order of Pope Pius IV, due to the political events of the time, centered on the invasion of Italy by the French army. It was then reopened with the works "The guilty woman" and "The corsair of Marseille", where that "corsair" must have been a clear reference to the work of Napoleon, the most interesting character in the political scene of the time. The theater was granted on request for dance parties, elementary school work, occasions in which the best children were rewarded. Sometimes it was then granted for the game of bingo, introduced in Perugino in 1796. In the first months of 1798 the "Viva Maria" movement arose. In mid-February Fratta was invaded by these rioters who did various damages to municipal and private property, tampered with the theater and dispersed the administration documents. Free time In 1730, the "ox hunt", or "fence game", a sort of bullfight between oxen and dogs in a town square, usually San Francesco. In 1760 we have news that hunting was practiced in the months of September and October, the so-called "birding" (with the net). In 1794 the game of the "ball" or "ball" appears in Piazza San Francesco. Sources: - Renato Codovini - “History of Umbertide - Volume VI - 18th century” - Unpublished typescript. - Calendar of Umbertide 2001 - Ed. Municipality of Umbertide - 2001 (Texts by Adriano Bottaccioli - Walter Rondoni - Amedeo Massetti - Fabio Mariotti). Il modo di vivere, di morire, la solidarietà e gli svaghi Procession of the Madonna - late 1950s. (Corradi photographic archive) The facade of the church of San Francesco The opera singer Domenico Bruni Piazza Umberto I (now Matteotti) in the early 1900s. (Historical photographic archive of the Municipality of Umbertide). In 1700 it was smaller and was called piazza del Marchese. Annibale Mariotti Giuliano Bovicelli AGRICULTURE, TRADE, TRADES AND EDUCATION Agriculture In 1700 the permanent settlement in the countryside was much safer than in previous centuries and the construction of farmhouses was no longer based on the tower-house system, the house with a minimum surface area but developed in height, suitable for housing and also for defense. of the peasant and his household goods. Now the type of house developed on a flat level is adopted, with a greater base, lower height, overall higher airspace. It has a ground floor used for agricultural management and a first floor for the farmer's home. The land could be "arable", "canapinato", "cerquato", "gineprato", "gengato", "working", "olivato", "ortivo", "pergola", "grass", "sodivo", "fucato" "," Vlneat0 "," silvato "," boschivo "(or" buscato "). The "cerquato" land was held in great esteem because the oak was even considered a fruit plant due to the great need for acorns that were used for pigs but, at times, in cases of great famine, they were reduced to flour as an aid to feeding. Human. There was a dominance of the pergola over the vineyard, a fair extension of the olive grove and the presence of the "canapinato" in the places richest in water. The extension of the land was measured in the capacity (rubbia, mina, stara, cup) of seeds necessary to cover the ground. The owners are very few. We find noble families such as Ranieri, Degli Oddi, Bourbon di Sorbello, Florenzi, Antinori, Crescenzi, Zeccadoro who had lands in Fratta but resided elsewhere, for which they did not pay taxes. There were resident families, also very rich: Alberti, Albanesi, Bertanzi, Bruni, Agostini, Burelli, Gnoni, Fracassini, Guardabassi, Magnanini, Paolucci, Petrogalli, Reggiani, Vibi, Cambiotti, Cibo, Mavarelli, Ramaccioni, Montanucci, Falici , Bartoccini. The leases were of two kinds: a temporary type, stipulated for three, six and nine years and the type called "emphyteusis" which usually covered a period of three generations. These were the most used but there were some valid for a single "riculture", that is, for a single crop or a single agricultural year. There are three parties to the dispute, even if only two stipulators, namely the owner of the land and the tenant who makes the peasants work the land, excluded from the negotiation. The owner had to allow the tenant to have the peasant's family members live in the farmhouse; he had to give vines and olive trees to be planted in the year. If he did not provide them, the tenant was released from the "planting" obligation and the owner could not oblige him the following year. The tenant was required to keep the plants found in the delivery inventory, he could send the farmers away at his will and pleasure. It was up to him to pay, in addition to the rent, the duties, the gabelles, the chamber's taxes. He had to leave the sown land as he had found it at his entrance; he had to return the barrels but be careful "that they are of good smell and without any vice, as he receives them". At the end of the rent, the pigs and the large cattle were given back according to the estimate; the sheep and goat cattle were made at the head. The farmer had to sow wheat and fodder with his own seed, prune and undermine young and old trees, plant a certain number of vines and olive trees every year with the system of formoni and that of single holes. Do not cut fruit trees, only lumber that has died from the fire. He had to take part of the land product to the master's house and for this he was paid in kind or in foodstuffs. The must was divided in half. At Easter he had to give a certain quantity of eggs and "pancasciato"; he had to give gifts and obligations in chickens and eggs. In the eighteenth century there was no "colonial pact" specified and imposed by law as will happen later, but only unwritten agreements. Of the products of the fields, half went to the owner (dominical part) and half to the farmer. In the cases of three-way relationships (owner, tenant and farmer) the division took place between tenant and farmer; the master took the rent. The owner was responsible for the costs of pruning and undermining the vines, the formoni and the pits, the fees to the farmer when he was called to give his "assistance" to the harvest work, to sift the wheat and shovel it, to do various jobs of the cellar, when it brought to sell the products to the market, the appraisals and the taming of the cattle, the construction and the accommodation of the rural buildings. They produced cecio, red cecio, hemp, cicerchie, cherries, beans, broad beans, mulberry leaves, opium leaves, figs, cheese, wheat, corn, acorns, lenses, lentils, wool, flax, lupins, honey, hazelnuts, walnuts , barley, olives, panic, pears, peaches, peas, grapes, vetch, vein, wine. The farmer had to pay a tax called "collar" when he used the oxen that belonged to the owner to work the land. The peasant's give and take resulted from the "workers' book". On the hill farms, sheep and goats were kept, but also many pigs. The Commerce The aspect that characterizes the economy is the static nature of values. There is no inflation and the differences in the prices of some commodities are caused by momentary extraordinary factors. Another component is the painfulness of work, of wages stuck on the verge of a tiring survival. The economy is very poor, both at the territorial level (municipality of Fratta) and in the Papal State. Another aspect is the almost total concentration of productive activities such as agriculture, for example, in the hands of a few nobles who also took possession of a certain industrial activity (wool mills). There was also a small artisan industry (iron and figulina [terracotta]), but it was limited by a limited availability of capital, always insufficient as it was available in the family. The large payments were made with "bank coupons", generic receipts issued by banks (the "Monti"). The deeds were stipulated by the notary who certified that the buyer was putting the money on the table. Sellers - Bocci (silkworms): Mavarelli, woman Caterina Igi. - Hemp: Alessio Moriconi. - Calcina: Mariangelo di Paolo, Domenico Stoppa. - Construction material: Giovanni Maria Diamanti, Menco di Natale, Andrea Fanfani, Molinari, Domenico Salvatori, Fortunato Agostini, Ludovico Cristiani. - Fronda dei mori (mulberry trees): Antonio called "il Regnicolo", the "Stinco". - Timber: Andrea Bellagamba, Raffaele Scapicchi, Antonio di Giovan Battista, Paolo di Giorgio, Gio. Tomasso da Monte Castelli, Giuseppe Jotti, - Straw: Girolimo di Rondino. - Hides: Pietro Baldoni is a seller (and collector) of goat skins and "white bassettes". - Stabbio: Donna Carolina Gratini (1712) to the brotherhood of San Bernardino; Costantino di Vincentio, Angelino Mavarelli, Giulio Rovinati. Mattio Massi, Filippo Leonetti, Filippo Carocci. - Wine: they received monetary compensation for each barrel of wine. Santi di Cristoforo (1700), Francesco Franceschini, Federico Palazzari (1701), Pietro Martinelli (1715/1749), Francesco Mercante (1722), Antonio Jotti (1726), Costanza Martinelli (1727/1738), woman Elisabetta Jotti, known as " the Padella "(1733/1735), Bernardino Cantelli (1741), Elisabetta Falcioli (1741/1747), Fabrizio Brugnoli (1749), Donna Francesca d'Andrea (1751), Donna Margherita Massi called" the Margarita "(1756/1759 ), Giovanni del quondam Andrea (1759/1760), woman Virginia Ciangottini (1767), Tommaso and Clemente Ciangottini (1768), Antonio known as "il Regnicolo" (1780), woman Maria Antonia Mercanti (1782/1784). Gambattista Fanfani (1787), Gian Maria Bartolini (1789). Shops and shopkeepers 1702 - Gregorio Molinari: glass. 1706 - Francesco Luminati: wax. 1718 - workshop of "Fabbreccia", in Piazza San Francesco, on the side of the Tiber. 1722/1730 - Sante Mavarelli: bread, lard, lard, wax, fàcole and gunpowder. 1724 - cobbler's shop. There were hammer, pincers, ligiatore, knife, stick. 1732 - Pietro Spaccini: glass, dies for windows (to be placed between the glass). 1732 - Gaspare Martinelli: lead for the dies. 1741/1749 - Domenico Cerbonelli: wax, string, nails, incense. 1745 - Borgo di Sopra, market area, Vasaro Giovan Maria Martinelli. 1745 - Borgo di Sopra, master Antonio Vibi, arquebusier. 1745 - Borgo Inferiore, three blacksmith shops. 1748 - Agostino Bettelli: wax. 1753 - Gaspare Martinelli: lead for glass. 1765 - Ercolano Roni: eggs. 1767 / 1797- Vibi: lace, wax, etc .. 1770 - Silvestro Jlartinelli has a "cossi" shop. 1770/1776 - Domenico Mavarelli: wax, lead for paints, canvas bombage . 1779/1795 - Donino Passalbuoni: shoe shop. 1776 - Burelli: "spetie", wax and shellac. 1781 - Vincenzo Mavarelli: wax. 1788 - Guerrini: wax. 1788 - Ubaldo Perugini: oil. 1791 - Alessio Vioriconi: cloth for sacks. 1792 - Girolamo Ciangottini: wax. 1794 - piazza San Francesco, a potter's shop with an adjoining furnace. 1794 - Piaggiola, shoemaker shop. 1794/1797 - “between the doors”. small square at the south-west bulwark (Tiber), the butchery shop, municipal meat resale. 1795 - 1799 - Vincenzo Mavarelh: balance bills, nails, pins, centaroles, silk buds. Taverns and hotels -Osteria della Corona "with accommodation. It was located in Piazza San Francesco, in front of the church of Santa Croce. It was owned by the Counts of Civitella Ranieri. In 1738, a Perugia cop died there, hit by a harquebus." Osteria della Staffa " , with lodging, in the street of San Giovanni, inside the castle walls.It was probably the property of Count Ranieri.There were also the taverns of Antonia Mercanti, with lodging, of Giuseppe Carocci, of Sebastiano Cesaretti. In 1721 there is "the Osteria di Pier Antonio", managed by a certain Bruscatelli. Next to it stood a "palombaro", the classic peasant house. The villa (hamlet) consisted of only these two or three houses. Nearby was the chapel of the Holy Spirit. "L'osteria della Mita" was owned by the Marquises Florenzi di Reschio, who lived in Perugia. Towards Città di Castello there was "l'osteria di Montalto", on the level of the Tiber, along the consular road from Fratta to Niccone. It belonged to the Counts Degli Oddi of Perugia, also owners of the castle of Montalto. Finally, there was "1'osteria della Nese", on the river of the same name, on the border between Perugia and Fratta. Fairs and markets Fairs were held in the first week of June and took place in the square of the church of Sant'Erasmo, also known as "il Mercatale". Only the cattle for such occasions found place in another location, usually the large municipal lawn located beyond the Tiber bridge. In Civitella Ranieri the fair took place between 20 and 25 July. In Montalto, on May 28th. The post office In the eighteenth century the Upper Tiber Valley was crossed by two services with diligence (two "mail courses", as it was then called). One came from Città di Castello and was directed to Perugia, the other departed from Montone and was also directed to Perugia: they stopped in Fratta to change horses, to pick up the mail and any passengers. These "mail courses" arrived in Fratta early in the morning, first that of Montone, then that of Città di Castello, with a delay that could be half an hour compared to the fixed time. They reached Perugia about four hours later. In addition to the "scheduled" service, there was also a special "course", for urgent community mail, called "lo sped" or "celerifero" (a kind of "priority mail). Provided by a man on horseback who brought "bolzetta" (leather bag) only the parcels of the municipality for which the departure of the diligence could not be expected the following day. Trades Oil mills There was one near the Lazzaro ditch, on the border between the "Mercatale di Sant 'Erasmo" and the area of Santa Maria. He probably also had a millstone. In 1794 it belonged to the Mazzaforti brothers who rented it for four years to Ubaldo Cambiotti. In the area there were oil mills in Cicaleto, Migianella, Monte Acuto ("Molino with its press and vine, in whose stump there are three iron circles, the millstone with its trestle and on an iron stake but with a wooden wedge" ), Racchiusole, San Patrignano. Grain mills In the "villa" of Cicaleto, in the parish of San Giuliano, property of the Camaldolese friars of Montecorona. It was located one kilometer from the Tiber river, south of Fratta and remained active until the early decades of the twentieth century. It had its own dam, the grinding wheel, the "cialandro", the hopper, the iron blades. And the "fulling machine", the mechanism for beating woolen cloths by means of large wooden hammers that were moved by the water. Other grain mills were located in Molino Vitelli, Monte Migiano, Serra "di Partuccio", San Patrignano and the abbey of San Salvatore (inside, it was called "mill of the cloister" and drew water from a ditch). I calcined In Santa Giuliana, owned by Mariangelo di Paolo. He made mortar which he sold the soma to four baiocchi. Another on the coast of Monte Acuto, belonging to the Fracassini family. Furnaces They had one Angelo di Roso and Fortunato Agostini, who in 1751 sold bricks for the facade of Santa Croce. In Carpini and Montalto, of the Degli Oddi of Perugia, owners of the castle of the same name. It was demolished by a flood of the Tiber in 1760. A bit of everything'.. Archibugieri: master Giulio Castellani, master Giuseppe and master Antonio. Gilders: Antonio Gabriotti, in 1717 gives gold to the candlesticks and carteglories of Santa Croce; Giuseppe Ferranti, from Gubbio. Silversmiths: Silvestro Angelini, from Perugia; in 1743 he sold a chalice and a silver paten to the Confraternity of Santa Croce. Bastari: Pietro Profili, Tommaso Mischianti, Giacomo Botti and Fabio Urbani. Bottari and bigonzari: Alessandro Jotti, Angelo Ciangottini, Francesco Puletti. Calzolari: were gathered in the congregation of the art of shoe-making (which had its own chapel in the church of Santa Croce, at the altar of Saints Crispino and Crispiniano, protectors of the category): Pietro di Angelo, Ubaldo Moretti, Carlo Guerrini, Donino Passalboni, Antonio Mariani. Hatters: Passalbuoni, Giuseppe Benedetti from Città di Castello. There was also a shop in Castel Nuovo. Canapari: Giovan Carlo Montanucci. Tanners: Giulio and Panfilio. Designers: Brischi, Giuseppe Notari and Giovan Pietro Gigli. Fabbri: Lorenzo and Pietro Martinelli, Carlo Francesconi, Domenico Paganelli, Raimondo Rotelli, Pier Giovanni Lestini, Francesco d'Agostino, known as "Ferraccio". At the end of the eighteenth century two blacksmith shops were in the small open space at the beginning of the road that leads to the Borgo Inferiore, immediately after the bridge over the Reggia. In 1798 Silvestro Martinelli and Vincenzo Jotti are the "officials" of the art and university of blacksmiths. Carpenters: Carlo Bolisi (1720), Ludovico Franceschini (1724), Alessandro Jotto (1753), Giovan Lorenzo Gigli (1750), Francesco Moscatelli (1745) in Pierantonio, Giuseppe Jotti (1749). Founders: Gregorio Righi, from Perugia, melts and accommodates the bells of Santa Croce in 1717. Fornari: Bartolomeo di Lorenzo, Domenico Lauri, Giovan Battista di Giulio, Bernardino Tassi, Olimpia Tassi. Carvers: Marco Batazzi, Alessandro Igi. Slaughterers: Santino, Andrea, Giuseppe Schiavini; Angelino Mavarelli, Marino Farneti. Magnani: Michele Aragoni (1698/1710). Laborers and porters: Tommaso di Francesco, Santi Paoletti. Giulio di Goro, Domenico Salvatori. Marescalchi: Antonio Mazzanti. Measurers, estimators: Fabrizio Mazzaforti (barrel meter), Lodovico Franceschini (grain meter), Alessandro Jotti (timber estimator), Antonio Brischi (wine meter), Vincenzo Mavarelli (wine estimator). Molinari: Tommaso Mancini, Giuseppe di Antonio. Masons: Giovanni, known as "Miracle", Costanzo di Cesare, Antonio di Giovan Maria, Ventura Bartoccini (master mason), Ercolano Corsini, Domenico Farneti (master mason). Mason's tools were the hammer, the spoon, the hoe for making mortar, the hammer, the lead, the archipendolo, the shovel to scornigate. Organ builders: Carlo Balducci, Pietro Forti, Orazio Fedeli. Pyrotechnicians: 1786, Francesco Natali; 1787, Bernardino Brischi Painters: Antonio Gabriotti, Francesco Leonardi, Ubaldo Vitaliani, Giuseppe Ferranti, Francesco Cocchi, Giuseppe Bertanzi. Pollaroli: Pietro known as "1'Anitraro", Giambattista. Pruners: Antonio called Sciuga, Francesco di Antonio; Francesco Scalseggia. Embroiderers: Colomba Vespucci. Tailors: Guerrini, Crestina Francesconi woman, Francesco Moriconi, Mauritio Pucci, Margherita Massi woman. Stonecutters: Francesco di Vincenzo, Lorenzo Brischi, Francesco known as "Borzicchio", Domenico Mavarelli, "il Riccio". Segatori: Giuseppe Moretti, Tommaso di Pascuccio, Belardino known as "il Regnicolo", Paolo Pieroni, Panfilio di Francesco, Paolo Ercoli. Saddler: Fabio Urbani Stucchi: Giuseppe Notari (1753, works in Santa Croce), Giovanni Cherubini. Weavers: Maria Cristina Francesconi, Aurora Roni, Elisabetta Cantelli woman, Margherita Massi woman. There are no factories, woolen mills and cloth factories. The processing is done in the homes of private citizens as many have looms. Dyer: Gerolamo Martinelli. Vasari: Francesco Fussai (1709), Giammatteo Martinelli (1742), Silvestro Martinelli, Gaetano Martinelli. Painters: Giuseppe Ferranti Carriers and couriers: Paolo Cangelotti, Marino Rotelli, Tommaso di Marco, Andrea di Ercolano, Giovanni known as "Spaterna", Pietro Simone Cicutella. Education In the eighteenth century there was a school where the first elements of reading, writing and arithmetic were taught, held by a clergyman. He was paid by the community with a salary that was, at the beginning of the century, of about twelve, fourteen scudi a year. To these were added three shields from the confraternity of Santa Croce as schoolmaster and another twenty-five that the same corresponded to him "for the chaplaincy", the task of saying masses in the chapel of the brotherhood. The employment contract was stipulated between the municipality and the master before the notary. In case of vacancy, the parents of the children signed a policy with which they agreed to pay a small sum to the municipality, in favor of the teacher. The school was located in the Borgo Inferiore, in the premises of the Confraternity of Santa Croce. At the end of the century, the master took thirty-two scudi a year from the community. In addition to this he received eight scudi from the Confraternity of Santa Croce again for the school and the "chaplaincy", to which were added the sums from other confraternities for various religious or occasional services such as musical performances on the occasion of parties. However, the annual income was sufficient for a decent standard of living. A teacher taught grammar and rhetoric for a salary of seventy scudi a year. At the end of the century this school was located in Castel Nuovo, on the premises of the former monastery of Santa Maria Nuova, purchased by the community of Fratta. In 1700 the schoolmaster was Don Pietro Cardoni, from Nocera. He lived in the two rooms above the Santa Croce hospital that the brotherhood had reserved for him. The latter retained fifteen paoli a year from the salary she paid him for the rent: thirty paoli in all, that is, three scudi. As was customary at the time, the maestro also performed the "music service" for the company of Santa Croce. In early August 1719 Cardoni resigned. Don Matteo Silvestrini took over and the brotherhood also rents the rooms above the hospital to him. In 1725 the teacher is Don Pietro Burli. In the early months of 1730 the school teacher was a certain Fabbri, but in April he was replaced by Don Innocenzo Diamanti, for four years. Then the Abbot Giovan Battista Orlandini and Don Lorenzo Meuccio. From 1741 to 1750 the masters were Don Ubaldo Balducci, Don Gerolamo Passi, Don Francesco Tosoni, Don Gaspare Mazzaforti, Don Lorenzo Pellegrini, Don Modesto Spinetti. From 1750 we find don Arcangelo Mischianti (teacher of sacred theology is fra 'Francesco Maria Calindri, guardian of the convent of San Francesco), don Alessandro Dini born in Urbania, don Matteo Tosciliani, don Paolo Costantini, don Ubaldo Menghini, don Stefano Loretti, don Angelo Mavarelli, don Antonio Giuseppe Gnagneri, don Cristiani, don Giuseppe Angelini, the canon don Paolucci. In 1787 the school teacher was Don Ercolano Mavarelli. He took four scudi a four-month period. He is a canon of the collegiate church of San Giovanni. In 1789, Father Fulgenzio Maria, a minor of the observers of the convent of Santa Maria, born in Città di Castello, was the master. In 1790 there is the canon Pecchioli followed by Don Luca Brami. We then find Don Sebastiano Riccardi and Abbot Paolo Padoni. The teaching of music It could be public and private. The first was entrusted to the chapel masters and these, having graduated in music in some school, were called and paid by the various brotherhoods and religious congregations. Their dependence explains the term "di cappella", as the brotherhoods had their headquarters in a church where they owned a chapel with an altar dedicated to their protector. The major brotherhoods, of Santa Croce and San Bernardino, had their own teacher but he did not take a salary that would guarantee him economic security; for this he also carried out occasional work at other brotherhoods and churches, managing, among other things, to earn enough to live. In addition to public teaching, there was a private one. There was the custom of entrusting a young man, from early adolescence, to a teacher who undertook, for an annual fee, to teach him instrumental music and singing and, at times, also to read and write. The boy, however, had to leave his family and move to the house of the teacher, who became father-master, staying here for the established time, about ten years. All this was agreed through a notarial deed comprising many clauses. Sources: - Renato Codovini - “History of Umbertide - Volume VI - 18th century” - Unpublished typescript. - Calendar of Umbertide 2001 - Ed. Municipality of Umbertide - 2001 (Texts by Adriano Bottaccioli - Walter Rondoni - Amedeo Massetti - Fabio Mariotti). Illustrations by Adriano Bottaccioli. Harvesting of wheat by hand (Historical photographic archive of the Municipality of Umbertide) Peasant family (Historical photographic archive of the Municipality of Umbertide) Sul paiaio (Historical photographic archive of the Municipality of Umbertide) On the ox cart (Historical photographic archive of the Municipality of Umbertide) Calesse (Historical photographic archive of the Municipality of Umbertide) 1977. La Fornace (Giuseppe Severi Archive) 1975. Trace of a potter's oven in via Bovicelli (Giuseppe Severi Archive) Glimpse of Santa Croce Agricoltura, Commercio, Mestieri e Istruzione Le chiese minori di Fratta e i proietti La chiesa di Sant'Andrea di Castelvecchio Church of Sant'Andrea di Castelvecchio The ancient temple was located at the height of the current analysis laboratory in the old hospital of Umbertide The church, of very ancient origins dating back to the early twelfth century, stood in the Upper Borgo of Fratta, called Castelvecchio, right on the spot where the old hospital was built in 1870. It had a bell tower with two bells and several altars inside. One of these, dedicated to Santa Barbara, was built in 1735 (1). Despite the long life and the prestige it had held in the hearts of the faithful of Fratta, we know little of its characteristics. We do not know its shape and we are not able to know if it kept works of a certain value within it, which is possible given the long history of the temple. If we lack certain information on its origins and its structure, we have, on the other hand, detailed information on its end which coincided with that of the eighteenth century. The collapse, in fact, began much earlier, in the year 1751, when the parish priest, Archpriest Petrogalli, informed the Bishop of Gubbio that a part of the roof was collapsing and also the wall around the bell tower was about to do the same. The authorization for the "reduction" of the church arrived and as the collapses continued, it was further reduced to become a small chapel. In this capacity it was occasionally officiated for some time and later disappeared as the seat of the services of the cult. The "reduction" works were financed with the proceeds from the sale of the main bell (2) which also made it possible to embellish the altar of the church of San Giovanni Battista, where on 15 December 1752 the painting representing Sant'Andrea, painted by Benedetto Cavallucci of Perugia. Note: 1. See Umberto Pesci, History of Umbertide, Typography R. Fruttini di Gualdo Tadino, year 1932, p. 133 et seq. 2. Archpriest Petrogalli, with the Bishop's permission granted on 10 November 1751, had sold the main bell, weighing 220 pounds, to the Philippine Fathers of Montefalco for 38 scudi. Sources: "Umbertide in the XVIII century" by Renato Codovini and Roberto Sciurpa - Municipality of Umbertide - September 2003 THE MINOR CHURCHES OF FRATTA AND THE PROJECTS The minor churches The church of the Madonna del Moro was located just outside the Borgo Inferiore, in the center of a farm owned by the Savelli family, next to the farmer's house and a well. In 1746 the farm was sold to Bernardino Dell'Uomo with all the annexes and the small chapel followed the fate of the house and the fields. The instead, the small temple of the Madonna del Giglio was located near the Borgo Superiore, in a property of Donna Pellegrini Stella, widow of Giovan Francesco Paolucci. The lady contributed to the maintenance of the chapel with the sum of five scudi a year. On 16 September 1730 she made her will and ordered that, after her death, the heir, who was her nephew, Captain Giovan Tommaso Paolucci, should continue to pay the contribution. In the market area there was a small chapel, also called Chiesina del Boccaiolo , dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. The news comes from very few lines of a notarial deed (1) . The church, which we do not know precisely where it was, was enlarged by Marcantonio Stella who did not have it as a property, but was obliged to maintain it as well as to have one mass said a month and six masses on the 10th. December each year. In front of the church of Sant'Agostino, before entering the Piazza del Mercatale, on the left, stood the Monastery of Santa Maria Nuova with the chapel of Santa Lucia attached to it. When the Monastery was suppressed on July 21, 1787, it continued to be open to worship. It was also called the "church of the blacksmiths" because that corporation had obtained it for use by the Municipality, which in 1787 had become the owner of the entire former monastery. Towards the end of the century, in 1790, it underwent substantial maintenance work for an amount of 140 scudi advanced by Lorenzo Vibi. The intervention suggests that the chapel was still officiated. There is little news about the church of Calatola . It was located in the homonymous farm word, above the hill where the Bertanzi house stands (Villa Pace). The chapel almost certainly belonged to the same family. Church of Sant 'Agostino Shortly before entering Piazza del Mercatale (Piazza Marconi), to the right of whoever descends from Piaggiola, stood the convent of Sant'Agostino and the church of the same name, right in the center of Castelnuovo. The temple was regularly officiated by the Augustinian Fathers who had the responsibility and care of it; it housed several altars, including one dedicated to Sant'Antonio, and communicated with the premises of the convent in the west. Above the ceiling of the church there were two large rooms and on the north side, between the road to Montone and the apse, there was a vegetable garden cultivated by the friars. The church was a thriving center of religious life and faith as long as the Augustinians who were its soul remained there, but when they left Fratta, the church also took second place. The convent, in fact, was suppressed and in 1738 its property, which also included that of the church, passed to the Municipality. The Judiciary of Fratta, in the same year, asked the Bishop of Gubbio for authorization to sell the buildings adjacent to the church. The permission was granted especially since the transfer was destined to remain "in the parish" because the buyer was a priest, Don Silvestro Fanfani, who offered 110 scudi. It was a forced choice since the administrators needed cash to pay the salary of the school teacher, since for several years and after numerous attempts, they had not been able to rent those premises. The church, which showed signs of subsidence in the wall along the road, was the subject of a careful restoration with the construction of a sturdy support spur. Towards the middle of the century, therefore, it was still officiated and was entrusted to the Company of Death. Note: 1) The deed reads: "Remembrance of the faculty given by Mr. Giambattista Bartolelli from Città di Castello to the late Marcantonio Stella of this land to enlarge and expand the church of the Madonna SS.ma di Loreto in the Market. Deed of the notary Michelangelo Cenni di Gubbio , on 15 September 1690, without reserve of patronage ". The projectiles (foundlings) One of the many painful problems of the century, of the previous ones and also of the following one, was the plague of projectiles (or foundlings, or exposed). There were many, more than one can imagine, and in some cases, in addition to the doors of convents, churches and hospitals, where newborns were usually abandoned, revolving drums were also put into operation, communicating with some convent, to to deposit defenseless children, wrapped in poor clothes as best they can. Also in Fratta there was one (1) , near the “scortico”, in the inter portas square that led to the Tiber bridge. It was called "The wheel of the exposed". The painful phenomenon had deep social roots and did not bear the signs of the scarcity of the maternal sense. The mere thought of such a hypothesis would be an offense to feelings and history. The mother was certainly the first person to feel the agony of the dramatic detachment and to swallow drops of daily bitterness at the thought that the fruit of her breast would grow without affection and without caresses. But in a society such as the eighteenth century, in which infant mortality reached very high levels even in the most affluent families, and the darkest poverty gripped a large part of the population, the abandonment of one's creature to a destiny that was hoped to be generous with better assistance, paradoxically it could represent an act of love or, at the very least, an extra hope of survival. History hides, pitiful and discreet, a series of sufferings and dramas that have not touched the palaces of power, the only archives that an ancient and widespread historiographic theory has carefully consulted in its partial research. The Fratta projectiles were taken to Perugia, to the Misericordia hospital, which then sent them to Assisi, where Mons. Caracciolo, since 1739, had created a special hospice. The transport to Perugia, for the weak newborn, already represented a heap of hardships, especially in the winter period, but for the insiders it was a normal practice to be carried out, governed by a series of strict provisions, behaviors and remunerations. (25 baiocchi per trip, for the coachman). Several had to arrive in Perugia if the Prior of that city, on May 14, 1741, sent a recommendation to the Confraternity of Santa Croce which had asked for information on the matter. The letter was long, but we report the most pleasant part, to soften the tints of the drama: "In response from the highly esteemed Loro Loro around the reception and transfer of the Proietti from there to this Hospital of Perugia, there is no difficulty in bringing us those who were born in this Territory of Fratta to be this of the Territory of Perugia, only the diligence remains that they are not from another nearby Territory, or from Città di Castello, or from Gubbio, that these have their Hospitals and there is the order of Monsignor Caracciolo, as they will see to the notification sent to them, as well as being careful that they do not take legitimacy and comply in everything with those orders, to which the due penalties are imposed ". With all the good will it was difficult to establish the provenance and territorial belonging of the projectiles, and if we had some certainty about it, they would no longer be such. Those in charge of this sector did everything they could to entrust them to some local nurse who nursed them in the very first days of life, before making the journey to Perugia, but the death records are pitiless. In 1753 one of them was entrusted to the Briganti family of Polgeto: “Luigi dies, of an uncertain father and mother, ten days old, handed over to Veronica Briganti on January 21st”; "On February 18, 1753 Anna dies, of uncertain father and mother, handed over to Veronica Martinelli to nurse her on February 11"; "On May 9 Maria dies, of uncertain father and mother, handed over to Veronica Martinelli to breastfeed her". And the list goes on, but we prefer to stop here. Just to give an example, in the parish of Sant'Erasmo alone, in 1710, five were collected in front of the church door and six in 1720, to refer only to two years of a religious community that had 600 souls. Note: 1. There was also another one next to the convent of Santa Maria Nuova. The gardener who cultivates the adjacent garden testifies that it was visible until the end of the 1950s. Sources: "Umbertide in the XVIII century" by Renato Codovini and Roberto Sciurpa - Municipality of Umbertide, 2003 PROCUREMENT AND PUBLIC PROPERTIES Procurement Almost all of the taxes were contracted out to a debt collector through a regular competition. The obligation was introduced in 1729 by an Edict of Pope Benedict XIII which remained in force for a large part of the following century. The method used for the award was that of the "virgin candle" described in detail in another volume (1). Some contracts were extraordinary and remained in existence for the duration of the tax, as we have seen for the passage tax; others were fixed because the sector of activity subjected to the tax was permanent, such as that of supplies and some services, and were renewed every three years. They constituted the most reliable and most substantial income for the Municipality. All citizens duly informed by the notice of the announcement posted on the door of the Municipality and by the Balio tubatore could participate in the conduct of the race who, after scraping a few rings of tuba, read the main heads of the announcement through the streets of the castle and in the squares inter portas. In a council meeting of May 27, 1747 the contracts were discussed and thanks to it we were able to know not only which and how many there were, but also the amount that we wanted to obtain. We report them in the same order in which they were exhibited at that meeting: 1. Public Oven Contract 2. Tender for the Land Stamp 3. Procurement of the Carne Stamp 4. Public Slaughterhouse Contract 5. Procurement of the Damage Given 6. Contract of the Salara 7. Oil shop contract 8. Procurement of Measures 9. Procurement of Wood 10. Contract of the Stabbio 11. Procurement of the Foietta 12. Cenciaria contract 13. Tiber Wood Contract. Procurement of the oven The public oven belonged to the Municipality which did not manage it directly, but gave it to contract. In truth, in some short periods of the century, for reasons that escape us, the system of direct management was adopted. We can only exclude that they were of an economic nature, since the average annual gain obtained with self-management was about 40 scudi, while the contract yielded 90. Self-management lost 50 net scudi, to which they were owed add all the management hassles and worries. The contractor, in fact, in addition to the bread making was forced to provide for the purchase of the grain, its grinding; to the wood for the oven, all at his expense, and finally to the bread trade. It was a job that took a lot, especially in an era when there were still no electric ovens, special yeasts and various types of flour already packaged. The frequent change of management of the oven, moreover, indicates that the profit margins were not flattering. In 1710 the contract, always three years, was in the hands of a certain Pietro Antonio Marcellini who had inherited it from Ercolano Fanfani and Giovanni Antonio Agostini. The most lasting management was the one that goes from 1770 to 1781 held by Giovanni Antonio Agostini, perhaps a descendant of the manager we met at the beginning of the century. In the five-year period 1787/1791 the Municipality almost certainly managed it on its own with the results we have illustrated. In the following year the contract was won by Ubaldo Perugini. Towards the end of the century, in 1793, there was an attempt at competition by the Count of Civitella who was determined to open a bakery on the border of his county with the territory of the Municipality of Fratta, right at the point where today Viale Unità d ' Italia intersects with Via Roma, in the place then called Case Nuove. Giuseppe Palchetti had to manage it. The new exercise would have represented a serious blow to the public oven because Civitella did not apply duties to the activities inside its territory. The matter was resolved haphazardly in a meeting between the Count and the First Prior, at the end of which it was decided that things would remain as before. Procurement of the land stamp Even in those days whoever temporarily occupied the public land had to pay a tax to the Municipality. The most typical and recurrent case was that of the itinerant trade. As usual, the Camerlengo did not directly collect the sum and the entire sector was given out on a three-year contract to the highest bidder. In the middle of the century the contract yielded 38 scudi a year. Procurement of the meat and slaughterhouse stamp All the beasts had to be "skinned" at the slaughterhouse. The skins were then left to dry in the sun and the meat, cut into pieces, was subjected to the stamp by the "Bollatore delle Carni". The stamp was a guarantee of safety for the consumer and also of quality among the various types of meat (ox, cow, veal, sheep, mutton, pork, etc.), but above all a tax expedient. The Bollatore was the one who had won the three-year tender and not a veterinarian. Its only role was to withdraw the stamp duties from the butchers and to pay the Municipality an annual fee that was between 30 and 140 scudi per year. The slaughterhouse was also subject to the same regime. This is obviously the public slaughterhouse that the Municipality kept open for calming purposes, while the private butcher had fulfilled his obligation with the payment of the stamp on the meat. The management of the public slaughterhouse was subject to the normal procurement procedure and the winner undertook to pay a fee that averaged around 35 scudi per year (2). In addition to being a contract, the relationship could be configured as a "slaughterhouse rental", but the rules and procedures followed were those of contracts and not those of leases. Since they had to carry out the control function, the prices were agreed with the Municipality. Castrato, for example, had to be sold for 4 baiocchi (twenty quattrini) a pound, but from the first Sunday of Lent until the feast of St. John (24 June) it had to be sold for 21 quattrini a pound. Cow, sheep and goat meat sold for 12 quattrini a pound. The regulation of the contract of 1782 required that during the Christmas holidays all meat had to undergo a reduction, in line with the "social" function that the public slaughterhouse performed. Contract for the damage given and the deposit of the pawns The contractor was responsible for the surveillance and protection of public, movable and immovable property. When they were damaged ("damage given"), his task was to report the person responsible to the Commissioner Judge and to collect the compensation established, if the dispute had not been settled by amicable means. Part of the sum (usually a third) was due to him and the other part was paid into the coffers of the Municipality. It was a type of contract whose revenue was unpredictable and for this reason it was entrusted to the same contractor as the Depositeria dei Pegni, or Monte dei Pegni, as it was more commonly called. Debtors who could not meet their financial obligations often resorted to them, in the absence of the banks, to deposit an object of value and receive a sum in cash. At the set deadline, the depositary withdrew the pledge by paying the amount received with the interest and deposit rights. If this did not happen, as it often did, the pledge remained the property of the contractor who arranged for the sale and withheld the proceeds. The contractor had to have a fair amount of cash to secure the loans and had to be a skilled trader to make the valuation of the assets deposited. The contract paid the Municipality 6 scudi per year approximately. Contract for the salary, oil shop and grocery store Salt was a kind of monopoly in the Papal State and the sales regime was subject to government regulations. The purchase had to take place in the official "Salara", which for the Fratta Community was that of Perugia, or of Fossombrone, Iesi, Fabriano or Ancona, if it did not have one. The amount of the withdrawal was fixed at 36,000 pounds per year, and the local salary was also to serve the municipalities of Preggio, “Castelrigone”, the Badia di Monte Corona, “Pier Antonio” and Pian di Ronzano. For retail outlets, the usual procurement system was used, which in this specific case had a duration of two years, and the "Minister of the Salara", as the contractor was also called (3), had the strict obligation to cover the entire needs of the territory under its jurisdiction, since salt is an indispensable element of very large consumption. With the “Salara”, but in separate tenders, the oil shop and the grocery store were also contracted out. In the first, edible oil was sold and in the second, cured meats, lard and lard, salted meats and cheese. The prices of the products were set by the Defenders and had to be clearly visible on a sign posted in the shop. While we do not know how much the Community earned with the salt contract, the oil shop and the grocery store yielded 20 scudi a year (8 scudi for oil and 12 for other products). Procurement of weight measurements The possibility of weighing quantities of goods over 50 pounds was an exclusive prerogative that belonged to the Nobile Collegio del Cambio of Perugia, which held the monopoly right in this sector. Not being able to exercise it directly, the Noble College contracted it out to the various communities and these, in turn, to a local contractor through the usual tender procedure. "The large steelyard", as the scale was called, was considered a "public weigher" and the receipt issued attested not only the payment of the rights, but also the exact weight of the goods, to be asserted in court in case of disputes. The large steelyard belonged to the Municipality, which had to comply with all the provisions issued by the Collegio del Cambio and the Congregation of the Good Government (CBG) of Perugia. Even private individuals could equip themselves with a similar instrument, which had to be "stamped" by the contractor, that is, subjected to the control and payment of a tax, and was not valid in the event of a dispute, nor could it be lent to others, under penalty of seizure of the "steelyard". Weights under 50 pounds were carried out in all the shops of the time and in private homes, but the scales, in addition to the stamp duty, were subjected to bi-monthly checks. Other contracts Anyone wishing to bring firewood into the village had to pay a tax to the contractor as a "right of entry". The parcels were different in relation to the type of transport that could take place “a some”, that is, on the back of a donkey or mule, or in larger quantities of wagons. Payment in kind was also envisaged with the deposit of a piece of wood next to the entrance door to the castle. Generally the wood came from the cutting of the woods, but there was - also the “del Ponte” one, that is all the trunks that the floods of the Tiber piled up close to the pylons of the bridge. All this material that formed a kind of dam, with a lot of practical sense and foresight, was removed and sold on a systematic basis. Most of the time the contractor was unique, but the " wood of the Bridge " could have a different one from the official one. The streets of the town were haunted by the passage of beasts which, not being angels, deposited their excrements along the way, without much modesty. In an economic system in which nothing was thrown away and everything was recycled, even the “pen” was a useful material. The Municipality contracted out the collection and sale to the highest bidder who, in addition to making a profit, kept the streets of the town clean. The same thing happened with the rags whose collection was contracted out (contract by the cenciaria). The rags then ended up in Fabriano, where a thriving processing industry had existed since then. The pleasure of the "drop" of wine seems to have ancient origins and even goes back to Noah. For the taxman there could not have been a better opportunity. Thus the innkeepers and innkeepers who sold the wine by the minute had to pay the “foietta” tax. Even fishing, in the stretch of the river along the walls, did not escape the tax burden and the fishermen had to pay a kind of "license" to the contractor on duty. These latter contracts did not represent large revenues for the Community. The tax on the fishing license, for example, paid the municipality a shield a year. We do not know about the others, but we are inclined to believe that municipal finances could not be raised with rags, stabbing and wood. Various revenue A few more shields entered the anemic municipal coffers through the leasing of land, of the Shiites, of the houses and shops of public property, but it was very little. The sale of the crushed stone of the Tiber, the foliage of the poplars ( albaroni ), of the willows, of the elms and above all of the morigelsi, planted along the roads and the banks of the waterways, also gave some shields. The breeding of silkworms was widely practiced, even in small quantities in common houses, not to mention the massive production of maggots that were found in the area. The recycled materials of the renovated public properties were also sold, such as bricks, beams, tiles and bent tiles. The Rocca enjoyed direct financing from Perugia of 45 scudi a year, intended for the maintenance costs of the building and the entire complex of the castle walls . There were also chancellery rights at that time and those who needed declarations, certifications or copies of deeds were subjected to the payment of the expected fee. In any case, the proceeds deriving from the various items of income were very often not sufficient to cover the expenses of the Community and recourse to the loan was a constant practice even in those times. As there were no public credit institutions, private individuals were used, which were mostly religious communities. The loan was always guaranteed with the stipulation of a written deed, often with the endorsement of a guarantor and sometimes also with the deposit of a pledge by the guarantor himself. It happened that the Municipality had credits to collect, but they did not constitute an additional income, but the recovery of taxes not paid at the time by the defaulting taxpayer. Public properties In the century in question, the concept of "inventory" did not exist and therefore we do not have a detailed list of municipal property. From the various documents examined, however, it can be deduced that the patrimonial situation of the Municipality was approximately the following: L. Since 1725 there was a community of Monte Acuto with land on the coast of San Giovanni. We do not know for sure what the relationship between the Comunanza and the Municipality of Fratta was, but it is possible that it was a municipal property sold for use to farmers in the area. 2. In 1738 the Municipality became the owner of the church, the building, the gardens and the farm of the former convent of Sant'Agostino. The farm word “ Sant'Agostino ” had an area of 18 mines and three tables; farmhouse, cellar, barn and oven. The rent paid the Municipality 10 scudi a year paid in "two pays", that is, in two half-yearly installments. 3. In 1766 the Municipality owned the "shop of the bridge" which was located in the south-west bastion, that is in the small inter portas square near the bridge over the Tiber. It was rented to Silvestro Somigli with land under the public oven. 4. All the shiites under the castle walls were municipal property and also the environments in which commercial activities of public utility were carried out: oven, salary, flaying. 5. The seat of the municipal residence belonged to the Municipality, namely the Palazzo in the Rocca square and, subsequently, the former Convent of Santa Maria Nuova. 6. A house located in via San Giovanni di Bartolomeo Petrogalli was purchased by the Municipality in 1780. 7. Some registrations of 1798 certify that the following assets are sources of income for the Municipality, and therefore owned by it: • a vegetable garden attached to the municipal house; • a cellar under the municipal house; • a vegetable garden above the castle walls and under the Bruni house; • a vegetable garden in the word Porta Nova; • two pieces of land under the fortress; • two pieces of land at Boccaiolo, under the castle walls; • a shop known as the "old slaughterhouse"; • a large number of mori-mulberry trees on the municipal skies. Note: 1. For the same reason, Montone had to pay 2,500 scudi (Ascani A., Storia di Montone). The news is interesting because it can be deduced that at that time the territory of Fratta was smaller than that of Montone. 2. For the sake of completeness, we report the names of the contractors that result from the records in the Archives: 1774/76 Angelo Mavarelli, 1776 Angelo Nardi from Fiesole, 1779 Gismondo Contadini. 3. In 1745 the contractor was Mattia Degli Arrighi. After him the post was taken on by Bernardino Dell'Uomo. Sources: "Umbertide in the XVIII century" by Renato Codovini and Roberto Sciurpa - Municipality of Umbertide, 2003 Gli appalti e le proprietà pubbliche THE TIBER, THE BRIDGES, THE CASTLE WALLS Work on the area after the bridge The Tiber, silent and lazy, in some circumstances also knew how to be noisy and violent, so much so that, over the course of the century, it caused considerable damage to the banks and the castle walls. The banks along the Montalto area were the hardest hit, in particular the right one where the road to Città di Castello passed. The biggest damage occurred in 1760 when a brick kiln belonging to Count Degli Oddi, then owner of the castle of Montalto, and a long stretch of road were swept away by the current. "The city of Perugia, with the assistance of Mr. Domenico Tickets, factor of the castellano Degli Oddi, made a new road and built a double brush in the place of corrosion ..." But the most dangerous damage occurred to the north and south of the Fratta bridge, right along the castle walls. The river bed then followed a slightly different path, and upstream of the bridge, due to the erosions accumulated over time, the Tiber described a wide loop between the fields, moving away from the primitive route parallel to the road that corresponds to the current one. The current of the waters coming from the north direction rushed through the area of the bridge and threatened to dig an autonomous path, cutting the road and bypassing it on the right bank of the river. In 1758 the erosion reached only fifteen meters from the route of the via tifernate and the risk seemed to materialize with the breakthrough downstream. Fortunately, the phenomenon stopped, otherwise serious troubles would have been produced: the weakened castle defenses, the dry bridge, the compromised weir and large expenses for the adaptation of urban infrastructures to the new route (mills, public wash house, gardens and sewer system ). Therefore, a serious reorganization of the banks was urgent and the first systematic interventions began in 1753. In that year, the Sacred Congregation of the Waters of Perugia sent the engineer Antonio Felice Facci to Val di Chiana, then a marshy area, to carry out no better specified remarks. And since the Fratta was along the route, the technician was also in charge of examining the state of the banks of the Tiber around the castle. On the outward journey he stopped for two days, taking lodging at the Staffa tavern (1) at the expense of the Municipality; on his return trip, on February 17, 1753, he stopped again for three days, always in the same inn and always at the expense of the Municipality. We do not know the report that the engineer presented to the competent Authorities, but something concrete certainly suggested, if at the beginning of 1754 the first expense reports for works of a certain consistency appearing on the right bank of the Tiber, north of the bridge. . The trick used was to reinforce the bank with a palisade of large beams embedded in the ground and connected by thick planks behind which stones and bundles of glass were stowed. The "club" was also ingeniously built to drive the beams into the ground. It consisted of a castle of wooden planks from which a heavy oak trunk was lowered, shod at the edges, which hit the head of the pole. After each stroke the log was hoisted up again by six workers who pulled a sturdy rope wrapped in a pulley and the strokes were repeated until the desired depths were reached. All the timber was supplied by the Camaldolese of Monte Corona. The costs of the works, including technicians' fees, travel and reimbursement of expenses, reached high levels and in 1755 provisional tolls were imposed on every animated being who crossed the bridge. The table of tax levies has come down to us and we are reporting it for information for our readers. Surprisingly, they also paid the people at a rate equivalent to pigs, for reasons of weight and nothing else. People, 3 cash per person per day Beast unloads, cash 6 Charged beast, money 12 Horse-drawn carriage or wagon, baiocchi 4 Pigs, 3 bucks each Sheep, castrated and goats, 2 money each Vaccine, money 6 each In the same year there were important visits. The engineer of the Municipality of Perugia, Pietro Carattoli, the engineer of the Sacred Congregation of Waters, Antonio Felice Facci and a Jesuit, certain Father Ippolito, came to "recognize the state of erosion, draw up the map of the place and check the works". Syrians. The works continued uninterrupted throughout the year and beyond, so much so that on June 22, 1756 another inspection arrived, that of Don Pietro Tassinari. The monsignor left, on 10 July the Tiber organized another ruinous flood which, in addition to damaging the sheltered banks, took away a good quantity of planks stowed in the yard, later recovered in Ponte Felcino. The flood in July made it clear that the defense of the banks alone was not enough to prevent damage and around the sick area the commitment of the administration and technicians for more radical solutions intensified, with surprising timeliness. In March 1758, the engineer of the Municipality of Perugia, Pietro Carattoli, came back to Fratta and drew a new plan of the area in which the construction of an artificial canal was planned to bring the river back to its original layout, parallel to the road, so that close to the city walls it made a bend of 90 ° sufficient to harness the violence of the floods. The works began immediately in May and were almost finished by the end of June (2) . The work gave the desired effect: not only did it lighten the places from the damage of erosion, but the river immediately began to flow in a stable and definitive way in that riverbed which is still its natural bed today. Other floods occurred in 1773 and 1778 which threatened the Tifernate road and the Cistercian mill, but the works carried out considerably limited the damage. The use of manpower was massive and also involved women. Their task was to find the stones to be placed inside the "baskets", a kind of wicker containers, which were used by the workers in charge of sheltering the banks to stabilize the river embankments. The papers tell us that they were 19 and they received six baiocchi a day, almost as much as men. There was also a large group of woodcutters to saw the beams and boards, a team of cable workers to work the hemp and weave the ropes and ribs (sturdy bands of canvas), a handful of men who took care of the poles and these, in all likelihood, they must have been the workers at the poles of the castle of the mace, and a series of other figures of workers and artisans such as carters, masons, shovellers, etc. The most urgent and imposing works for the arrangement of the banks and to avoid damage to the castle were certainly those to the north of the bridge, but the intervention to the south was also necessary and in this sense, since 1752 (3 ), repeated requests were made which had no effect. In 1758, once the work to the north was completed, the pushes began again to fix the stretch of river from the bridge to the Schioppe, the cliff that was then also called "Punta della Genga" (4) . The practice went on very slowly due to evident contrasts between the Municipality, the frontists and the Perugian authorities who had to grant authorization to proceed, as well as an economic contribution. Since 1757 the three frontists - the friars of the convent of San Francesco, the Paolucci family and Count Ranieri di Civitella - had taken steps on their own to stem the banks along their properties. They were even willing to intervene on their own even in the most critical point of the situation, that is, at the mouth of the Palace into the Tiber, with the construction of a masonry "spur" or "guardian". The Municipality, although not very convinced of the solution, agreed because "you don't look a gift horse in the mouth", but Perugia rejected the proposal because it would have worsened the situation. On the contrary, the Sacred Congregation of Waters also contested the works of arrangement of the banks already carried out, inviting the frontists to demolish them. The result was a technical-juridical controversy which lasted for years and which had the sole result of paralyzing every initiative until 1789, when hostilities resumed. This time the experts came forward. The Municipality of Fratta, the city of Perugia and the Camaldolese friars (owners of the land on the right bank of the Tiber) chose Pietro Casimiro Fagliuoli as their expert; the convent of San Francesco, Paolucci and Count Ranieri commissioned the archpriest Don Bartolomeo Borghi, a great expert on the subject. But even the experts did not find an agreement and decided to resort to the arbitration of a well-known professional, a certain Virgilio Bracci, architect and engineer of the Sacred Congregation of the Good Government of Rome, who in those days was in Perugia. The meeting "in spite of the place" took place on 25 October 1789, in the presence of the archpriest Borghi and the abbot Luigi Pacini representing Fagliuoli. After two days of discussions, the dispute ended at the table with the lunch offered by the Camaldolese and a transaction was signed. It was a platonic agreement only because the commitments were never honored. Only two years later, the signed pacts were resumed with the decision to build at the mouth of the Reggia that triangular spur that the wise frontists had already designed in 1757. But when the work began, the Congregation of Waters of Perugia, still allergic to spurs, made it known that it did not intend to participate in the costs as it was due only to the frontists. One thing finally became clear: if the agreed works were to be carried out, the three owners had to bear all the expenses and the engineer Cristoforo Bartoli was promptly sent from Perugia to establish the boundaries of the land and share the shares. The bridges La Fratta was a fortress completely surrounded by water and the bridges were the only means of connection and communication with the surrounding area. Not only that, but since the surrounding countryside is crossed by the Tiber, the Royal Palace and the Carpina, other crossing systems were necessary to join the banks of the waterways and allow greater ease of movement and traffic in the fertile plain that it crossed. the valley. In some cases, considering the costs of a bridge, we relied on the ferry boats, but the Fratta was quite lucky and, in its immediate vicinity, had safe and stable tolls in masonry or wood. The bridge over the Tiber was a masterpiece of engineering, technique and aesthetic taste. It rested on three arches, which constitute the coat of arms of the Municipality of Umbertide and, even after the demolition of the drawbridge of the Porta Saracina, it had not lost its beauty and grandeur. Two sturdy doors guarded its entrances and the small church of Carmelo, located above the central pillar of the valley, invited peace and prayer when the road was all slower. The year of its construction is to be found between 1571 and 1588, at the will of the "Company of the Madonna della Reggia and Madonna del Ponte", entrepreneur of the two aforementioned sites (5) . Another bridge, the one over the Reggia stream in front of the Collegiate Church, played an important role in the town's economy. It connected Montone, the entire plain below and the Borgo Superiore with the center of Fratta and was also open to heavy traffic of animals and wagons. Its structural conditions were precarious because it was all made of wood with the exception of the two masonry heads on which the beams rested. The passage presented some difficulties because the bridge was narrow and without banks and on several occasions the Reggia had the bad taste of giving a few pieces to the Tiber. The spending resolutions for the restoration work were recurring, so much so that on April 4, 1770 the City Council decided to build it from scratch. The work was entrusted to Giovanni Tomassini, a Swiss from Lugano who lived in Gubbio, for a hundred baiocchi. The entrepreneur was known to Fratta because the previous year he had renovated the facade and the interior of the church of San Bernardino to the satisfaction of those who had commissioned the work. The new, wider bridge had sturdy sides and was suitable for carrying greater loads. It offered all the prerequisites of comfort, stability and safety. In the last years of the century the Judiciary of Fratta launched the project for the construction of a second bridge over the Reggia, the one that was to connect the center of the town with the Collegiate Church through a nave of the church of San Giovanni. The bridge will be built in 1807, but the first projects and intervention plans date back to 1794. In the surroundings, then, there were secondary but equally important bridges, such as the bridge over the ditch of Lazzaro and the one over the Fonte Santa. The latter, completely rebuilt in 1799. Further north, on the Montonese road, there was an ancient bridge over the Carpina built since 1294. To these bridges outside the castle must be added those that directly linked the area within the walls with the outside, such as the Piaggiola bridge, which allowed to cross the moat and access the Porta della Campana, and the bridge over the Reggia which allowed access to the Borgo Inferiore (Piazza San Francesco area). The Rocca had a drawbridge that descended over the Reggia and put it in communication with the lawn in front of it. In 1787 it still existed and was used. A note dated 3 September, signed by the Municipal Secretary Giambattista Burelli, stated: “Mr. dr. Giuseppe Paolucci Camerlengo to pay Angelo Gigli paoli four for refurbishment of the drawbridge of the Rocca, which with receipt are forty baiocchi ”. The walls of the Castle The most natural and spontaneous defense system among the ancients was to surround the castle, the village or the city with a robust wall. Sometimes ditches filled with water, palisades or other similar devices were also used in order to curb the impetus of the enemies and immobilize them in front of the obstacle in order to hit them with greater ease and precision from above. The walls therefore were born with the first urban settlements and have developed and strengthened with them, following their historical evolution. On more than one occasion, particularly in large cities, their successive and concentric walls are evident documents of population growth and urban sprawl. The castle of Fratta had only one wall of walls, robust and compact and nature had also endowed it with the natural defense of the water of the Tiber river and the Reggia stream in the area of its confluence with the older brother. Its inhabitants had built an artificial moat in the short stretch free from water, making the castle a fortified islet, with stone edges, among the safest in the area for very long centuries. The maintenance and repair of the city walls was always a meticulous commitment for the inhabitants and administrators of all times, well aware that it was a priority asset, essential for the survival of the community. For the Fratta the part most exposed to the wear and tear of the corrosive pressure of the waters was the stretch along the course of the Tiber. On several occasions it had suffered damage and had recourse to repairs, but the flood of 1736 was particularly devastating. He dragged out 1,600 square feet of walls and four houses that stood on them. The appraisal, immediately prepared for the repair of the damage, established the total amount of expenses at 1,032 scudi. It was a high figure that the local community, alone, could not have met and the Pope was turned to for the granting of an extraordinary contribution. Clement XII declared himself willing to provide 500 scudi on condition that the other 532 provided the inhabitants. And so it was. Having found the money, the reconstruction machine started with the purchase of the necessary material and the preparation of the construction site. The contract for the work fell to Bartolomeo Ferrati of Rome (6) and the direction was entrusted to Cesare Francesconi della Fratta. The excavation of the foundations began on 15 September 1739. Some financing problems arose immediately because at the end of the year the Pope had not yet granted the promised contribution. The Defenders of Fratta approached the representative of the community in Rome, a certain Mariotti, to act as intermediary for the handling of the file. We do not know if the choice was happy, the fact is that Mariotti made it known that "... the Pope was in a very bad state and almost sent to the doctors", taking care to add that if he died it would be more difficult to get the contribution and advised to get busy quickly, as if in the Roman Curia there were no offices in charge of dealing with the commitments undertaken, regardless of the Pope's health. Mariotti certainly did not have those "entrances" that his fellow citizens attributed to him and for which they paid him and he suggested asking others what they had rightly asked of him. It often happens that when you need a favor, the person you are addressing, instead of giving us a hand, submerges us under a heap of thoughtful advice, thankfully free. One thing, however, got it right: Clement XII died on February 16, 1740. A few years later, Mariotti was replaced by Giacomo Guadagni, a more authoritative and introduced Abbot who moved with greater agility in the offices of the Quirinale. The papers do not tell us what happened to the Pope's contribution that certainly arrived, otherwise we would have found traces of increased taxes in subsequent years and also on the reconstructed walls a plaque was affixed with the inscription "Clement XII - Pontiff Maximus - MDCCXXXIX" ( 1739) which testifies to a direct economic intervention by the Pope. The building intervention gave stability and safety to our walls precisely in that stretch where the thrust of the current was greatest, at the beginning of the sudden swerve of about ninety degrees that the Tiber makes before passing under the bridge. The abrupt change of direction makes us guess the nature of the ground below at that point. The castle of Fratta rises on a resistant conglomerate base that forces the Tiber to deviate its course in an almost unnatural way. Its consistency, as well as ensuring stability to the urban center and its walls, protects the buildings and their basements from the infiltration of humidity typical of the most permeable soils. The notarial deeds relating to the sale of properties located along the walls describe in a precise manner their characteristics and the neighboring strip of land. All the houses with the front in Via Diritta, in the rear part, bordered the fence, the municipal skids and the walls. The fence was not attached to the houses, but was separated from them for logistical reasons. Between it and the back of the houses ran a strip of land that formed a street or path. Later, in the west of the castle, the path will become Via delle Petresche and then Via Spunta. The space between the fence and the walls constituted, on the other hand, the "municipal shito", publicly owned which, in the distant past, was used for military defense purposes. At the beginning of the century, however, construction began on this area, reaching as far as the walls. The four houses that the flood of 1736 demolished are clear proof of this. The following graph reconstructs the characteristics of the castle walls. The design was made on the basis of what the notary Filippo Maria Savelli, della Fratta affirms, on 12 March 1768 in his notarial deed relating to the sale of a house. Note: 1. It is the only reference we have about the existence of this inn. In all likelihood it is the one that will be managed by Romitelli in the following century. 2. In a letter dated June 24, 1758 it is said: "... the work of the new cut is carried out almost to an excellent end". 3. Between 1752 and 1758 five reminder letters were written which can be found in the Augusta Library in Perugia among the "papers of Pietro Giacomo Mariotti". 4. The genga is a limestone rock for which the expression is scientifically more correct than others to indicate a cliff. It is used in the report of the engineer Cristoforo Bartoli of 1791 and in a notarial deed of the notary Giovan Battista Burelli, also of 1791. 5. In 1571 the Depositary of the “Company of the Madonna della Reggia (see the book Revenue and Expenses 1565/1571) and of the Madonna del Ponte” paid for some materials taken to accommodate (prepare) the pylon on which the church will have to support. In the year 1588, another recording tells us that a painting already existing in the Majesty which was at the beginning of the bridge is brought to the said Chapel. On that day the Confessor reminds us that the Chapel was not yet finished. In fact, it does not appear even in the drawing by Piccolpasso, dated 1565. 6. The Roman master mason came with a team made up of two masons and two unskilled workers (apprentices). He perceived in all (daily) paoli 14.50 (equivalent to scudi 1.45, i.e. baiocchi 145) divided by him as follows: baj 75 for him, baj 25 for each bricklayer and baj 10 for each boy, for a daily total of 145 baiocchi. Sources: "Umbertide in the XVIII century" by Renato Codovini and Roberto Sciurpa - Municipality of Umbertide - Gesp, 2003 Il Tevere, i ponti, le mura del Castello IL SISTEMA ELETTORALE COMUNALE Al centro della vita democratica del tempo c'era un bussolotto che faceva girare le palle. Di esso abbiamo ampiamente parlato in un altro volume, al quale rimandiamo il lettore per evitare di ripeterci. Qui esporremo solo le procedure tipiche dell'epoca, avvertendo che quanto diremo è il resoconto del rinnovo del Bussolo del 17 luglio 1783: "Rinnovare il Bussolo" era sinonimo di "predisporre la lista virtuale" di coloro che avrebbero dovuto amministrare il pubblico bene per i due anni successivi. Alla fine di ogni biennio esso veniva "rinnovato", inserendo nella cavità delle palle di legno poste al suo interno, un foglietto con i nominativi degli uomini destinati all'incarico. Non si trattava di eleggere solo i Difensori, che duravano in carica quattro mesi, ma anche i Consultori della Sanità, un triumvirato del primo Ceto con incarico biennale; i Sindacatori (Sindaci Revisori), una coppia con incarico annuale; i Terminatori e Stimatori (Quasi sicuramente si trattava di persone esperte nei confini catastali e nelle valutazioni dei beni mobili e immobili. Dopo la metà del secolo lentamente scompaiono), un'altra coppia con incarico biennale; i Portinari, due custodi, uno per la porta sud e l'altro per la porta del Mercato, che restavano in carica due anni; i Sindaci, una coppia con incarico annuale. Per questo motivo le palle, tutte uguali nelle dimensioni, erano contraddistinte da un'etichetta che indicava la categoria dei nomi contenuti: "Difensori, "Sindaci", "Portinari", ecc. per essere individuate al momento del sorteggio. Ma seguiamo da vicino il rinnovo del Bussolo del 17 luglio 1783 per avere un'idea diretta e precisa della procedura adottata. Si doveva, prima di tutto, rinnovare la Magistratura, ossia i Difensori, la carica più importante, che aveva una durata quadrimestrale e gli Imbussolatori avevano perciò a disposizione sei palle, entro ognuna delle quali dovevano inserire il biglietto con una quaterna di nomi. Ogni Ceto o "Sfera" indicava i suoi. Dei quattro, uno doveva appartenere al primo Ceto, ed era di diritto Capo di Magistrato, gli altri tre al secondo. Nella prima votazione furono indicati: Giuseppe Paolucci, Vincenzo Martinelli, Mattia Massi ed Angelo Gigli. Questa quaterna, di cui Paolucci del primo Ceto sarebbe stato il Capo, fu scritta in un foglietto, chiusa dentro la palla contrassegnata con l'etichetta "Difensori" e imbussolata. A questi signori, quattro mesi di governo cittadino da scontare quando sarebbero stati estratti, non li toglieva nessuno. Si passò alla seconda quaterna seguendo la stessa procedura e furono indicati: Angelo Cristiani, Giovan Battista Guerrini, Giovanni Montanucci e Silvestro Martinelli. La terza quaterna dette il seguente esito: Giuseppe Bertanzi, Angelo Ciangottini, Filippo Legnetti e Vincenzo Iotti. Man mano che veniva definita una quaterna, e dopo aver compiuto le operazioni di rito, si imbussolava la palla. A questo punto il Bussolo conteneva già tre palle. La quarta votazione dette il seguente risultato: Giuseppe Cerboncelli, Vittorio Ceccarelli, Pietro Crosti e Maurizio Pucci. La quinta votazione sentenziò: Giovan Battista Burchi, Lorenzo Gigli, Ubaldo Perugini e Pietro Bruni. La sesta e ultima votazione indicò: Giovan Maria Criacci, Gabriele Dell'Uomo, Donino Passalbuoni e Antonio Martinelli. Ora nel Bussolo si trovavano tutte e sei le palle dei Difensori e ogni quadrimestre ne sarebbe stata estratta una che conteneva i quattro componenti della "Giunta" cui spettava la guida del Comune. Si passò alla designazione dei tre Conservatori della Sanità, tutti possidenti appartenenti al primo Ceto, che dovendo restare in carica due anni, come il Bussolo, non vennero imbussolati. Lo stesso criterio fu usato per i tre Terminatori e Stimatori e per i due Portinari. Le due coppie di Sindicatori, con incarico annuale, furono nominate, scritte sul foglietto, chiuse nella palla e imbussolate. A questo punto nel Bussolo c'erano otto palle che diventarono dieci con le due coppie di Sindaci. Le operazioni erano terminate ed il Bussolo, completamente rinnovato, conteneva dieci palle. Al suo interno fu inserito anche il foglio degli "Spicciolati", una lista di riserva, divisa per ceti, da usare nel caso in cui, al momento dell'estrazione della palla, uno dei nomi ivi compresi non fosse più in grado di accettare l'incarico o perché malato o passato a miglior vita. Le elezioni erano finite e per due anni tutti i principali ruoli del governo cittadino erano assicurati dentro le palle. Riflessioni "elettorali" I metodi con cui venivano scelti gli amministratori e gli altri titolari di incarichi importanti nella Fratta del 1700 non sono nemmeno lontani parenti del sistema elettivo attuale. Ci siamo espressi con termini quali "elezione" e "sistema elettorale" solo per usare un linguaggio di uso comune e perciò comprensibile a tutti. Non sarà sfuggito ai nostri lettori che non esiste il minimo accenno alla procedura con cui veniva eletto il Consiglio Comunale Generale. L’accenno non c'è, perché non l'abbiamo trovato. Ma si può ragionevolmente affermare che quel Consiglio fosse l'espressione delle indicazioni assembleari dei due Ceti, riuniti separatamente, come avverrà nel secolo successivo. Non si hanno notizie nemmeno circa la sua durata e il rapporto distributivo dei Consiglieri tra i due Ceti, ma è legittimo sostenere che esso durasse quattro anni e che i membri del secondo Ceto fossero in misura doppia di quelli del primo, come nel secolo successivo. Anche la proporzione tra i Difensori legittima un'ipotesi simile. Del resto in un sistema politico immobile, come quello dello Stato Pontificio, in cui il precedente costituiva prassi duratura per il futuro, non è da escludere che i meccanismi in vigore agli inizi del secolo XIX fossero gli stessi del secolo precedente. L’avvicendamento avveniva quasi certamente con sostituzioni di aliquote quadrimestrali, in modo che al termine della legislatura il Consiglio fosse completamente rinnovato. Pur nei limiti di una rappresentanza ristretta, il sistema era ingegnoso e finalizzato ad assicurare continuità e stabilità all'amministrazione del territorio. Le notizie sugli organi di rappresentanza sono comunque pochissime. Dati i tempi, era infatti superfluo trattare un argomento che si giocavano tra loro solo una ventina di famiglie. Il paragrafo precedente dedica un ampio spazio al resoconto della riunione consiliare del 17 luglio 1783, che si occupò del rinnovo del Bussolo. È una delle rare occasioni in cui il secolo, avaro di notizie politiche, diventa generoso. Prima ancora, i1 20 ottobre del 1743, ci fu un'altra importante riunione consiliare che offre molti spunti di riflessione. Il rinnovo del Bussolo, nella sua disarmante trasparenza e semplicità, dovrebbe aver creato non pochi problemi, litigi laceranti e destabilizzanti ricorsi. Si viveva, insomma, in un clima di incertezze e di sospetti anche perché, in assenza di una normativa precisa, ci si rifaceva alle usanze e alle disposizioni precedenti. Le une e le altre venivano invocate, quando faceva comodo, dai personaggi più abili e interessati. Le cose stavano arrivando ad un punto di non ritorno e nella riunione dell'ottobre 1743, il Consiglio nominò una Commissione paritetica, composta da tre Consiglieri del primo Ceto e da tre del secondo, per elaborare una nuova bozza di Regolamento sul rinnovo del Bussolo e su altri problemi, da sottoporre poi all'approvazione del Consiglio Generale. I poteri conferiti ai Commissari erano ampi e andavano dal ripristino delle prassi "passate", all'adozione di misure nuove da adattarsi "alle circostanze de presenti tempi". La Commissione, presieduta da Filippo Maria Savelli, era composta da Cesare Francesconi, Bartolomeo Petrogalli, Domenico Franceschini, Francesco Guerrini e Carlo Vibi. La bozza di Regolamento, riportata per intero alla fine di questo capitolo, i1 6 dicembre del 1743 era pronta e si presume che fosse sottoposta all'esame del Consiglio Generale nella riunione successiva. I sette capitoli di cui si compone, nel loro stile involuto e tra ardite contorsioni concettuali che fanno invidia a un'odalisca, denunciano molti aspetti del costume del tempo. Senza dubbio, ci sarà stata anche la necessità di maggiore trasparenza e di moralizzazione della vita amministrativa, ma certe sassate impietose, scagliate con troppo disordine, sono sospette e sorprendono non poco: "... perché attesa la scarsezza degli uomini intelligenti e capaci e la molteplicità delle persone meno idonee, ne avviene che il più delle volte fannosi risoluzioni poco profittevoli agli interessi pubblici... ". Possiamo concordare sulla "idoneità", dal momento che non tutti sono portati per la vita politica; meno sull'intelligenza che è una dote di più difficile lettura; quanto alla posposizione del bene pubblico al privato, è un problema di etica politica e non di attitudini o di intelligenza. La furbastria ha un albero genealogico lungo e ramificato ed in questo il `700 ha anticipato i tempi. Senza dire che un giudizio del genere, approvato dal Consiglio comunale, si ritorceva con effetto autolesionistico su se stesso ed in particolare sul primo ceto, costituito al massimo da quattro decine di famiglie e sul secondo che ne contava poche di più. Non sappiamo se quel regolamento si applicò veramente. Il resoconto del rinnovo del Bussolo, riportato nel paragrafo precedente, ad esempio, ne è la violazione palese a distanza di soli quarant'anni dalla sua adozione. In quella circostanza, tutte le indicazioni avvennero per "ballottazione", cioè per votazione consiliare, ed era proprio quello che esso vietava, affidando ad una Commissione ristretta di soli tre imbussolatori la scelta dei nomi, con l'obbligo strano di mantenere la massima segretezza. È chiaro che si sarebbe trattato del segreto di Pulcinella, anche in considerazione del fatto che il mercato delle persone "intelligenti e capaci" disponeva di pochi scampoli di rimanenza. L'introduzione di un accorgimento inutile sta forse a significare che 1'ufficializzazione delle quaterne dei Difensori o degli altri incarichi del biennio, sollecitava attese del turno "amico" o più "arrendevole" o comunque del momento più opportuno per effettuare poco commendevoli manovre. Così, affidandoci alla riservatezza degli Imbussolatori, si salvava la forma ma la sostanza rimaneva immutata, come spesso succede tra gli umani, e l'estrazione sarebbe diventata davvero una tombola. Il Regolamento, inoltre, dava per scontata una prassi che a distanza di due secoli appare poco chiara, quando affermava che i quattro Difensori dovevano essere "uno per Sfera". Nel lessico usato, sembra assodato che il termine "Sfera" sia sinonimo di "Ceto" ed i ceti che godevano del diritto elettorale attivo e passivo erano solamente due. Come mai le "Sfere" diventano quattro? L'unica spiegazione plausibile è riposta nel fatto che mentre la prima sfera era molto ristretta ed omogenea perché l'appartenenza richiedeva il solo requisito del "possesso", la seconda era più eterogenea in quanto agli Artisti appartenevano non solo gli artigiani, ma anche i commercianti e i professionisti (medici, chirurghi, farmacisti, veterinari, avvocati, notai, preti, ecc.). Non si può escludere, pertanto, che all'interno di questo Ceto una prassi condivisa e consolidata stabilisse che i tre Difensori spettanti appartenessero ad ognuna delle tre categorie costituenti la "Sfera". Un'altra constatazione che ci convince della non applicazione del nuovo Regolamento sta nel fatto che il Bussolo avrebbe dovuto contenere 17 palle, invece ne furono inserite solamente 10, e non figurano più alcuni incarichi importanti come quello di Ufficiale della Madonna SS.ma della Reggia. La nomina dei "salariati" aveva procurato molte "turbolenze" a causa delle raccomandazioni, un vezzo dalle lontane radici che qualcuno fa risalire alla nostra Religione che ha codificato il ruolo intermediario dei Santi presso Dio (N.d.R.: Avere qualche Santo in Paradiso) e sotto questo profilo occorre riconoscere che le nostre radici religiose sono lontane e resistenti. Per eliminare il vezzo delle raccomandazioni vengono dettate misure severe quanto inutili e inapplicabili poiché è difficile stabilire il limite tra la raccomandazione e la segnalazione dei titoli di capacità e di merito, richiamate dal Regolamento, se non si precisano i sistemi per documentarli. Tanto per finire ricordiamo che le disposizioni regolamentari stabilirono la possibilità di imbussolare "padre e figlio" e "due fratelli", purché in palle diverse "attesa la suddetta mancanza di persone capaci". Non si può certo dire che quei Signori Consiglieri mancassero di autostima. Del resto basta dare uno sguardo all'elenco dei Difensori per accorgerci che gli intelligenti e i capaci appartenevano solo a un paio di decine di famiglie. Adesso si capisce perché quelli bravi erano tanto pochi! RIUNIONE CONSILIARE DELLA COMUNITÀ PER DECIDERE SUL NUOVO BUSSOLO E CAPITOLATO RELATIVO In Dei Nomine Amen - Die 20 Octobris 1743. Convocatum et celebratum fuit publicum et generale Consilium per illustris Comm(unitatis) Insignis Terrae Fractae Perusiae more solito intimati cum interventu, et assistentia per Ill(ustris) Dom. Francisci Ghezzi Commissarii, in quo quidam Consilio interfuerunt infras(criptii)… Illu. Dom. Joseph de Sabelli Caput Officii Laurentius Martinelli Anselmus Donatuti Petrus Ant. Guerrini Ill. Dom. Philippus de Sabellis Franciscus Guerrini Carolus de Vibis Joseph Andreas Milanesi Dom. Franciscus Francisconi Joseph Matthias Cristiani Joseph Bernardinus de Homine Petrus Joseph Lestini Raimundus Rotelli Bartholomeus Petrogalli Caietanus Molinari Laurentius Gigli Philippus Roni Dominicus Franceschini Constantinus Pignani Augustinus Bettelli Franciscus Passalboni Carolus Ant. Francesconi Dominicus Paganelli ... de Consilio... et notum in eo habent ed illud totum representa ; et pro absen. si qui... promittentes. Et omissis aliis de voluntate reperiuntur infrascripta videlicet. Dom. Dominicus Franceschini in aringo eius med. ... dixit.... Intra. Vedendosi questo nostro Consiglio posto in molta confusione attesi i vicendevoli ricorsi fatti da diverse persone circa la Rinnovazione del Bussolo, numero dei Difensori, ed altre cose appartenenti a questo Consiglio, e non potendo fare a meno che questa Comunità non sia per risentirne gravi pregiudizi da questa discrepanza di voleri, sarei di sentimento pro bono pacis, ed in vantaggio del Pubblico et del Privato, che si eleggessero sei persone delle più capaci e dare a questi la facoltà di accomodare le differenze suddette; col darli anche l'arbitrio di rimettere in pristino molte buone e sagge disposizioni del nostro Statuto e rispettivamente de Signori passati Superiori, concedendoli anche la libertà di accomodare tali procedimenti alle circostanze dei presenti tempi e di fare insomma tutto ciò che li parerà opportuno per bon regolamento di questa Comunità con sottoporre poi alla Sag... questa loro... acciò si degni approvarlo e perché abbia la piena forza e debba essere osservato da tutti ed in tal modo credo che si darà fine alle liti e si rimetteranno gli animi in quiete, come tutti desiderano. Rimettendomi... [seguono due righe in latino]. A chi pare e piace di aprire il suddetto Aringo e di dare alli signori Difensori la facoltà di nominare sei persone tre della prima Sfera, tre della seconda in effetto suddetto, dia la palla bianca in favore, e a chi non piace, la negra in contrario. Tunc distribuitis et re... fuerunt reperta nota albe ri dece et nove, et unum nigrum... Post modum vigere... nominarunt... Cesare de Francescani, Bartholomeus Petrogalli, et Philippus de Sabellis, et Dominicus Franceschini, Franciscus Guerrini et Carolus de Vibis. Iterum de... A chi pare e piace di lor signori di approvare gli uomini nominati come sopra e dargli tutte le facoltà necessarie et opportune come sopra, dia la palla bianca in favore e a chi non piace, la negra in contrario. Tunc distribuitie e recollectis de more suffragia fuerunt reperta vota alba favorabilia viginta…" MODO DI FORMARE IL NUOVO BUSSOLO Capitolo I Primieramente, a tenore delle enunciate facoltà, si determina e stabilisce che essendo già determinata l'estrazione delle Palle degli Officiali di questa Comunità un mese prima che termini l'amministrazione delli Difensori estratti nell'ultima Palla, debba radunarsi il Consiglio nel modo e forma che dirassi in appresso ed ivi il Signor Capo d'Offizio dovrà nominare per primo un bussolatore uno della sua Sfera, il secondo e terzo Difensore un altro per ciascuno della sua Sfera, e dandosi il caso che alcuna delle persone nominate non fossero presenti al Consiglio, dovrà immediatamente mandarsi a chiamare da Donzelli ed in caso di legittimo impedimento dovrà nominarsi altro in suo luogo e, stabiliti che saranno gli imbussolatori, dovranno questi, doppo licenziato il Consiglio, rimanere in Palazzo col Signor Commissario e Segretario per formare il nuovo bussolo, quale dovrà rifarsi perpetuamente per soli due anni, sotto pena di nullità, e dovrà farsi di comune consenso, invocato prima l'aiuto dell'Altissimo e prestato il solito giuramento di prescegliere i più atti ed idonei, rimossa ogni privata passione e di tener segreta l'elezione fatta conforme costumasi e ritenuta convenientemente la facoltà al Capo Imbussolatore di prescegliere i Capi, in caso che il secondo e terzo imbussolatore non volessero convenire col primo e richiedessero che si ballottassero per voti le persone da eleggersi. Il Bussolo poi dovrà contenere sei Palle delli Difensori da durare ciascuna mesi quattro; una Palla delli tre Conservatori della Sanità o Consultori della Comunità da durare tutto il biennio; due Palle degli Officiali della Madonna SS.ma della Reggia, da durare un anno l'una; due Palle delli Sindacatori; altre due delli Stimatori Pubblici; altre due delli Portinari; due delli Sindaci, parimente da durare un anno per ciascuna, conforme si è sempre costumato, col fare anche i nomi de Spicciolati. Capitolo Il Delli Difensori e Conservatori della Sanità Dovranno in ogni palla imbussolarsi quattro Difensori cioè uno per Sfera delle persone più capaci e discrete e che possiedono qualche stabile di proprio, giacché nelle presenti circostanze non puol pienamente adempirsi la mente del nostro Statuto che determina che nessuno possa essere eletto Difensore che non possieda almeno 30 di Scovere, determinandosi ancorché oltre alla possidenza debba essere ancora unita la capacità, ad effetto, che siano ben regolati i pubblici affari, il tutto sotto pena della nullità, a tenore del medesimo Statuto. Si dovrà inoltre formare, come si disse, la Palla delli tre Conservatori della Sanità, o Commissari della Comunità, quali dovranno durare per fin che saranno compite le Palle delli Difensori, e questi dovranno sempre essere della prima Sfera, sotto pena di nullità, e persone non imbussolate se sia possibile in altri Offizi, la incombenza dei quali sarà di intervenire al Consiglio tutte le volte che saranno invitati, e di sopra intendere alla custodia delle porte in tempi di contagi e sospetti, di attendere alla restaurazione delle mura, ponti e fonti con l'assenso però dei Difensori, sotto pena a quelli che ricusassero di comparire al loro Uffizio d'uno scudo per ciascuna volta da applicarsi dal Signor Commissario, non essendo scusati dal legittimo impedimento dichiarandosi inoltre che non potranno gli Imbussolatori sotto la pena suddetta aggiungere alcuna persona al numero dei Consiglieri, né mutarle dalle loro Sfere e gradi ma solo sia lecito agli stessi Imbussolatori l'imbussolarsi per loro in caso di mancanza di persone. Capitolo III Delli Consiglieri particolari delli Difensori Per miglior provedimento degli affari pubblici si determina e stabilisce che ogni Difensore debba avere il suo Consigliere e questi debbano essere quelle persone medesime che sono stati Difensori nella Palla immediatamente antecedente, per essere essi meglio informati dei pubblici interessi e dandosi il caso che nella prima Palla che si estrae finito il Consiglio, uscisse per Difensore alcuno delli Difensori della Palla antecedente, in tal caso anche il suo Consigliere debba proseguire nel suo officio per altri quattro mesi, se pure questo accidente non si dasse in uno dei tre Conservatori della Sanità nel qual caso dovrà surrogarsi dalli Signori Difensori altro nel suo luogo. Il che dovrassi sempre osservare quando per accidente o per mancanza di Soggetti una delle persone fosse imbussolata in Offici contemporaneamente. L’incombenza poi per tutti suddetti Consiglieri sarà di dire il loro parere in tutti li consigli dopo che dal Segretario sarannosi proposti gl'affari da risolversi e non potranno consigliare fuori del luogo destinato e se prima non averanno prestato il solito giuramento de bene et fidate liber consulendo e se non volessero consigliare vi potranno essere forzati sotto pena d'uno scudo d'applicarsi come sopra, restando dopo di loro la facoltà alli Conservatori della Sanità di dire il loro parere approvando il sentimento di Consiglieri secondo le sarà dato dalla coscienza, sempre però prestando il suddetto giuramento, senza di cui non devrassi scrivere il sentimento e consiglio veruno. Capitolo IV Del modo di convocare e celebrare il Consiglio Perché attesa la scarsezza degl'uomini intelligenti e capaci e la molteplicità delle persone meno idonee, ne avviene che il più delle volte fannosi risoluzioni poco profittevoli agl'interessi pubblici, si determina e stabilisce a tenore delli statuti e disposizioni, che in tutte le occorrenze della Comunità debba convocarsi il Consiglio composto di dodici Persone ed inoltre con l'intervento del Signor Commissario, e questi saranno li quattro Difensori, li quattro Consiglieri, li tre Conservatori della Sanità, ed il Camerlengo del Pubblico e questo Consiglio avrà tutte le facoltà di risolvere, determinare, decidere e far tutto ciò che puol fare il Consiglio Generale fuorché in materia di nuove imposizioni, prezzi d'Abbondanza, introduzione di litigi ed altri gravissimi emergenti per i quali dovrassi convocare il Consiglio delle 42 persone, senza intervento del Signor Commissario a solo fine di ben digerire le materie d'importanza da discorrersi nel Generale Consiglio, e tutto ciò a tenore di diverse risoluzioni fatte nei Pubblici Consigli ed approvate dalli Presidi di Perugia fin dal 1620, come si raccoglie da libri dei suddetti Consigli e dallo Statuto rispettivamente a quali si rimanda. Per convocare poi e celebrare validamente il suddetto Consiglio si determina che il giorno avanti debbano per ordine delli Signori Difensori invitarsi dalli Donzelli tutti quelli che dovranno intervenire e dandosi l'accidente che qualcuno fosse legittimamente impedito, li Signori Difensori avranno la facoltà di surrogare un altro della medesima Sfera nel luogo della persona impedita il che parimente dovrà farsi tute le volte che nel Consiglio dovesse trattarsi dell'interesse particolare d'alcuna delle 42 Persone sopra nominate, non volendo che la persona interessata possa in nessun conto intervenire al Consiglio sotto pena di nullità del medesimo a tenore delle suddette statutarie disposizioni. Stabilito poi che debba farsi all'ora determinata il giorno seguente il Consiglio, dovrà la sera innanzi dalli Signori Difensori farsi dar ordine al Campanaro del Pubblico che suoni all'Ave Maria, senz'altro segno, mezz'ora prima dell'ora determinata per il Consiglio si diano dodici tocchi alla Campana del Pubblico, che sarà il segno della convocazione del Consiglio delli 12 lasciando nel solito stile il modo di convocare il Consiglio Generale, come costumasi di presente. In caso poi che le persone che dovranno intervenire al Consiglio delli 12 ricusassero d'intervenirvi all'ora determinata, non avendo legittimo impedimento da approvarsi dal Signor Commissario si determina e stabilisce che debbano essere puniti nella pena di uno scudo di moneta romana da applicarsi dal detto Signor Commissario, nella qual pena parimente incorreranno quelli che non avendo riguardo al luogo e alle persone ardissero discorrere temerariamente profferendo parole ingiuriose contro alcuno dei presenti in Consiglio, qual pena dovrà duplicarsi in caso che l'ingiuria fosse fatta ad alcuno delli Difensori, volendo che si discorra con tutta la modestia e solo degli affari pubblici nel luogo destinato e non altrove, tenuto conto di ogni umano rispetto, conforme ordina il suddetto Statuto al quale si rimanda. Attesa poi la suddetta mancanza di persone capaci si determina e stabilisce a tenore degli ordini ultimamente emanati da Mons. Enriquez Giud. Dep. della Sagra Consulta, che possano imbussolarsi due fratelli, padre e figlio d'una medesima casa, in diverse Palle però, e che questi nel Consiglio delli 12 abbiano unitamente il voto per non diminuire in modo alcuno il numero dei voti che dorassi sempre mantenere integro; determinando che nella ballottazione il partito s'intenda vinto per voti otto favorevoli e non altrimenti. Capitolo V Delli salariati Perché nel elezione di Medico, Chirurgo, Predicatori ed altri salariati sono in questa Comunità varie volte accadute varie turbolenze ed inconvenienti a cagione delle raccomandazioni procurate dai medesimi concorrenti, si determina e stabilisce che non possa essere ammesso alcuno a pubblici uffizi quando voglia impetrarli con loro commendatizie, ma si abbia solo riguardo a requisiti e meriti del concorrente, e perciò ne meno alcuno del Consiglio possa far pratica per unire li voti dovendo ciascuno votare a tenore de dettami della propria coscienza, avendo così altre volte decretato li Signori Superiori con lettere; a quali essi determinandosi in oltre che li salariati, dovendosi riproporre, si faccia due mesi prima che spiri l'anno dal giorno della loro elezione, acciò rimanendo esclusi possa la Commissione provvedersi d'altro soggetto che presti la debita servitù a se stessa ed agli abitanti del luogo. Capitolo VI Della rinnovazione di alcune pene Si stabilisce in oltre, che qualunque persona commettesse fraude in pregiudizio di privativa, che gode questo Pubblico nei suoi proventi, o de i detti loro appaltatori, possa e debba dal Consiglio de i 12, coll'attestato d'un testimonio degno di fede, procedere unitamente col Signor Commissario a privare il suddetto defraudatore di Medico, Chirurgo, Maestro di Scuola e d'ogni grazia e favore che potesse concedere questo luogo e ciò a onore di quanto anno altre volte stabilito li Signori Superiori, qual pena dovrà anche infliggersi contro quelli che senza legittimo impedimento e privi di sufficiente privilegio, vi ricusassero di accettare gl'Uffizi Pubblici, non essendo giusto che riceva benefizi da questa Comunità chi si mostra ingrato in servirla nelle sue occorrenze. Capitolo VII Del acompagno del Magistrato nelle pubbliche funzioni Si determina finalmente che in congiunzione, cioè in occasione, delle solennità dei nostri SS. Avvocati (Santi Protettori del paese), ed altre solite Sagre Funzioni debba sempre portarsi il Magistrato in Corpo a visitare le chiese consuete, ancorché sia sospesa quella ricognizione che era solita darsi in tal congiunzione, cioè occasione, e acciò a tenore del costume sin ora osservato e molto più perché non si manchi di prestare il debbito onore all'Altissimo e nostri SS. Avvocati e Protettori e in tal congiuntura debbano i salariati e Consiglieri necessariamente intervenire all'accompagno del Magistrato, assieme con gl'altri uomini della Comunità con abito e ferraiolo negro e con quella maggior decenza che li sarà permesso, altrimenti potranno essere rigettati indietro e puniti ad arbitrio del Signor Commissario e ciò per maggiore decoro del Pubblico e di tutto il Paese. Quali capitoli come sopra stabiliti approvati che benignamente saranno dalla Sagra Consulta, vogliamo che siano inviolabilmente osservati, né sia lecito ad alcuno il mutarli senza il preventivo assenso della detta Sagra Consulta e del Generale e Particolare Consiglio. In fede li abbiamo sottoscritti di nostro carattere adì 6 dicembre del 1743. Io Filippo Maria Savelli Deputato mano propria Io Cesare Francesconi Deputato ma. pr. Io Bartolomeo Petrogalli Deputato ma. pr . Io Domenico Franceschini Deputato ma. pr . Io Francesco Guerrini Deputato ma. pr. Io Carlo Vibi Deputato ma. pr. [Seguono poi sei righe che si riferiscono alla stesura del documento stilate da un notaio, quasi sicuramente il notaio Burelli, e datate 17 giugno 1794, cioè 51 anni dopo. Esse sono siglate con il timbro "IBBN" che è quello di Burelli (Iohannes Baptista Burelli Notaio)]. FONTI: “Umbertide nel secolo XVIII” di Renato Codovini e Roberto Sciurpa – Comune di Umbertide, 2003 Il sistema elettorale comunale

The Gregorian Cadastre The Gregorian Cadastre is a general geometric particle land registry of the Papal State: started by Pius VII in 1816, after the Napoleonic experience, it is defined in this way because it was completed by Gregory XVI in 1835. In 1816 Pius VII established the Congregation of Land Registers: the central body that was to establish uniform rules and procedures for the estimation of rural and urban funds. In the Papal State there was no uniform measure and it was decided to use the metric system introduced by the French system rather than the more complex “Roman rubbio”, made up of 3703 square architectural pipes. On the site of the "Imago" project that carried out the digitization of the Gregorian Cadastre it is specified "The linear measure adopted was therefore the census barrel corresponding to the meter and divided into 10 palms (dm), equal to 100 ounces (cm) or 1000 minutes ( mm). For the surfaces, the square of 10 boards (corresponding to the hectare, i.e. 10,000 m2), the board of 1000 square pipes (equal to 1000 m2) and the square pipe (1 m2) were adopted, in turn divided into palms , square ounces and minutes. Compared to the French period, the names changed but not the substance. " In addition to the rural funds, the mapping ("Map") of urban centers usually built at a scale of 1: 2000 assumes considerable importance, together with these two further copies on a reduced scale at 1: 4000 or 1: 8000 (the " Mappette "), with the original scale reproduction of the "block" or inhabited centers, placed in the margin or attached. The cadastral parcels were depicted in the "Map" ed identified by a number assigned to it within a unique numerical progression for each map. This was then described in the land registry or brogliardo, which also indicated the name of the owner. These are the pages web del with the Gregorian Cadastre and the "brogliardo" with the territory of the city of Umbertide after the Napoleonic age. Clicking here opens the page of the Gregorian Cadastre of the State Archives of Rome, at this point choose the "box" Perugia ", highlighted in the image in red, and then click on" Fratta "... so you can do it in analogous way for Pietralunga, Montone etc; alternatively click directly on the image below in this way the "Fratta" viewer of the "imago" project will open immediately, which has digitized the parts with the main towns and cities of the Gregorian Cadastre. To see the "brogliardo" with the number of the parcel visible on the map of the Gregorian Cadastre with the names of the respective ones owners and some property description items just click here to see the relative "brogliardo " always of the Cadastre of the "Ecclesiastical State". The Gregorian cadastre arrived considerably late, almost a century, compared to the census experiences of a large part of Italy. The move to this new tool hides a political struggle between the forces they wanted control of wealth and property information. The land registry, says Renato Zangheri, in his " Cadastre and ownership of the land ", is " an irreplaceable tool for ascertaining the status of the" ownership "of the land, which for many centuries was the fundamental means of production, the source of wealth and the main basis of power .... It is a rich and treacherous tool that must be used with caution but can provide abundant results. In Italy it is usually more refined, expressive and complicated than elsewhere. "Its structuring hides heated struggles over how to own land and pay taxes. In the rest of Italy, one of the targets among the owners of the property was the related property. to ecclesiastical institutions. Here, in the Papal State, the problem was different and less urgent because the Church held power as well as property. Il Brogliardo della Comunità di Fratta (l’odierna Umbertide), datato 10 agosto 1818, costituisce una testimonianza d'archivio di eccezionale valore per la comprensione della modernizzazione amministrativa dello Stato Pontificio e la situazione economica, sociale e architettonica del nostro paese. Questo sotto è il testo presente della pagina finale che suggella il documento e ci riporta i ruoli di coloro che lo hanno redatto: “Fratta l’ 10 agosto 1818 Ingegnere Giovanni Gambini Geometra censuario Ingegnere Gaspare Bertolli aiutante Agostino Cambiotti assistente Comunitativo Romualdo Agostini per Agostino Faloci indicatore illetterato, Comunità della Fratta lì 8 settembre 1818” “Immagine n. 3: Particolare delle pagine finali Brogliardo di Fratta in Progetto Imago dell’Archivio di Stato di Roma: https://imagoarchiviodistatoroma.cultura.gov.it/Gregoriano/sfoglia_brogliardi.php?Path=Gregoriano/Brogliardi/Perugia/062&r=001.jp2&lar=2560&alt=1440 Il cosiddetto Brogliardo di Fratta si colloca nel cuore della stagione dei rilievi sul campo avviati per superare i limiti dei vecchi sistemi descrittivi. Questo documento, oggi conservato fisicamente presso l'Archivio di Stato di Perugia, ma digitalizzato con il progetto “Imago”, certifica la conclusione delle operazioni di rilievo l’8 settembre 1818. Rilievi che saranno utilizzati per il Catasto geometrico Particellare definito “Gregoriano”. Nel Frontespizio del nostro Brogliardo possiamo vedere l’organizzazione dello Stato Pontificio stesso: “Stato Ecclesiastico, Provincia dell’Umbria, Delegazione di Perugia, Governo e Comunità di Fratta”. L'operazione a Fratta fu condotta da una squadra tecnica la cui struttura rifletteva la nuova professionalizzazione dei quadri statali: Giovanni Gambini: Ingegnere Geometra censuario, la cui attività di "campagna" lo qualifica, secondo i criteri del 1817, come “Ingegnere ordinario”, ruolo che analizzeremo successivamente. Gaspare Bertolli: aiutante Ingegnere. Agostino Cambiotti: Assistente "Comunitativo" (ossia appartenente alla Comunità… di Fratta), probabilmente incaricato del raccordo operativo tra la squadra e la comunità locale. “Romualdo Agostini per Agostino Faloci”: Faloci è indicato come "illetterato". La specificazione della non alfabetizzazione (“illetterato”) si riferisce forse alla non conoscenza del latino o, se quel “per” indica “al posto di” riferito ad una possibile firma negli atti relativi al Brogliardo, allora si deve intendere che Faloci non sapesse scrivere. Possiamo ipotizzare che Agostini e Faloci agissero come ponte tra la realtà del territorio e la prova documentale. A queste persone dobbiamo le informazioni che resero possibile il catasto di Fratta. In questo apparato burocratico dello Stato Pontificio, il Brogliardo fungeva da anello di congiunzione essenziale. Esso operava come registro descrittivo intermedio: raccoglieva in ordine progressivo i numeri di mappa associati alle particelle, permettendo di unire il dato grafico (la mappa) al dato amministrativo e fiscale (proprietari, colture e rendite), ponendo le basi la rappresentazione geometrica del Catasto Gregoriano che possiamo considerare finito nel 1835. Dal 1816 la “Congregazione del Censo" era l’Istituzione che gestiva le procedure fiscali e di rappresentazione del Territorio. L'Ingegnere Censuario emerse in questo periodo come figura centrale della riforma. Questa gerarchia tecnica, suddivisa tra Ispettori, Ingegneri in capo provinciali e Ingegneri ordinari , era una diretta eredità del modello francese del “Bureau des Ponts et Chaussées”, ovvero “l’Ufficio dei Ponti e delle Strade” introdotto durante l'occupazione napoleonica e mantenuto dalla Restaurazione per la sua indiscutibile efficienza nella gestione del territorio. L'organo propulsore di questa imponente operazione fu la Congregazione del Censo (o del Censimento), istituita da Pio VII nel 1801. A livello periferico, per il distretto di Fratta, le operazioni erano coordinate dalla Cancelleria del Censo di Perugia. I documenti di tale ufficio, fondamentali per la ricostruzione storica del territorio umbro, sono oggi conservati presso l'Archivio di Stato di Perugia. Le informazioni del Brogliardo, ad esempio, relative alla Chiesa della Madonna della Reggia ne Catasto Gregoriano ci permettono di sapere che con “S” è rappresentata la “Collegiata”, l’edificio nella particella n. 634 è la casa del sagrestano, edifici appartenenti tutti e due alla “Sagrestia della Collegiata di San Giovanni Battista di Fratta”. Sempre della medesima proprietà troviamo la parte di terra lungo il torrente Reggia denominato n. 632, mantenuto a “ripa cespugliosa mista”. Con i numeri n. 630 e 631, troviamo “orto” e “fondamenta di casa”, questa volta il proprietario risulta essere “Laziarini Vincenzo già di Andrea”. Sources: - Renato Zangheri, Cadastre and land ownership. Small Einaudi Library. Turin 1980. - Imago II project, 1997-2000, of the State Archives of Rome: http://www.cflr.beniculturali.it/Gregoriano/mappe.php?fbclid=IwAR3SPsbhE0yDSOzPk5MrT3LVf77oKvYwwqFhUhZzDbdA4DHi4DWrz-9JHdA Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com Renato Zangheri " (the Land Registry) ... it was very often a sign of contradiction, the terrain of political and class clashes "

ROBERTO MORELLI Caduto ad appena 19 anni combattendo a Montelungo contro la Divisione tedesca Goering con la divisa del nuovo esercito italiano di liberazione di Amedeo Massetti Roberto Morelli era nato a Città di Castello il 10 luglio 1924 da genitori entrambi umbertidesi ed era rimasto legato strettamente alla nostra città, dove ritornava presso i suoi parenti ogni volta che gli impegni scolastici glielo permettevano. Finiti gli studi superiori aveva deciso di diventare ufficiale di marina e per questo aveva raggiunto l'Accademia Navale a Venezia nell'agosto del 1943, per seguire il previsto tirocinio. Sopravvenne l'8 settembre; tutti i giovani concorrenti furono imbarcati sulla nave "Vespucci" il giorno 10 e trasferiti a Brindisi nella sede dell'ex collegio navale, dopo una navigazione piena di pericoli. Nella nuova sede un certo numero di loro lasciò l'Accademia per rientrare in famiglia; la maggioranza rimase, tra questi anche i nove ragazzi, compreso il Morelli, che decisero di non lasciar passare altro tempo per dare un contributo immediato alla rinascita della Patria. Si arruolarono così, dopo aver lasciato quasi clandestinamente l'Accademia, nel 514º Battaglione Bersaglieri Allievi Ufficiali che faceva parte del 12º Raggruppamento motorizzato costituitosi a S. Pietro Vernotico, a poca distanza da Brindisi. II raggruppamento fu portato in linea e nel sanguinoso combattimento dell'8 dicembre 1943 per la conquista di Montelungo, dei nove ragazzi che avevano lasciato l'Accademia cinque caddero, tra cui Roberto, e quattro furono feriti affrontando i veterani della divisione tedesca Goering. La vicenda dei nove ragazzi é stata ricordata con elevate parole anche dall'allora Presidente del Consiglio Carlo Azelio Ciampi , in occasione della sua visita all'Accademia Navale di Livorno nel dicembre 1993 e, a suo tempo, dal Generale Clark, comandante della 9ª Armata Americana in un suo nobile messaggio al 51º battaglione Bersaglieri dopo la battaglia di Montelungo. Motivazione della Medaglia d'Argento al Valor Militare alla Memoria "Arruolatosi volontario partecipava a successive azioni contro i tedeschi, dimostrando in ogni circostanza sprezzo del pericolo. Durante un duro combattimento, conscio della necessità di rifornire di munizioni la sua arma, attraversava più volte la zona battuta dal tiro di armi automatiche avversarie. Ferito in uno di questi tentativi, ricusava di raggiungere il posto di medicazione e visto morire il porta-arma tiratore alla mitragliatrice lo sostituiva. Una raffica micidiale, colpendolo una seconda volta, troncava la sua nobile vita". Una via intitolata a Roberto Morelli Una nuova via nella zona edificata delle Fontanelle. Accanto a quelle intitolate a Massimiliano Kolbe, ai Maestri del Lavoro, a Don Bosco, alle Maestre Pie Filippini e al dottor Mario Migliorati, ce n'è ora una dedicata a un ragazzo morto in guerra a 19 anni: Roberto Morelli, medaglia d'argento al valor militare. Un nome meno conosciuto, di un giovane che riposa nel cimitero di Umbertide, e che l'8 dicembre 1943 cadde a Montelungo, bersagliere volontario dell'appena ricostituito esercito italiano di liberazione. L'Amministrazione comunale ha aderito alle richieste delle associazioni combattentistiche umbertidesi, uniformandosi nell'opera da sempre tesa a ricordare tutti quei cittadini che caddero eroicamente nelle tragiche vicende vissute dal popolo italiano. Così come avvenuto in passato per Pucci, Rosati e Starnini, domenica 7 settembre il sindaco Becchetti ha scoperto la targa della nuova strada adiacente a piazza Berlinguer. La cerimonia è iniziata alle 11 al cimitero. Una messa celebrata da don Gerardo Balbi davanti alla tomba dell'eroico ragazzo. Tante le autorità presenti e tanti i labari delle associazioni di ex combattenti. Con commosse parole, all'omelia, il sacerdote ha ricordato il sacrificio di Roberto e la donazione della sua giovane vita. E infine la preghiera del marinaio letta da Marco Baldassarri, tra le note del "silenzio" del trombettiere della Banda della Marina Militare di La Spezia che ha presenziato al rito. Subito dopo, nella piazza delle Fontanelle, la cerimonia di intitolazione della nuova via. Il Sindaco ha salutato le autorità presenti e tutti gli intervenuti. "Con questa semplice cerimonia - ha detto Becchetti - continuiamo nell'opera che l'Amministrazione comunale ha da tempo avviato: quella di ricordare quei concittadini che, in particolari momenti storici, in momenti estremamente difficili, si sono trovati a dover scegliere, ed hanno, onestamente e coerentemente con i propri principi, fatto scelte coraggiose, pagando con la propria vita." Il Capitano di Fregata avvocato Giuseppe Conforto, dell'Associazione Nazionale Marinai d'Italia, ha tenuto la commemorazione ufficiale e con elevate parole ha ricordato la figura di Roberto Morelli, dall'Accademia Navale a Venezia alla battaglia di Montelungo. Ha messo in evidenza il coraggio e i nobili ideali che ispirarono il giovane nella sua scelta che dovette poi pagare col sacrificio della vita. Quindi, davanti all"'attenti" del picchetto d'onore comandato dal sottotenente Giorgio Cordioli, e alla Banda della Marina che intonava un brano musicale, lo scoprimento della targa. Un momento molto emozionante. Molte le autorità presenti: il vice Prefetto dottor Roberto Aragno, il tenente colonnello Passeri in rappresentanza del generale Franco Stella, il tenente colonnello Cosimo Chiarelli, comandante provinciale di Carabinieri, il generale Federico Marzollo con alfiere e medagliere del 514º Battaglione Bersaglieri, il generale Civello Luccioli con medagliere del Nastro Azzurro di Perugia, l'avvocato Mancini, vice presidente dell'Associazione Forze Armate Regolari della Guerra di Liberazione e i rappresentanti umbertidesi delle Associazioni Alpini, Bersaglieri, Marinai, Combattenti Guerra di Liberazione, famiglie dei Caduti. Per la famiglia di Roberto Morelli c'era il fratello Renato e la cugina Elena . Conclusa la cerimonia, la Fanfara della Marina Militare di La Spezia ha percorso le vie cittadine suonando briosi motivi e, seguita da molte persone, è giunta in piazza Matteotti. Sopra il palco ha tenuto un breve concerto per i cittadini presenti entusiasmando tutti per la brillante ed appassionata esecuzione dei brani proposti. La battaglia di Montelungo La battaglia di Montelungo è, secondo gli storici, l'evento più importante della Guerra di Liberazione. Infatti, ai piedi di questa altura che domina la via Casilina a Sud di Cassino, nella stretta di Mignano, il 14º Raggruppamento Motorizzato Italiano, formato tutto da volontari e che si può definire la cellula fondamentale del nuovo esercito, sostenne il primo combattimento che segnò l'inizio della riscossa italiana. La lotta fu dura; le perdite elevatissime: 320 tra morti, feriti e dispersi. Il monte, quel giorno, non fu conquistato; l'azione dovette essere sospesa per l'insufficiente appoggio dell'artiglieria, per la fitta nebbia e per lo scarso coordinamento con gli Alleati. Ripresa la lotta, il 16 dicembre il monte fu preso. L'avvenimento dimostrò agli Alleati la ferma volontà del popolo italiano di riscattare un passato che non gli apparteneva più. Fino a quel momento gli italiani avevano combattuto con le armi che erano rimaste in dotazione, cioè antiquate e scarse; da quel momento gli Alleati si premurarono di farne un reparto moderno ed efficiente. Nacque così, il 17 aprile 1944, con l'apporto della divisione paracadutisti Nembo (della quale fece parte il concittadino Domenico Brunori) il Corpo Italiano di Liberazione e, successivamente, nell'agosto 1944, i Gruppi di Combattimento Friuli, Mantova, Piceno, Legnano dove combatté e morì il nostro concittadino Starnini e non ultimo il Cremona , nel quale combatterono tanti giovani umbertidesi tra i quali Rosati e Pucci caduti in battaglia e la Medaglia d'Argento Guerriero Leonardi . Fonti: Articolo di Amedeo Massetti su “Umbertide Cronache n. 4 - 1997”

Il massacro di Penetola 28 GIUGNO 1944 LE VITTIME / THE VICTIMS Avorio Antonio, anni 11; Avorio Carlo, anni 8; Avorio Renato, anni 14; Forni Canzio, anni 58; Forni Ezio, anni 21; Forni Edoardo, anni 16; Luchetti Guido, anni 18; Nencioni Conforto, anni 36; Nencioni Eufemia, anni 44; Nencioni Ferruccio, anni 36; Nencioni Renzini Erminia, anni 68. Il massacro di Penetola - voce di Paola Avorio 00:00 / 02:02 The massacre of Penetola - voice by Paola Avorio 00:00 / 02:24 28 GIUGNO 1944 Nella notte tra il 27 e il 28 giugno 1944, nel casolare denominato Penetola di Niccone, i cui ruderi potete scorgere davanti a voi, dodici persone sono state barbaramente uccise dai soldati appartenenti al 305° battaglione genieri dell’esercito tedesco, di stanza poco lontano da qui, in località La Mita, nota anche come La Dogana. Il casolare di Penetola era abitato dalle famiglie Avorio e Luchetti che nel giugno del 1944 ospitarono le famiglie Forni e Nencioni, sfollate dalle proprie case dell’abitato di Niccone, interamente occupato dalle truppe tedesche. Il comando tedesco era invece stanziato a Montalto, il castello che si trova in alto sulla collina di fronte a voi. Da li, il 26 giugno gli ufficiali tedeschi scesero a La Mita a dare ai propri soldati indicazioni su come raggiungere Penetola e il 28 giugno, dopo mezzanotte, 18 militari tedeschi armati bussarono alla porta del casolare e svegliarono tutti. Gli sfollati che dormivano nell’annesso, vennero derubati dei propri averi e.condotti dentro la casa con gli altri. Tutti vennero rinchiusi nella stanza rivolta verso il bosco. Gli animali furono fatti uscire dalle stalle. I soldati presero il fieno del pagliaio e il legname trovato sul posto, li accatastarono alle pareti della stanza dove erano state rinchiuse le 24 persone e alle mura della casa e, utilizzando della benzina, appiccarono un fuoco devastante. Solo dodici delle ventiquattro persone rinchiuse nel casolare sono sopravvissute: 11 superstiti appartengono alle famiglie dei mezzadri Avorio e Luchetti, nessun superstite tra le due famiglie degli sfollati Nencioni e Forni tranne la piccola Giovanna di 6 anni. 28 June 1944 On the night between 27 and 28 June 1944, in the farmhouse called Penetola di Niccone, whose ruins you can see before you, twelve people were killed by soldiers belonging to the 305th engineer battalion of the German army, stationed not far away from here, in La Mita, also known as La Dogana. The Penetola farmhouse was inhabited by the Avorio and Luchetti families who in June 1944 hosted the Forni and Nencioni families, displaced from their homes in the town of Niccone, entirely occupied by German troops. The German command was instead stationed in Montalto, the castle located high up on the hill in front of you. From there, on 26th June the German officers went down to La Mita to give their soldiers directions on how to reach Penetola and on 28th June, after midnight, 18 armed German soldiers knocked on the door of the farmhouse and woke everyone up. They robbed the evacuees who slept in the annex of their belongings and took them into the house with the others. Everyone was locked in the room facing the woods. The cattle was let out of the stables. The soldiers took the hay from the haystack and the wood 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, set a devastating fire. Only twelve of the twenty-four people locked up in the farmhouse survived: 11 survivors belong to the families of the sharecroppers Avorio and Luchetti, no survivors from the two families of the Nencioni and Forni except little 6-year-old Giovanna. Testo tratto da: Paola Avorio, "Tre noci ," Petruzzi Editore, 2011 Immagine di sfondo: disegno di Antonio Renzini "Penetola" Un progetto a cura di Mario Tosti, Unitre di Umbertide, il 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. Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com EH Carr "Change is certain. Progress is not "

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

WRECKERS FIRST REACTIONS IN THE CRATER The storm of explosions, flames and roars has ceased. Darkness and silence loom over the crater. Life seems over. Whoever has not fainted is silent; immovable; until he regains the consciousness of being alive. Who can, begins to move; groping. Shadows (1); into the dark; mute. The complaints of the injured manage to insinuate themselves into the deafness of the stunned ears: they are the first sign of residues of life. We realize that we are not left alone. There is a need to help, to know: life must go on! A whispered moan is ventured - help! - bouncing off the dust in front of the mouth, confirming the existence of oneself. One takes courage; help is asked louder and louder; the supplications are mutually reinforcing with the others, which come from the dark, all around. They become cries: a chaotic chorus of cries. The dust settles slowly, giving way to the light that descends from the sky and gives increasingly harrowing contours to the catastrophe: the heart of San Giovanni has collapsed into a couple of meters of debris. Only a few spiers of the wall have managed to oppose the force of gravity and hint at the houses where, just a few minutes ago, life flowed. Too huge the horror / that closed the air around / Too greedy the fire / Atrocious the torture / High the flames / in the blocked pupils. / And slow / for one meal / unlimited. / The blood dripped / like moaning sap / Acre the smoke / to devour / the screams. / We wish we had / so much blood / to put out the fire. / ... / The arms are too sweet / from which we were torn / Fate is too bitter / the tears froze / The veil is dark / above the clear eyes. / It is burning / of pain / unlimited. / He tortured the mind / a whirlwind of images / Infinite the moment / before the / fiery gash. / We would have liked to have / so many tears / to drown death (2). Immediate relief Like rats, from the burrows, the survivors emerge from hell: life, incredibly, managed to resist. Unharmed men bring help to those close, hurt, buried, or just in distress. To the moans and cries for help, the voices of the rescuers are added (3). In Via Cibo Gigetto (Luigi Gambucci) emerges from the door of the Post Office, where he had remained a prisoner, thinking it was over! His mouth is full of dirt. He caught a glimpse of some light. .. a blush: he was refreshed. It leads home, a few tens of meters, at the beginning of the bridge. But there, at the end of the street, at the corner of Via Spunta towards the Tiber, the hill of rubble into which the house of Concetta (Villarini) was reduced spilled onto the row facing, up to the architraves of the doors, obstructing the passage to the bridge. Muffled cries for help are heard from under the rubble. They begin to dig with their hands. "Take it easy ... that everything falls ..." recommends the buried woman, who has heard them and tries to guide them. It is the Gigina (Mischianti). She is almost on top of the pile of rubble, saved by a beam that has made a hut, protecting her head; in the rest of his body he has severe injuries (4). With his hands, Gigetto manages to dig a small hole, freeing the woman's head, unrecognizable but alive: he breathes. Tonino (Grilli) (5) and Remigio (Tonanni) (6) help him. The latter, skimpy, has just managed to sneak, through a hole, from the door in which he was imprisoned, with two other companions in misfortune (7). Running from Santa Maria comes Guerriero de Schiupitìno (Gagliardini), the child with the telescope, after having almost bypassed Pazzi's wife, who died in Via Grilli. He climbs into the rubble thinking that the living head belongs to his mother, who owns a shop nearby. Crying he tries to help free her; when he realizes that he has a bun (8) - it is not his mother - instinct leads him to flee, to look for her elsewhere (9). The Gigina becomes the destination of a pilgrimage of many who - in turn, in a chain of solidarity - try to free it: it is the first symbol of reaction, of hope. Tonino (Taticchi) (10) is added; arrives Lellino (Raffaello Agea) (11). Fernando de Bargiacca removes the stones from around her, from the waist down (12). Mario (Destroyed), a boy, helped for a moment to free the trapped woman; then he runs away, looking for his father and brother, looking only at the people standing, because he does not want to see any dead (13). This conflict - between solidarity and selfishness - involves everyone, even adults: the bare essentials are helped to wait for the generous neighbor, in a courageous and selfishly cruel relay race at the same time. Everyone - in the face of the most inhuman horror - above all has his family members in mind, he wants to find them again (14). The instinct is to go away to look for them. Then, coldly, remorse (15) emerges for having helped only that much that could not be done without. First of all, you think about saving your own skin. La Stella (Bottaccioli) was left alone in the house. Swallowed by darkness and dust, her son Lazarus felt as if he had gone mad and fled, remembering her only when hell was over (16). On the mound where Gigina's body emerges, Egino (Villarini) arrives, escaped from his hiding place in Via Roma; that pile of debris, up to the height of the first floors, is what remains of his house. It climbs on the rubble, when the dust has not yet completely cleared up. He finds some objects belonging to Bruno, his brother: the keys to the Celio office, a bayonet, rolls of cotton and tailoring accessories. Shortly after, her mother Concetta arrives from Piazza San Francesco, who throws herself (17) to scrape on the rubble with her hands, screaming in an almost inhuman way (18). They can't take it away. On the same stone hill, another mother, Annita de Baldrighèlla (Boldrini), who had remained unharmed in the nearby saddler's shop of Carlo (Ciarabelli), on her knees invokes her daughter Cecilia (19). The dust is clearing. An elderly man can be glimpsed, as if dazed, on the bed in the room on the top floor, without the wall facing west (20). Two friends of Bruno and his schoolgirls arrive upset: Amelia (Lozzi) and Gigina (Vestrelli). They hug (21). Lowering their eyes, they see Bruno's scissors: "Oh my God ... they're all dead!". For heaven's sake ... for heaven's sake ... what a tragedy (22)! Gigina is barefoot and struggles to walk among the stones; only now does he realize that his shoulders are all dead. When she heard the increasingly deafening noise, she ran to the attics; then instinct had made her run down the stairs to the exit. At the bottom of the door she was paralyzed, while outside it seemed that the world was coming down: her apartment had come down, unloading itself on the barn of Fiordo, and only one room remained standing. Then, when silence returned, he opened the door: it was all dust and nothing could be seen ... rubble everywhere, dangling light cables, beams .... (23). Nello (Phlegm) and the Armida de Caldàro saw some light through a small crack opened by the explosions following the one that had demolished the wing of the Vibi Palace, where they had taken shelter. Then they climbed on the debris and managed to break through to salvation (24). From a nearby hole appears Silvano (Bernacchi), slightly wounded; he tries to get away from the crumbling walls, descending from the rubble hill where his house has been reduced. He is rescued by Doctor Porrozzi, who takes him with him to his temporary home, near the iron bridge of the Rio. Silvano's grandfather, buried to the waist, died shortly after; the grandmother is seriously injured (25). It was only by chance that La Palma, in charge of cleaning the railway cars, and the children who lived on the first floor escaped: Don Anfilza, a long bladder; Giovanna, with her blond braids, thick woolen socks and flat shoes; and Bìa, so renamed for the refrain with which he never missed an opportunity to recommend to everyone: "Bìa [you have to] stay low when the bombs fall". None of them were home. In Lisetti's shoe shop, Antonio Mischianti sees a glimmer of light opening up. Whispers: "If pole runs away ... [you can get out]". The others close to him do not have to repeat it twice: they jump towards the door, from where more and more light is coming, and go out among some debris. Not far away, the rubble is so high that the Adriana and the Menchina del Sellaro (Cecchetti) were trapped inside the father's shop. The shoemakers try to escape towards Piazza San Francesco, as they had advised if a bombing had come, but there is a great deal of dust; they then turn towards the bridge over the Regghia, turn at the corner of Palazzo Reggiani, towards the Collegiata. Everyone finds himself where his legs have taken him (26). In Via Mariotti Alfredo (Ciarabelli) comes out of his hiding place as a reluctant, in the Grilli house. He hears Uncle Brutus upstairs; he climbs gropingly and finds him standing at the top of the stairs with his nephew Giovannino (Grilli) a few months old in his arms, crying. Brutus tries to make him breathe by putting him outside the window, in the illusion that there is less dust (27). Alfredo helps them get out of the door, in Via Cibo. He realizes he is in pajamas and goes up to put on something; he no longer worries about the risk of being arrested as a dodger. From the window on the first landing he can see - the dust continues to thin out - that the houses of San Giovanni have all fallen. He sees people, alive, on a pile of rubble: they are the relatives of Simonucci's wife, displaced from Manfredonia. Jump from the window onto the debris, which almost reaches the windowsill; leads those people, dumb and dazed, on the Corso passing through the same window. Together with `l Bove (Antonio Taticchi), he frees Maria (Brunori) who is buried to the waist; they place it in the dark of a window to transport it to the Corso; others take her to the hospital. While they are digging, Maria's sister - the Bruna - screams from under the debris that imprison her, recommending not to let everything collapse (28). La Pompilia (Locchi), sitting on the rubble, all dusty, is beside herself: she sings "Bandiera rossa", like a crank turntable with an unloaded spring (29). In the alley of San Giovanni In the house opposite that of the Brunoris, Elda (Bartocci), without knowing how, found herself on a higher floor than the entrance hall where she had taken refuge, in the dark, among the smoky dust of the bombs. It's a terrible time, because she thinks she is buried alive. She finds it hard to breathe, she no longer believes she can save herself, until - thanks to the wind - the dust clears and she sees the sky: a beautiful sky, also because it makes her think she is safe. Trying to move among those rubble, he realizes that he is on the opposite side of the building, on the side of the railway. When she reaches a crack in the wall, she starts screaming to get someone's attention; after a while he sees Osvaldo (Baroni) in front of the saddler's stables along the Regghia. He asks for help; he brings her a ladder, leans it against the wall; the Elda, from a crumbling window, dangles down ... down ... until it touches the first rung with the tip of its toes: it is safe (30)! In Via Alberti The gardeners who were selling vegetables in Via Alberti - Annetta, Annina de Caprone and Suntina de Saltafinestre (Assunta Fortuna) - took refuge inside the fruit shop of Pierina del Pilide. They came out alive, thanks to Cència (Valdambrini) - employed on the telephones - who had suggested to lift their clothes and breathe through the fabric in order to block the dust: "Breathe calmly ... You can see a little light. .. we are saved! ". They climb, up ... up, through the rubble. A companion in misfortune, hunchbacked and lame, cannot climb; among all, they bring her to safety (31). In Piazza delle Erbe At the first glimmer of light towards the Piazzetta delle Erbe - it seems an eternity has passed - Nino (Egidio Grassini) runs away, running wildly: "Better he died in the open than under the stones", he thinks. He crosses like a bolt of lightning the small tunnel that leads to Via Grilli, used by everyone as a urinal, without in the slightest noticing the wife of Quinto (Pazzi), the butcher, who was hit by a splinter at that point (32). Those who enter the town from Piaggiola see her but do not stop, believing her to be dead. In Via Guidalotti From a cloud of dust and rubble, the Franchi family comes out of the Venanzia inn. They come down from a pile of rubble which, on the road, reaches the middle of the door. The mother, slightly wounded in the forehead, helps herself by clinging to the grating of the rear window above the door. With the other arm he holds the bundle of his daughter of a few months - Giuliana - all white from dust. They enter the fortress. The girl is choking; the father suggests to the mother to clean her mouth with saliva (33). Parents are unsure what to do. Franco of the head guard (Anastasi) takes care of cleaning her mouth, removing the earth (34). Then she goes upstairs to get a glass of water from Olimpia's mother (Pieroni), who helps her clean and quench her thirst (35). The Commissioner arrives shouting: "Calm down, calm down!". Dina (Tosti) rails against him: "Go and died killed!". And he: "Who did it ?! How dare you!" But Mr. Locchi manages to smooth out the question: it is not time to think about respecting the authorities (36). Olimpia (Pieroni) tries to get closer to Flora's house, passing through the alley of the Balille; but it is completely blocked by the rubble of the Marzani house and from the corner of the one in front, towards Piazza delle Erbe. It then goes down along the stretch of road that goes towards the bell tower of San Giovanni; try to switch between the Venanzia house (left) and Marzani house (right). While also being this street blocked by rubble, can see, between the smoke and the dust, Flora, Bice and their niece Bettina, just outside the door of their house. He tries to call them, but they don't hear it, because they are completely stunned; manages to reach them, passing over the rubble. The three women, together with some other inhabitants of the house (Duranti and Natali), they had repaired themselves, at the request of the owner of the stationery, in very small back room of the same, communicating with the stairs of the building and considered by him to be safer. They spent those tragic moments among the ink bottles and other stationery items falling off the shelves (37). Now they go up in the house to see in what state it is reduced and to close it. In front of the door, Piazza delle Erbe is strewn with stones. They realize the gravity of the disaster when they see that the external wall of the house, towards the square, is detached from the internal walls by almost half a meter (38). Among the debris of the Tommasi house, the stump of a leg, with the boot, of Sora Rosa appears (39). In the Collegiate Church While the other fellow refugees weep and continue to recommend themselves to God and to Our Lady, the Archpriest has the impression of having been buried in the rubble. Take a few steps in the dark to find the nearest exit, heading towards the outer door of the sacristy; but, falling several times, he realizes that he cannot stand up. When he comes to light again, he notices that he is wounded in the left leg; blood gushes everywhere. Meanwhile his comrades have fled. Except one, who is wounded: he lies in a pool of blood and strongly complains. Don Luigi can't really walk; he drags himself on all fours over the rubble and looks out from the only door left open towards the square to try and escape. From there he sees people fleeing scared. The houses opposite, including the parish one, are mutilated or dismantled; a huge chasm created by the bomb was created on the square; the rest of the ground is all upset (40). From Via Roma comes Natalino (Lisetti) running in his underwear. He had returned to Umbertide on military leave, after having witnessed the terrible bombings in Rome with 7,000 dead: "I go to die 'at my house", he said to himself. This morning he did not wake up at the usual time, but only when he heard the explosion of the bombs; now he runs towards the barbershop where he should have been working. From the center there is a stampede of upset people. Meet the teacher Rondoni who wants to go back to class to see what happened to his pupils (41). The escape after the storm Those who are not in a position to help others, because they are wounded or out of their mind, try to get as far away as possible from the hell of the crater. ... And then outside / in the alley / the hot air / heavy with dust and sulfur ... (42). From the historic center there are two possible escape routes, the Piazza bridge and the Piaggiola, because the exit towards Piazza San Francesco is almost prevented by the heaps of rubble that obstruct both the Corso and the alley of San Giovanni. From the square bridge From Via Mancini, through the "Arches of the Priest", a flood of people fleeing, across the bridge in the square, pours towards the Collegiate Church. All the plaster on the ceiling between the arches has fallen to the ground. From the door of the teacher Lina peep out those who had gathered there, covered with dust. They face a body, supine, with one leg slightly reclined, dressed in dark gray, with a bodice. Simonello's (Simonelli) legs are not long enough to climb over him; raise the child; in front of Codovini they cover his eyes so as not to make him look towards that slaughter. In front of the shoe shop they see Selleri, standing, gesturing for a few steps, limping. Blood is dripping from his head. He cries out: "Lord, Our Lady, help me!" (43). It drags itself up to the Regghia wall; he leans on it, spindled towards the stream (44). Then he goes back into his shop. Mariolina (Rapo) and Lea came out from under the bed, which saved everyone, because the roof landed on top of the mattresses. "They tried to escape through the arch that connects Via Mancini with the alley of San Giovanni, but it is obstructed by rubble. They found a free way in the arches of the square, where a terrible scene was presented, full of bodies (46); they had to climb over that of Baldo (Gambucci) (42). body also Dina (Batazzi), who fled from the same alley with the two younger brothers she found just outside the door (48). Elsa (Caprini) and mamma come out of the bottoms of the same alley. An all-white-faced German signaled that they can go. Behind them Vincenzo (Rinaldi) escapes, just out of the public toilets. He stumbles upon Virginia, his teacher. Grab the hand of the blond (Umberto Bellarosa) who had run against the tide towards hell. Only under the tower does it begin to revise a bit of sulùstro (49). On the bridge of the Regghia the head of the Registry, Porrini, all dusty and distraught, tries to run; it also looks bloody (50). From the basement under the tavern where he had taken refuge, Vittorio (Giornelli) looks out from the arch of the tobacconist's that leads to the square, just when a verge falls in front of him. In the square, the grave silence after the din was replaced by moans, screams, calls of people running from all over (51). Nothing can be seen: everything is submerged in smoke (52). Lorenzo's mother descends, walking on the rubble of the Corso, convinced that her son has remained underneath. Hope pushes her to join the river of people pouring towards the Tiber, to travel backwards along the road along which her son might be. She screams her name, until a friend reopens the world to her: "Giuditta, she's from here" she shouts, showing her Lorenzo. He goes back to the Collegiate Church with his son; she pulls him by the hand in the midst of the fog and the people, all white, running like crazy. The child, in the other hand, is still holding the celery that he had gone to fetch from Aunt Lucia's garden (53). From Piaggiola In a rush, down the Piaggiola, people run away. A distraught man screams that he has landed everything, while from the center of the town he is running towards Santa Maria (54). Doctor Trotta drags his dazed wife by the hand, drier than ever, her hair matted white with dust; they seem to be headed for the hospital (55). Giorgio de Bellazzùcca (Toraci) runs, in the middle of the thick smoke. At the bottom of the railing of the stairs in Misquicqueri (Nello Migliorati), there is a woman standing, clinging with her hands to something behind her head: her belly is torn and her guts out (56). At the bottom of the slope, near the "pompina", Evans (Leonardi) passes by the house of his grandfather Pasquale, who is going down to the street; with him he continues running towards the Roccolo (57). His friend Stefanino (Marsigliotti) takes refuge in the crypt of the church of Sant'Erasmo, which is full of people (58). Franco (Mischianti) at the Lazzaro ditch finds his aunt Marianna (59). Marisa, the girl who had made the salt, joined the many others who flee towards Lazzaro's ditch; but the more she runs, the more she feels like she is going back. After a while the Steak arrives, holding Gabriella (Pazzi) in her arms. Everyone cums in order not to be understood by the children, showing great dismay. They speak of Gabriella's mother: perhaps she is dead (60). "Many dozens of people screaming for the pain of their wounds and for terror, made unrecognizable by the blood, dust and rags they found on them, cry out for help along the road that passes near the Lazarus ditch: they are looking for children, mothers, family members... One of these, with a screaming and tormented voice, accuses: "Ramiro, everyone is crying and why don't you cry?". It means: "You knew that, you are in contact with the British! The fault is yours." Ramiro, in a loud voice, yells at her: "I have been crying for three months ... I have run out of tears." Then it becomes silent in the midst of so much pain and so much torment that it cannot be described "(61). He heads towards the center of the town to bring help. From outside the walls In the neck of the mother who runs away from Piazza San Francesco, the fiolìna of the Jone de Caino yells, because he is looking for the shoe he has lost. Elsa de Sciuscino (Bartoccini) pulls the heavy mother who cannot run. They are desperate for the fate of Rina, the sister, because she went shopping at Quadrio's; instead they see her return all ancenderàta (62). People come from the center smeared with blood. They take Tomassino away, paralyzed by the birth, in his three-wheeled pram: it's all bloody. The Eva (Rondoni) has come down for the funds of Gaetano (Severi); the plate with the meat, which he had placed in a cool place in the window, fell below. He cannot go towards the square, because all the stones are falling down. It goes from part below, towards the nuns, saying: "Will the fioli be found this morning?" (63). Commissioner Ramaccioni passes through the Tiberina and returns home seated on his seat rear of a motorcycle driven by a military man. At the end of the Corso, Ramiro gets up for a moment his head from the rubble he has begun to dig and shouts at him: "You saw he disaster have you made? (64). The Giovanna del torroncino goes up the Reggia stream, with sandals in hand to run more expeditiously; he climbs it for a long stretch upwards, until he reaches a field a Civitella; exhausted, she lets herself fall on the lawn. A farmer approaches her; says that Umbertide there is no more. In fact, looking downstream, you only see a white cloud: nothing else ... not even the bell tower ... nothing (66)! The whole class of Maestro Santini headed towards the Pinewood; at the intersection of the road to Civitella, Peppino da Milano (Giuseppe Feligioni) he reunites with the teacher Santini and his schoolmates. Among them is Polenzano, which leads all in the house of the farm under the Castle, led by his family (67), where they are welcomed and refreshed (68). From school many teachers, surrounded like hens by schoolchildren, they continue to move away from the country, still feeling in danger (69). A janitor runs along Via Roma with a small group of elementary school children (70). Of aprons whites swarm the banks of the stream (71). The janitor's sister runs away from the school lunch to check the conditions of the house grandmother paralyzed in a chair; he finds her weeping for the worry of fate it fell to the family '(72). Emilio (Baldassarri), escaped from the rear stairs of the Goodwill, he ran across the Tiber to get as far away from hell as possible; is revised a school to take the bicycle to return home towards Montalto (73). Giuseppe (Golini) also rides a bicycle along the same road. Shortly before the Corvatto, towards Camillo, he improvises a slalom between the traces left on the road by the bullets of the machine guns: holes of a palm, at a distance of about ten meters from each other (74). An unexpected game! Rolando (Tognellini), once hell finished, resumed the road to Pierantonio; he joins two friends - Marisa (Fanelli) and one of her companions - who come out of a chiavicotto under the railway, where they had sheltered (75). A girl tries to cross the Tiber at Salcetta, to return home without going through the center; at one point the water reaches her neck and she is about to drown. Francesco Marignoli saves her. She arrives home all spring and cold (77). More judiciously Rori (Astorre Ramaccioni) fords the Tiber where the water is low, at the radius of Trivilino: in terror he ran away from school without ever raising his eyes from the ground (77). Menco de Trivilino retraced his steps after fleeing to San Benedetto; to return to home, in his underwear he crosses the river at the Corvatto radius (78). 1) Silvano Bernacchi. 2) Maria Letizia Giontella, "Poetry for three voices and three choirs", Municipality of Umbertide, National Competition 25th April, S. Francesco socio-cultural center, 1983. 3) Silvano Bernacchi. 4) Franco Mischianti. 5) Luigi Gambucci. 6) Fabrizio Boldrini, Luigi Gambucci. 7) Warrior Boldrini. 8) Emma Gagliardini. 9) Warrior Gagliardini. 10) Fabrizio Boldrini, Mario Destroyed. 11) Mario Destroyed. 12) Orlando Bucaioni. 13) Mario Destroyed. 14) Domenico Mariotti. 15) Warrior Gagliardini. 16) Class III A, Mavarelli-Pascoli State Middle School, Grandfather, tell me about the war, 2004. Testimony of Giovanna Bottaccioli. 17) Egino Villarini. 18) Ines Guasticchi. 19) Fabrizio Boldrini. 20) Egino Villarini. 21) Gigina Vestrelli. 22 Amelia Lozzi, Gigina Vestrelli. 23) Gigina Vestrelli. 24) Anna Caldari. 25) Silvano Bernacchi. 26) Giuseppe Lisetti. 27) Fabrizio Boldrini. 28) Alfredo Ciarabelli. 29) Marino Giulietti. 30) Elda Bartocci. 31) Giovanna Nanni. 32) Egidio Grassini. 33) Franco Anastasi, Fausta Olimpia Pieroni. 34) Maria Chiasserini. 35 Fausta Olimpia Pieroni. 36 Franco Anastasi. 37) Ornella Duranti. 38) Fausta Olimpia Pieroni. 39) Mario Alpini. 40) Don Luigi Cozzari, letter for the 1st anniversary. 41) Christmas Lisetti. 42) Mario Tosti, The day of the bombing, poem taken from "National Competition XXV Aprile", Municipality of Umbertide, S. Francesco socio-cultural center, 1984. 43) Simonello Simonelli. 44) Luisa Cecchetti. 45) Lea Rapo. 46) Elsa Caprini, Maria Luisa Rapo. 47) Maria Luisa Rapo. 48) Dina Batazzi. 49) Vincenzo Rinaldi. 50) Francesco Martinelli. 51) Vittorio Giornelli. 52) Romano Baldi. 53) Class III A, Mavarelli-Pascoli State Middle School, Grandfather, tell me about the war, unpublished 2004. Testimony by Lorenzo Andreani and Giovanna Bottaccioli. 54) Warrior Gagliardini. 55) Maria Pia Viglino. 56) Giorgio Toraci. 57) Evans Leonardi. 58) Renato Silvestrelli. 59) Franco Mischianti. 60) Marisa Pazzi. 61) Ramiro Nanni, How I, Ramiro, lived the bombing ..., 1979 manuscript. 62) Elsa Bartoccini. 63) Eva Burocchi, interview collected by his nephew Leonardo Tosti on April 25, 1994. 64) Luigi Gambucci. 65) Mario Tosti (curator), Beautiful works !, Municipality of Umbertide, 1995, p. 132; detail of a photograph from the CGIL Alta Valle del Tevere Archive. 66) Giovanna Mancini. 67) Giuseppe Feligioni, Bruno Tarragoni Alunni. 68) Bruno Tarragoni. 69) Giovanna Mancini. 70) Isotta Baldelli. 71) Pia Gagliardini. 72) Cesira Baldelli. 73) Emilio Baldassarri. 74) Giuseppe Golini. 75) Rolando Tognellini. 76) Giuseppa Ceccarelli. 77) Astorre Ramaccioni. 78) Domenico Baldoni. Prime reazioni nel cratere ALL IN THE CRATER The ebb A residual of life sobs, convulsed, in the crater: ghosts, white with dust and terror, flee in search of themselves and their affections; they intersect with those who, for the same reason, arrive running into the cloud that has swallowed up his house. The reciprocal, obsessive request for news is matched by silences or vague, confused, often elusive responses; pitiful lies that prolong hope for a while. The screams fade more and more into soft, whispered words. With the passage of time, the ebb towards the crater becomes a tide, to see, know, help, in any way. Balducci, the medical officer, interrupted his escape. Astonished, he retraces his steps, occasionally photographing the profile of the tormented town that the wind, dissipating the cloud, slowly brings back to the light. The immense cloud of dust, blown by the wind, spread over the people who fled to the Tiber downstream of the bridge: we do not recognize each other, due to the dust and terror. Reassured by the silence of the engines and machine guns, with their hearts in their throats, they all leave the patóllo and venture towards the country, after hell. They find a tremendous silence that hangs over the frantic work of the rescuers. Reason has taken over from terror. In a few minutes they realize how many have passed away who, until recently, lived next to them. From the hills above the town - towards Roccolo, San Benedetto, Civitella - a ghostly scene appeared: a thick smoke covered all the houses. Then, slowly, we begin to glimpse the turret of the Municipality (1). "The tower is on ... and the Collegiate Church too" - thinks Spinelli (Renato Silvestrelli), who is returning to town - "So ... they didn't do anything ... it didn't go so badly". The dead are revealed The hope - opened by the sight of the tallest, intact buildings - that the damage will be limited, soon leaves the people who go back down to the town. Under the tower there are people crying, dirty with dust; someone is with blood on their face. Near the tub with the fountain, poor women and men - foreigners from the Roman dialect - console each other; perhaps they are guests of the Venanzia hotel, who have come to Umbertide as usual to get some flour and other things to eat; someone is full of blood. He almost stumbles upon the corpse of the shoemaker Pierucci. She has a horribly torn thigh, as if dogs have eaten it (2). At that sight, Spinelli (Renato Silvestrelli) whining in the square, towards home, where he meets his older brother, Stanislao (3). Another little boy at first impresses himself; but he gets addicted almost immediately: luckily at fourteen he doesn't realize it (4). But for adults it's different. There are dead! So many deaths! It was a slaughterhouse (5), a huge disaster. Anguish is rampant (6). In the square Arriving in the square, still shrouded in smoke, the dimension of the disaster is evident: it is a massacre. At the corner towards the Regghia, many white bodies, stripped (7). A terrible sight. Those who arrive remain petrified in front of the tragedy (8). It is the whole country mortally wounded. The San Giovanni district is torn apart. It is traumatizing to see from the square, towards Montaguto, the facade of the Capponi hotel: a large part of the post office building and the whole row of houses in the vicolo di San Giovanni, towards the north, have collapsed (14). In front of the Codovini hat shop, the women of the Ceccarelli family who lie face down have been mowed down (15). The mother is on the ground at the entrance to Via Alberti (16), all covered by a gray dust, next to a basket of grass left in the balance (17). A daughter is near the window; one even more inside the shop (18). The Marianella, the youngest, still gives some signs of life (19). A school friend of hers recognizes her, annihilated (20). On the side wall, towards the Town Hall, stands the poster "The two orphans". The live rerun, unscheduled, of the previous evening's film has a very bad ending: it's over for the two orphans. Pouring on the threshold, Giulia (Bartoccioli), the maid, stammers as if to say something to Rolando del Buffè (Fiorucci), who has just arrived by bicycle (21). He breathes, but he no longer has a leg (22); one piece is a few meters away, with a clog still inserted with the little strap (23); is dying. The accountant Martinelli for a moment has the instinct to give her absolution "in articulo mortis"; but he realizes that, not being a priest, he cannot do it (24). It is a chilling situation. Under the billboard of the cinema, some banknotes for salaries are scattered on the ground, around the counter abandoned by Elda (Bebi Ceccarelli) (25). Nobody cares to waste time collecting all those belleróni who have suddenly regained their natural paper value (26). A few minutes ago, Rosanna (Ceccarelli) was with her aunt Dina (Bebi), at home, above the post office. From the window they had greeted Giuseppe (Chicchioni), the latter's boyfriend, who was leaving in Annibale Trentini's car to return from a license to his place in the Navy. When they heard the planes above the square and saw the two long bombs they dropped, they started shouting to the other women of the Ceccarelli family: "Let's run away, let's run away!". Reunited, they ran up the stairs. They were fleeing towards the Regghia bridge, when Virginia, from the window of her uncle Archpriest, advised herself: "Wait, I'll come too!" (27). At the first roar, Elio (Renzini) - who was at her math class - had immediately fled like a bolt of lightning towards the "case nóve", abandoning the books and the teacher with his mother Geltrude (28). La Dina (Bebi) had continued to run towards the Collegiate; Riego, the hat seller, who had difficulty walking, had clung to his hand (29). Instead, the friends had stopped to wait for Virginia, who had come down to the ground but had stopped standing in front of the door of the house under the arches of the priest: she was still uncertain what to do, because she had left her mother at home, who did not he could run like her. The friends tried in vain to insist: "Come away ... let's run away! (30). They are all dead now. The Virginia lies at the corner of the square (31), between Via Stella and the arches of the priest (32); has swollen lips (33). She was the twenty-year-old niece of Don Luigi, graduating in mathematics at the University of Rome (34). Poor daughter! What a sad end has been reserved for her! ... (35). Mother Geltrude has come down from the house; asks those present if they have seen where the daughter has gone; he does not notice that she is at his feet, dead; with a pretext they try to remove it (36). "She is the daughter of Giovanni (Cozzari)", whispers a neighbor from Virginia (37). They cover it as best they can with a bandone (38), from which a leg protrudes askew. Close to her, on the corner towards the Regghia bridge, is Baldo's body, with zuava trousers; he is all curled up, folded in two, with his legs under his torso facing upwards, one hand on his chest. He is barefoot (39); near the leggings (40); one leg resting on the wall (41). Nearby, a tall man, without a hair, is kneeling over the head of a lifeless young man (Licinius Leonessa). He lit a candle near his face, which he tries to clean up from the very thick dust that covers the whole body, making it unrecognizable: you cannot even see if it is a boy or a young girl (42). They were guests of the Capponi hotel: a tall boy with a distinguished father (43). Gianna (Nanni) was with the other schoolgirls of the Terni seamstress who had been displaced on the third floor of Marcello Pucci's house; they had all fled for Piaggiola, towards the Holy Fountain. But she retraced her steps when she heard them say: "Those pore gardeners ... all dead in the square!". His mom is one of them! On Via Alberti, turning after the Bucitino bakery, you cannot reach the end of the alley towards the square, where the herbivores arrange their baskets of vegetables, because it is blocked by rubble. With yes and one shoe, Gianna passes through the tower, along Via Guidalotti and arrives in the square. Baskets of grass are overturned at the beginning of Via Alberti (44). Where Mom should be there are many dead women, one on top of the other. He recognizes Virginia, close to the charities of the grass. She remains paralyzed, frightened: no one understands anything anymore. Fortunately, his father arrives, trying to verify if among those poor mangled, unrecognizable bodies, there is his Annetta. Raise the skirts of the women to see if they have varicose veins, which the mother has very evident from the knee down: "Shut up ... - he whispers after the pitiful check - ... because your mother is there "(45). Hamlet, the radiotelegraphist husband of Tecla, died behind the house, near the Maurino staircase under the vault to the left of the Post Office. He had escaped many battles; instead, now, after having rescued others, he found death to return to the house, where his wife and daughter had remained. Nino de Capucino (Domenico Mariotti) touches him, trying to stick his head in that alley, to see the back of his house, through the arch They yell at him: "Watch out! Far away! Everything falls! ". The house where his parents lived is no longer there. Where the Quadrio oven was, muffled screams can be heard rising from the rubble (46). Next to the arch, groups of men try to free the people who have been imprisoned at the bottom of the stairs of the building above Galen's barbershop. Someone places the cinema billboard over Hamlet's body. Mario Donnini, head of the Cassa di Risparmio office - a tall dark-haired man - screams, his hands and eyes turned to the sky: "Help! ... Are you there?" (47). Look for his wife and children who lived in the post office building, reduced to a pile of stones. With his hands he scrapes among the stones inside the door and throws them into the square (48). Don Giovanni helps her dig. He brings to light a woman with a child in her arms from the debris: she is Donnini's wife and one of the children. The priest lifts the little body to hand it to Guerriero de Schiupitino (Gagliardini), the Oratorian with the telescope, with the precaution that is reserved for those who are still alive; the boy in turn passes it to another person (49). No one has yet realized that the baby is dead. Another corpse is extracted shortly after. Almost immediately the mother Lodina is freed, still unaware of the tragedy that destroyed her offspring. As soon as she sees the light, she worries about the fifteen-year-old who was helping her to look after her children: they heard each other from under the rubble. "Hurry to save Mary, who is still alive", he recommends. The buried girl can hear her, but she no longer has the strength to answer: she is wounded and fainting (50). Other people, nearby, extract the body of Lina (Violins) who expired under a beam, on the door of her house; they take her away lying on a makeshift stretcher, followed by her father Severino completely beside himself (51). Her feet are broken, at the ankles, like Virginia (52). Maria, the girl who helped Lodina, was right under the body of Lina, who shielded her, saving her. Pacieri, del Niccone, tries to get it out, but the more he digs, the more stones come down, instead of those removed. While he does his best, he holds her hand tightly to give her courage and to feel if she is still alive, because she no longer responds to any call. He manages to free her from the rubble after almost half an hour, around 11. She is unconscious. It comes to its senses by the rebounds, on the curbs of Piaggiola, of the cart on which it rests. It is serious and they take her directly to the hospital in Città di Castello, because in Umbertide there is no longer room for anyone (53). Donnini, the head of the Cassa di Risparmio office, has meanwhile realized the terrible tragedy that overwhelmed him: that father comes down from the dilapidated house with his two dead creatures on his arms; and screams and cries (55). A little later a sound of bells is heard: people think it is the signal that all is over; instead it is he who is ringing the big bell, perhaps to ask for help or perhaps because he is out of his mind for the death of his two little children. Madonna (56)! At the base of the same mountain, Natalino (Lisetti) helps to remove the debris, in search of the friends of Galen's barbershop (57). Someone begins to take care of the corpses freed from the rubble, unrecognizable for their wounds, dust and burns. They drag the bodies of the Ceccarelli and Giulia, the maid, who is expiring at this moment into the post office (58). She chose to die right in front of the blowjob in the square, where she used to fill jugs with water for those who asked her in exchange for a few coins or a "thank you" (59). Don Giuseppe della Serra bends the black cassock over the corpses to bless them; he gives holy oil and absolution to the dying (60). The Salesian Don Giacomo (61) also does his utmost. As they carry the dead to the Collegiate Church, lying on makeshift stretchers with doors and shutters (62). A wooden ladder is also used. While waiting to be taken away, they cover them as best they can, with what is there (64). On the Regghia bridge Pompeo (Selleri), having escaped from school, enters the shop of his father cobbler. She finds him sitting behind his work desk. Wounded and bleeding, he looks at his son, recognizes him and asks him: "Go and see 'de la tu' mamma and your 'brothers ...` n du enno [where they are]. "The son would like to help him, seeing him in those conditions (65). "I'm fine ... my leg hurts ... go and see your mother and your brothers" insists father. Pompeo obeys reluctantly. He doesn't want to leave him alone. of the rescuers who drag the poor man out by the feet, crawling him on the ground; a man passes by, with the yellow band of the rescue workers on his arm, covering the eyes of his granddaughter to spare her the horror (66). on the road, in front of his shop (67), towards the wall of the Regghia where he remains lying motionless: they leave him there, believing that he is dead (68), near the pit of an unexploded bomb (69). signs of life (70), but leaves little to hope; they lay him on a frame and take him to the hospital. Shortly afterwards his son Pompeo returns, c he just saw his house destroyed. He no longer finds his father. Then she starts to cry, desperately. "I am armed alone! My house has fallen", he explains to the Meoni - the family of Doctor Vitaliano - who approached him to ask him what he does when he is so young - he is seven years old - all alone (71). They keep him with them, who already have ten children, until they manage to track down his cousins: Giulio (Guardabassi), Wanda, Linda (72). In Via Grilli Quinto (Pazzi), beside himself (73), has laid his already dead wife on a cart, which he desperately pushes towards the hospital. The body - a big woman, all full of blood (74) - jolts inert on the stone curbs of the Piaggiola descent, lying on the same platform that the butcher uses to bring the animals back from the slaughterhouse. It is the terrifying symbol of humanity's degradation in warfare, condemning innocent victims even to the humiliation of animality. Pass through Piazza Marconi, invoking the name of his wife; due to the jolts, Maria's arm slips over the edge of the platform, dangles towards the wheel, where her fingers get caught, mangling. Ines brings Maria Pia (Viglino) back into the door so that she does not witness that torment (75). At the hospital they make the poor husband understand that there is nothing more to be done. Then Quintus goes towards the nearby ditch of Lazarus. It's all bloody; he washes himself with water from the stream (76). He turns upset. He has a bag with butcher's tools, from which a cleaver comes out. He is beside himself. He shouts: "The amazon everyone !!! ... Thugs !! Murderers !!" (77). In Via Mancini On the other side of the ditch, the butcher is echoed by Lina (Silvia Cambiotti), who shouts with her hands in the air, as if she were alone: "... these criminals ... who have played the alarm! So much the madman all ... I as I will do! ... "(78). When she heard the deafening noise of the airplanes, Lina had been the first to escape from the Tobacconists, without asking for permission as it must be done strictly. Seeing them fly very, very low, she ran towards the fields; to try to hide, she had taken refuge in a ditch. Then, having seen them fly higher, he had thought that by now they had finished bombing and that they were probably moving away; then she ran towards the town, imagining that she would find the bridge over the Tiber destroyed. She was dazed; she thanked God for being saved and thought of taking Amalia and her mother-in-law to escape out of the country. Arriving in the square, she saw a dead woman in front of Codovini's shop: "Uh, Sora Maria is dead!" he thought, believing she was the owner of the hat shop. Then, turning his head in the direction of home, he saw that it had become a mountain of rubble on the front towards the alley of San Giovanni! For the Arches of the Priest she went towards the entrance, located at the back, in Via Mancini; she ran up the stairs. Having made the first row, he saw everything open in front: towards the alley of San Giovanni the house had been gutted! She was shocked. From that moment on he didn't understand anything. Marshal Onnis, having seen that she was beside himself, decided to take her over. He took her to drink in the Roscia box office, at the bottom of the Piaggiola. He did not abandon it until he handed it over to his mother, who had left San Cassiano on foot when she learned of the bombing. In Montecastelli he had obtained a lift from Prince Boncompagni of Fontesegale who was headed to Umbertide with the carriage, to look for Maria Renzini and her family, at the request of her parents (79). In the alley of San Giovanni Nina (Concetta Ciammarughi), her daughter Pierina taken to safety, ran towards the town to check the fate of the other family members. She didn't realize she was barefoot; it passed over stones, glass, debris, without feeling any pain or getting hurt. Arriving at the house of her brother (Luigi Mariotti), who lives in the same house as the Cambiotti, she sees that the external wall towards the Vicolo di San Giovanni has collapsed. But the bed, intact, gives hope that it has been saved (80). Lying on another bed, Sergio, the young son of Busabò, glided over the rubble unharmed (81). He tries to go back to his house, in the alley of San Giovanni - Via Petrogalli 20 - Paolino, the railway worker: the door is blocked by the rubble of the row of houses in front. He doesn't know how to get back into the house. It goes to the other side, the one that overlooks the Via Tiberina. He runs along the railway, towards the station, to take a long ladder. He comes back, puts it on the wall of the house, goes up to the window, manages to look inside: he sees the bloody mother. "Oh my God, what do I do!" he thinks, shocked by the emotion and the urge to help her. He makes her put her feet on the first rung, supporting her from below, pointing to the rung below; he descends it, slowly, and takes it to the Tiber to wash it. "'N du' enno [where are they] Argentina and Graziella?" he asks. 'It's ita a pià' `` l salt; pu 'is arvinuta; he took my daughter and flee away! [She went to get the salt; then she came back, took her daughter and they ran away] "(82). In the alley of San Giovanni a girl cries in silence. The Nunziatina is also dead. The Nunziatina! The classmate, the classmate! It is not possible that it is no more (83). In Via Cibo Raffaele Pambuffetti arrived in the village from Colle with his wife (84), Sora Maria, who has no breath left to run, barefoot, and to invoke the name of her daughter Giovannina, asking everyone if they have seen her. Giovanna del torroncino and Carla, the same age as their daughter, reply - lying - that perhaps she is higher up, together with others. The two parents are divided in the search. She goes to call a friend, Ines (Guasticchi), to accompany her. In the square they find everything in the air: curtains, threads of light, shutters, rubble ... Sora Maria begs everyone, continuously: "Have you seen my Giovannina?". She climbs the stairs of the house in Via Cibo, where she knows that her daughter has gone to class. He claps his palms on the door at the top of the first flight of stairs, untouched. Keep calling her: "Giovannina! Giovannina!". Only the dull thud of the rubble pressing on the wood from the inside responds: together with the arch that spanned Via Mancini, the other dark staircase (88) collapsed with access from Via Mariotti, where Remigio (Tonanni) kept the trestles and pails soiled with dye (89). There the teacher and pupil remained buried (90). At the same time Giovannina's father looks for his daughter towards the Regghia (91). "Pora Cici!" Whispers Lidia (Tonanni) looking at the mountain of rubble, at the end of the Corso, who buried her friend (Cecilia Boldrini) (92). The first care A new chaos has taken over the agonizing silence of the instinctive first aid: orders from those who organize, pleas from those waiting for help, harrowing calls from those who are desperate. The rubble is swarming with rescuers, hiding other dead and buried alive. He still digs with his hands, looking for someone alive. Doctor Balducci put down his camera and ran to the scene of the disaster. Aided by Memmina (Boni) (93), the pharmacist gives the first treatments among the debris of the square. Both appear desperate and upset in white coats, soiled with dust and stained with blood (94). A wounded man - that Ricci who sells at the market on Wednesdays - staggers supported in the armpits by two rescuers; one eye dangles on his cheek (95). «The Armida de Caldaro was brought down by the Carbonari, the peasants under the nuns. She is pregnant: the time runs out in a few weeks. Just think ... she was trapped under the bombing: a bomb covered her and a bomb discovered her "(96), opening a way out for her from under the rubble near the stairs of Bruno's tailor's shop, from where he heard muffled screams coming. It is unrecognizable: the black dress has turned white; seven holes on her head trickle down as many streaks of blood onto the dust. Doctor Lupattelli, who cries: he has just separated from his fiancée, Rosanna (Ceccarelli), lifeless under the dust in front of Codovini's shop (97). Don Luigi complains, sitting outside the door of the Collegiate Church: "Help me, I have a broken leg". Everyone is deaf. They flee: white, dusty, weeping (98). "I can't escape ... I have a broken leg!" (99), he pleads. Giuseppe Rondini, the father of the guard, and Valerio (Valeriano Valeri) help him. The archpriest leans behind them; a German soldier kindly helps him. Hopping on his right leg, he reaches a carriage; with that he is transported to the Civic Hospital, where he receives the first treatments for his bleeding face and a tetanus injection. Numerous injured and dying arrive, without the Archpriest, nailed to his bed, being able to do anything for them. All the priests, after having brought first aid and administered the SS. Sacraments, reach Don Luigi, exempting him from his part of responsibility in the management of the parish (100). German soldiers are the most efficient points of support; they help transport the wounded (101) to the hospital, where the doctors - Migliorati and Valdinoci - do the impossible. There are a multitude of wounded bloody, dusty, who complain, carried on the shoulders' (102), on carts (103), on reclining chairs held on either side by two people (104). The mother of the warehouse manager, about eighty years old, Neapolitan, dragged herself there alone with one arm in tatters (105). With the caretèlla and the horse, Giangio Ramaccioni carries the wounded Gigina, which they managed to extract from the rubble (106). Silvana (Bartoccioli) arrives out of breath, so upset that she could not find the hospital. He asks about his sister. Doctor Sandrino Burelli signals to her that she is on the first bed of the ward, covered by a bloody sheet: she is dead, all ruined, almost unrecognizable. One leg will carry it next to the rest of the body only after a few hours (107). Erminia also died "(108), the widow who, having come down to town from the Preggio countryside, was hit by a vehicle when the planes arrived (109). The buried alive Peppino (Francesco Martinelli), the accountant of Ceramics, in front of those great heaps of rubble does not know what to do. He sees one who climbs on the rubble and he too goes up. At a certain moment he hears Quadrio's voice, almost at the edge of the rubble: "I'm Quadrio, help me!". They take the dust off his face; they try to get him out, but a rod on the railing of the stairs is imprisoning him. Peppino manages, with an unrepeatable effort, to raise the railing just enough to get him out and take him to the hospital. More deeply he hears the lamentations of aunt Fernanda (110). From other points of the crater pleadings for help rise. Rigo and Poldo (Coletti) have stopped hoeing the cìcio in the garden; from the Palazzone farm they rushed to Fratta. They are among the first to arrive in the middle of this bedlam, in search of Mimma (Coletti), wife of uncle Astorre, who is in Pietralunga making the crossings. The situation they find is terrible: Rigo has not even seen her at the front. They spot the Mimma, who asks for help from under the rubble where she was imprisoned. They also hear the lamentations of Augusta (Orlandi), the mother of Peppabionda. They reassure those voices and begin to dig with their hands "(111). Other signs of life emerge from the rubble nearby. Bronzone (112) recommends: "I know Feligioni ... with me there is a woman and a fiolina ...... (113). I am Cesira (Ceccagnoli) and Adriana (Fileni), who were surprised by the bombing while they were going to the nuns "'. The little girl complains: "Don't make any noise, be quiet because I want to sleep ..." (115). Not far away, on the other side of the alley, also Peppe (Cambiotti), Lina's father-in-law, made himself heard. They identified it, buried between the third floor and the roof, on the side of Via Mancini; it remained in a niche, protected by some beams. Can't breathe; he is desperate; you want to choke (116). In the Collegiate Church The shouts, the screams and the chaotic shouting are once again fading into an ever more subdued buzz, until it becomes chilling silence as each one becomes aware of the dimension of his own misfortune. There is no strength to curse one's own pain or words to console that of others. They carry more corpses to the Collegiate on makeshift stretchers, lining them up around the polygonal base of the church (117). The master Marsigliotti, Peppìn de Tafàno (Giuseppe Angioletti), Franco (Caldari), Alfredo (Ciarabelli) and Giovanni (Ciangottini) (118) lay down those who were lying in the square on the ground, making them slip from the shutters used for transport. Thirteenth station Jesus is taken down from the Cross He is closed in the tomb: the light of day has become darkness. An attempt is made to make room inside the church by moving the benches (119). The remains they are placed on the floor (121) between the two doors (122). The church of the Madonna della Reggia, protector of the town, has become the destination of all'22: of the dead who, lined up next to each other on the floor, seem find mutual consolation in the common agony; of the living, who hope not discover the family member or friend among those bodies blackened by the fire, whitened by the dust, disfigured, motionless in the last gesture to reject the end. They struggle among the corpses especially those who have news or suspicion of the presence of the their loved ones in the places affected (123). Even the children come to peek, to rule out that there is in the row of corpses someone from family, friends, acquaintances; or just out of curiosity. But they tremble with fear! What a tragedy (124)! Someone points to the dead, all black and smoked, whispering names, nicknames. "She is our teacher of mathematics "tries to prove one pupil to another he cannot recognize Virginia (Cozzari) (125). ... On the stone belt that acts as a seat / around the Church / near the door of ponente / is seated. silent and collected the old Gaetanino ... / ... the floor without benches / is full of dead / lying and lying in bulk, 1 some with their faces covered with a cloth, / some girls still with wooden clogs on their feet, / on one side there is a mother with two daughters / whom I was running after last night / on the square, near the railway / while playing hide and seek; / and near old Esterina, with one elbow / leaning against the altar, / weeps without comfort. / ... Those people that I knew I are no longer there; / have already entered a world / outside mine, with other horizons / without sunrises and sunsets (126). David (Pambuffetti) meets Miss Giulia there, who lives with her family, and learns the news that her sister Giovannina cannot be found (127). People are shocked in the face of such a disaster: a woman does not even notice the chasm in front of the church (128). A child falls into it: because of the smoke he did not see the hole as he ran towards Via Roma. He's wearing shorts. With bare legs he feels that the earth is hot (129), like the mouth of hell. A group of barefoot kids came running from Buzzacchero to the village, but they had to go back because, when they got close to the Collegiate Church, everything is full of glass (130). Aid is organized The efforts made by the first rescuers bear the first fruits: around one o'clock the wounded still on the surface see the light again. They extracted Elvira (Biagioli) from the rubble, which was trapped on the second floor of the Venanzia inn. He could only breathe because a niche had formed around his head under a beam. They had to work hard to free her legs, crushed by stones (131). Her husband takes her with a handcart to the hospital (132). At the same time they manage to free Peppe (Cambiotti), the farrier: he is alive, but desperate. Between her legs, entwined, they found her lifeless granddaughter Amalia (133). Bruna (Brunori) who is next to Suntina (Selleri), the mare Lola and that of Fiordo (134), all dead, are about to take out of the rubble. He begins to breathe with difficulty because there is no air. She is injured in the head and legs; the right side of the body begins to blacken, because the blood no longer circulates. It has been under the rubble for five hours, always in the right senses and with the certainty of having to die for the mountain of rubble that overlooks it. At thirteen she is rescued by three men - one is Pretone (Bargelli) - who, helped more by their courage than by the means at their disposal, have managed to open a passage. Rescuers found her without clothing, indeed, completely naked. She is frightened, desperate, shocked by the feeling of the imminent end she has just experienced. She was left homeless and without money; in the place of Borgo San Giovanni, he sees a heap of rubble and the streets strewn with deaths and blood (135). Shortly after, nearby, they free Rina de Schiantino (Santini), who had found herself buried with Peppino (Rapo). He held her embraced, held tight, and did not let go. She - tripping ... tripping - managed to separate. She started digging with her hands, despite some broken ribs that hurt her; she climbed onto a cart parked in the room where she is locked up. At half past two he manages to escape outside (136). His hands are bruised and his half-head hair burned from the blast of a blast (137). A carabiniere (138) also extracts Peppino, who was not seriously injured in the head and leg; his shirt is all bloody from the wounds of his friends; they take it away from him and throw it away, so as not to impress him more than he already is (139). They take him to Ticchioni's house (140). The general dimensions of the disaster are becoming increasingly dramatic. Everyone learns the gravity of their burden. Lello (Raffaele Simonucci), desperate, wanders among the rubble showing everyone a flask of oil in his hand that he waves in front of him, as a sign of the bizarre fate: "It remained intact in the fall of the house that killed my wife!" . He adored her, Bengasina (141). Then, slowly, he becomes aware of acting: he begins to dig in search of his wife, helped by his brother Fernando, who came together with a friend on a bicycle from Pierantonio (142). They find their daughter's white Tyrolean sweater (143): it is a sign that they are on the right spot. Other family members organize to dig on their own rubble, hiring workers. Over time, the whole community gets organized. We need to focus on the points where the buried have been able to make themselves heard from the bowels of the mountains of debris. The volunteer fire brigade team (144) went into operation. The persons authorized to access the crater for rescue are selected, making them recognizable by a yellow armband (145). Engineer Pucci, Menchino (146) does his utmost. He has always been a very emotional type in the face of death, but this disaster gives him the courage to extricate himself in a situation of enormous drama. He is connected to Smucchia (Riego Rometti), with whom he is very close, despite the fact that they are of opposite political views. They decide what to do in a standing meeting, in the open, between the sacristy of the Collegiate and the bomb pit. They run down to Ceramica (147) to get shovels and picks to add to their hands; to the fingers; to the nails. With the precious help of Primo (Giovannoni), they organize teams of excavators, gathered in a cooperative, who take away the debris with a pick, shovel and cart (148). Paris, the stonecutter, is naturally among the first to be included in the excavation teams (149). The children are assigned the task of bringing fresh water, drawing it with two jugs from the well of Baglioni, at the bottom of the Piaggiola (150). They try to find wood to build rudimentary coffins (152). They clear some walkways in the middle of the rubble. With the tracks and trolleys of the furnace they improvise a runway on rails to transport the debris (153) from the square to the shore of the Regghia, knocking down the parapet (154). In the allied base In the Campo di Cutella the activity was frenetic: the move, which is in full swing, was added to the scheduled flight missions. At eight o'clock a very large convoy left for the Sinello. Except for the vehicle with the workshop, which broke down just outside the runway, all the trucks arrived at their destination independently at eleven o'clock. The auxiliary structures have also been arranged. In the new location everyone was busy raising the curtains. They set up the kitchens and trailers on worked land. Knee-high wheat sways all around under a gentle breeze. By the end of the afternoon, everything will be ready. The staff still to be transferred waited impatiently in the Campo di Cutella. He had to live, sleep and eat in a shack, as most of the officers' tents and equipment have already been taken away, along with the kitchen and canteen. Lunch was regularly provided for the pilots, who returned without damage to the base, landing at exactly eleven o'clock. As soon as digested they will have to leave for another raid against the same bridge over the Tiber in Upper Umbria, which escaped the bombs of the morning: it is good to take a nap on the cots, while the mechanics check the fighter-bombers. 1) Giuseppe Lisetti, Renato Silvestrelli. 2) Renato Silvestrelli. 3) Dora Silvestrelli. 4) Giuseppe Lisetti. 5) Eva Burocchi, interview collected by his nephew Leonardo Tosti on April 25, 1994. 6) Renato Silvestrelli. 7) Umberto Tommasi. 8) Francesco Martinelli. 9-10-11-12) Unpublished photos by Roberto Balducci, kindly made available by Bruno Porrozzi 13) Bruno Porrozzi, Umbertide in the images, Pro Loco Umbertide Association, 1977, p. ninety two. 14) Fausta Olimpia Pieroni. 15) Dina Conti. 16) Rolando Fiorucci. 17) Francesco Martinelli, Renato Silvestrelli. 18) Renato Silvestrelli. 19) Luigi Gambucci. 20) Pietro Corgnolini. 21) Rolando Fiorucci. 22) Giovanni Bottaccioli. 23) Piero Pierini. 24) Francesco Martinelli. 25) Renato Silvestrelli. 26) Clara Rapo. 27) Annunziata Caldari. 28) Elio Renzini. 29) Dina Bebi. 30) Annunziata Caldari, Clara Rapo. 31) Luigi Gambucci. 32) Assunta Baruffi, Annunziata Caldari. 33) Bruno Porrozzi. 34) Giuseppe Cozzari. 35) Don Luigi Cozzari, letter for the 1st anniversary. 36) Elisabetta Bartoccioni. 37) Domenico Mariotti. 38) Umberto Dominici. 39) Maria Luisa Rapo. 40) Elsa Caprini. 41) Elisabetta Bellarosa. 42) Franco Caldari. 43) Marinella Roselli. 44) Maria Luisa Rapo. 45) Giovanna Nanni. 46) Domenico Mariotti. 47) Emma Gagliardini. 48) Mario Barbagianni 49) Warrior Gagliardini. 50) Maria Giovannoni, manuscript of 2003. 51) Elisabetta Lisetti. 52) Franco Caldari. 53) Maria Giovannoni, manuscript of 2003. 54) Municipality of Umbertide, Report of the social-communist municipal administration on the activity carried out from 1946 to 1952, "Tiberina" Typography, Umbertide, 1952. 55) Francesco Martinelli. 56) Elvira Rossi. 57) Christmas Lisetti. 58) Franco Caldari. 59) Silvia Pitocchi and Anna Cambiotti, typescript December 16, 2003. 60) Francesco Martinelli. 61) Fausta Olimpia Pieroni. 62) Lidia Tonanni, Nella Gagliardini. 63) Bruno Porrozzi, Umbertide in the images, Pro Loco Umbertide Association, 1977, p. 94. 64) Franco Caldari. 65) Pompeo Selleri. 66) Ornella Duranti. 67) Franco Anastasi. 68) Dina Batazzi, Bruno Porrozzi. 69) Franco Anastasi. 70) Mario Migliorati. 71) Pompeo Selleri. 72) Linda Micucci. 73) Vittorio Giornelli, Franco Villarini. 74) Annunziata Caldari. 75) Maria Pia Viglino. 76) Velia Nanni. 77) Assunta Baruffi. 78) Gianna Feligioni. 79) Silvia Pitocchi and Anna Cambiotti, typescript December 16, 2003. 80) Concetta Mariotti. 81) Adriano Bottaccioli. 82) Paolo Mazzanti. 83) Marcella Casi. 84) Giovanna Mancini. 85) Bruno Porrozzi, Umbertide and its territory, Pro Loco Umbertide Association, 1983, p. 74. 86) Photo by Roberto Balducci, kindly made available by Bruno Porrozzi. The first is published in Umbertide and its territory, Associazione Pro Loco Umbertide, 1983, p. 75; the other two are unpublished. 87) Unpublished photo by Roberto Balducci, kindly made available by Bruno Porrozzi. 88) Ines Guasticchi. 89) Renato Silvestrelli. 90) Ines Guasticchi. 91) Ines Biti. 92) Lidia Tonanni. 93) Lidia Corradi. 94) Francesco Martinelli, Fausta Olimpia Pieroni. 95) Ornella Duranti. 96) Eva Burocchi, interview collected by his nephew Leonardo Tosti on April 5th, 1994. 97) Anna Caldari. 98) Annunziata Caldari. 99) Giovanna Nanni. 100) Don Luigi Cozzari, letter for the 1st anniversary. 101) Mario Barbagianni, Orlando Bucaioni, Renato Silvestrelli. 102) Sirio Lisetti. 103) Piera Bruni. 104) Domenico Mariotti. 105) Elvira Rossi. 106) Franco Mischianti. 107) Silvana Bartoccioli. 108) Victim: Letizia Santini. 109) Sergio Batazzi. 110) Francesco Martinelli. 111) Rina Alunno Violins. 112) Ines Guasticchi. 113) Warrior Boldrini. 114) Francesco Martinelli. 115) Ines Guasticchi. 116) Silvia Pitocchi and Anna Cambiotti, typescript December 16, 2003. 117) Fabrizio Boldrini. 118) Franco Caldari. 119) Elisabetta Bartoccioni. 120) Leonello Galina. 121) Fabrizio Boldrini. 122) Franco Mischianti. 123) Irma Mariotti, interview collected by Leonardo Tosti on April 25, 1994. 124) Renato Silvestrelli. 125) Sergio Ceccacci. 126) Olimpio Ciarapica, from a poem of 1952. 127) Bruno Tarragoni Alumni. 128) Assunta Baruffi. 129) Leonello Corbucci. 130) Fernando Zucchini. 131) Walter Biagioli. 132) Giorgio Pacciarini. 133) Silvia Pitocchi and Anna Cambiotti, typescript December 16, 2003. 134) Giancarlo Guasticchi. 135) Bruna Brunori, testimony collected by his nephew Matteo - 5th grade - 1985. 136) Rina Santini. 137) Renata Santini. 138) Giuseppe Rapo. 139) Clara Rapo. 140) Lea Rapo. 141) Betto Guardabassi. 142) Mario Simonucci. 143) Elisa Manarini. 144) Eva Burocchi, interview collected by his nephew Leonardo Tosti on April 25, 1994. 145) Ornella Duranti. 146) In Gagliardini. 147) Renato Silvestrelli. 148) Elisabetta Bartoccioni. 149) Raffaele Martini. 150) Mario Migliorati. 151) PRO, London, Operation Record Book, War diary, n ° 5 squadron SAAF, 1944. Taken from: Mario Tosti (curator), Belli Lavori !, Comune di Umbertide, 1995, p. 48. 152) Elisabetta Bartoccioni. 153) Raffaele Martini. 154) Betto Guardabassi. 155) Archive of the Foggia Modeling and Historical Research Group. Tutti nel cratere FROM THE SURROUNDINGS From the amphitheater of the hills that slope down towards the valley, people witnessed the tragedy in dismay. Paradoxically, the conscious terror of those who have seen from afar had the aggravating circumstance of rationality compared to the ancestral one of those who, directly involved, did not understand anything (1). The news of the disaster spread in a flash to nearby towns and cities. The shock of impotence is replaced by the instinct of solidarity with the wounded country. Aid is being organized from various parts. From Monte Acuto The deaf outbursts, which however made the earth tremble, surprised the kids who were running towards the top of the top of the Valcinella, to better see the show. They saw the planes persistently stubbornly, throwing their load of dark objects which, upon touching the ground, emitted tongues of fire and raised enormous columns of blackish smoke. After a few seconds, the burst. Now Umbertide is no longer seen: he drowns in a sea of smoke (2). Below them, in Polgeto, the Travaglini teacher had let all the pupils out of elementary school: they went down to the fields of Zeppulino, they saw the planes that began the dive and then dropped the bombs. "Oh my God, they are dropping falls'ji ovi!", Exclaimed one of the companions. They only heard the explosions, without seeing the houses where the bombs exploded (3). From the Arcelle A child was gathering strips of dark silver paper across the fields, which had rained down from the sky. He had made a bunch of them when the planes had appeared above the Arcelle, circling behind Montacuto and reappearing, in a circle, one behind the other (4). From Niccone Niccone had heard a bang followed by a rumble that never stopped. Mario (Tacconi), a little boy, ran towards the terrace and saw the devices that buzzed, glittering from time to time. After a few seconds, one of them lowered and disappeared behind Montalto; a few seconds ... and saw a silent mushroom rise from Umbertide, higher and higher; after a few moments, he heard a roar like the one just before. Meanwhile the plane was re-entering formation following the others, who had continued to turn in the carousel until they left, disappearing towards Montecorona (5). Here they are called Picchiatelli, with the same nickname given to Junker 87. A1 Niccone no distinctions are made: every killing machine is "hit on the head". Marcello (Milleri) didn't go to school either. From the hills above the Niccone, sheltered behind an old walnut tree, he witnessed the same scene: he continually turned around the trunk so as to remain covered with respect to the planes, which barely peeked with one eye for the sensation that they were pointing towards him. Pietro (Migliorati), having left the farm "Fondeo", (formerly called "Cavaliere Secondo"), was passing by bicycle, on his way to Fratta to have the sheet of a four-day license signed by the "Servizio del Lavoro" by the Carabinieri marshal. of Perugia. At the sound of the planes, he threw himself into a ditch. Terrified by the explosions, he remained in his hiding place for a couple of hours (6). From Trestina From Trestina they saw the planes lower behind Montalto and a cloud of smoke rising above Umbertide, amidst distant thunder (7). From Città di Castello Despite the confusion of the wards, even the hospitalized in the civil hospital of Città di Castello that the Germans have requisitioned, have heard the noise of nearby planes, in successive waves. The news ran quickly: "They bombed Umbertide". But they are inaccurate news; there are no communications. In the hospital we prepare to welcome the wounded, thinking, very naively, that they can be transported by some means. It is difficult to remember that there are none. The German medical officers, impassive, let it be done. They probably already know about the massacre (8). As the details are known, the dimensions of the disaster are perceived. The rumors spread in a flash. It made a particular impression that among the victims there is Amleto B Anelli, son of Ersilia, sister of Ciliberti, a brother-in-law of Venanzio Gabriotti. The firefighters immediately left for Umbertide to bring help (9). In their midst they loaded Sandra del Sellaro (Cecchetti) who had gone to talk to the teachers to hear how her granddaughter is doing at school (10). Aunt and nephew are desperate because people say they bombed the Tiber bridge. Their family lives in the immediate vicinity. "Suddenly a captain, the commander of the hospital, approaches the Inspector Sister Malwida Montemaggi, who had been forced into service together with other volunteer nurses of the Red Cross:" Two of you have to come with us for an external mission ". Mother Veronica has the service bags filled with dressing material, secretly. A German ambulance is expected. Not even a word about the destination, but it is obvious that it is Umbertide. Sitting on the body of the truck used as an ambulance, next to two German soldiers - another is driving - they never spoke during the journey, incredible for the situation of the roads and for the fear of other incursions. They are in sight of the country. Umbertide is wrapped as in a cloud of dust; the tragedy is legible even from a distance. Houses gutted, so as not to remember that they may have been homes. Umbertide is dead. The soldiers descend on the square of the Collegiata and signal the Red Cross women to enter; they stay out. The volunteers find, lined up within the beautiful church, the dead, who seem solemnly ready for a last appeal. Unreal that so many have reached the terrifying appointment together. Some bodies are torn apart; others seem to sleep; many still have terror in their eyes. A cold, great silence that remains inside. Everything happens in hints, without words; also the acknowledgments, the prayers. The people of Umbertide feel the weight of every word and that excruciating silence is pride, it is anger, it is a complete way of expressing oneself that establishes a kind of kinship with each one, an indelible affection. The two Red Cross nurses can do little: better recompose the dead, lower the eyelids of those who have seen death. They decide with a glance that it is right to leave them with their arms stretched out at their sides, in the pride of the "attentive", without placing their hands on the abdomen, in the resigned posture of someone who has expired by natural death. We embrace the survivors without speaking. Those lines of dead, that untranslatable silence is the only important thing "(11). A group of Black Shirts arrived on the train from Castello, including several people from Umbria. They have placed a small machine gun pointing it towards the straight, at the corner of Villa Zampa: perhaps they want to shoot the flies (12)! Private individuals also got organized: a team of volunteers led by Angelo Baldelli left to help Umbertide (13). From Montone Montone has stopped. In the fields they were hoeing maize, when the terrible scene of the planes in the distance, towards Montaguto, presented itself. At times you could see the glint reflected by the sun of the falling bombs; then the explosion and the rising smoke, dominated by the dull noise of the engines (14). “In elementary school they were all in the classroom. The teacher Gina (Gallicchi) had begun to correct the homework; they were practicing on the blackboard, when suddenly they heard people outside shouting in the streets: "Bombard Umbertide! ... Bombard Umbertide!". They all stood up; frightened, they left by heading along the road from where the martyred town could be seen. But looking down, Umbertide could no longer be seen: only rumblings could be heard. A thick cloud of dust had covered everything. At that sight the teacher and her family were desperate for the fate of their loved ones. Vilma, his niece, has begun to cry: she wants to go home, worried about her uncle Tomassino who, paralyzed from birth, will not be able to flee in the three-wheeled wheelchair and save himself. Some children have fled to their homes; the others, accompanied by their parents who came to pick them up, also left. There is no one left in the school "(15). The seminarians, who had been transferred from Città di Castello to Montone a few weeks after a bombing in the Tifernate, were carrying out the test in French class when the noise of the bombers was heard. Someone yelled: "Run away! ... Go outside! ... They bomb Umbertide!". The seminarians ran to the square of the nuns, under the trees. Leaning against the wall, they witnessed the terrible scene: the dive, the bombs, the blaze, the plane going up, the fumaràa that swelled. Now it seems that all of Umbertide is on fire (16)! «From the Capuchin convent, the marshal's son was going straight down to Poder Grande, down below, almost on the plain, passing through Treppiedi, then Valbonella, Capeccio. In one hand he was holding the small saucepan for milk that he fetches from a friendly family every morning; in the other an anthology of Italian: perhaps, even if schools have been closed everywhere, there should be an exam session for privatists, if not at the end of June, at the beginning of next October. He trotted happily towards his goal, behind the wooded hill of the convent; in front and below, a few kilometers away, the plain where the Tiber flows and Umbertide lies, both hidden by small hills. He was walking along a short plateau, almost a terrace overlooking the landscape, with a farmhouse. The Italian anthology was open to a poem he was reviewing: "La Caduta" by Giuseppe Parini. He was repeating the beginning from memory: "When Orion from the sky declining rages / and rain and snow and frost / over the darkened earth pours ...". He hadn't paid much attention to a buzz of planes hovering high up: these days it's an everyday thing. Lifting their heads from the book, the planes, as small as midges, continued to spin in the sky, intertwining with each other as if they were playing. He had kept going when ... when a terrible crash had hit him, and it had reverberated throughout the valley. The first thought was: two planes collided in their circle. But, a moment later, the truth: a dense column of black smoke had risen from behind those last ridges, right where Umbertide stands. At the same time one of those "gnats", suddenly enlarged, had descended to 45 degrees towards the point from which the column of black smoke had risen; a wheelie to get back up and left behind another terrible crash, with a second column of thick smoke. Even the farmer had gone out to see and the truth had imposed itself in all its tragedy: they were bombing Umbertide! The thought followed immediately, terrible: Dad was there. The boy had turned around, arriving breathless at the convent; Everyone was looking out of the window looking towards the town, Realino, Sora Assunta, the others and ... the mother, in tears: "Giulio, and dad?". He had grabbed a woman's bicycle and found them and off! Down to Umbertide with his heart in his throat and with nothing else in mind but his father. He went down the hairpin bends at speeds he will no longer reach on a velocipede; then the straight road, Santa Maria da Sette, after which there are the first houses of Umbertide, a suburb of Santa Maria. He ran into a schoolmate, Lucio Corbucci, who was hurrying in the opposite direction, moving away from the town: "What a mess!" she did, spreading her arms, with her usual smile on her blond face. With his heart in his throat he arrived at the square of the Collegiata, where a huge crater scattered around with debris appeared before him. Imperturbable, in the same posture as always, calm and peaceful as it was to see him every day and in the same spot, the elderly Mr. Reggiani, who immediately addressed him in a calm tone: "Your father is fine, go, he's there in the square". He has rushed: one side of the square, the left one coming from the Collegiate Church, is gone, horribly transformed into a mountain of debris that has "replaced" it. Her father and a municipal guard are bent over a female body that lies prone, or rather, on half of that body, skirts raised, thighs dusty; the other half, from the waist up, is under the debris mountain. He recognizes her by her features: she is Virginia, the math student. "Go up, go to your mother" - the father tells him, raising his head slightly - tell her that I'm fine and that I will arrive as soon as I can »(17). From Faldo Gino de Bufala (Cartucci) and Guido (Caseti) were weeding the tobacco planter near the mouth of the Carpina, when they saw smoke and mattresses flying up from the historic center of Fratta (18). From Corlo When the planes arrived, they worked the corn with the animals. They saw that they were dropping something. Bruno's cousin, the tailor, shouted that they were bombs and started to cry, because he saw that they had fallen in the area near the bridge. Just in those moments Bruno was dying (19). From San Benedetto Maria (Capoccetti) was preparing the white flour cake for the breakfast of her parents who worked in the fields near Righino, above Bertanzi. When he heard the explosions he knew they were bombing. Then, barefoot, she rushed towards the valley to see the fate that had befallen her relatives (20). At the San Lorenzo farm, in the parish of the Collegiata, towards San Benedetto, they were baking bread when the noise of the bombs paralyzed everyone. Then, who fled here, who there: the bread was burned (21). From the Zeppolotto farm on the hills above San Benedetto, Nello - one of the youngest of the group of partisans of San Faustino - witnessed the bombing, immobile and powerless (22). From Civitella Bruno - he is 6 years old - was parrying the sheep on the hill below Civitella, in the Polenzano farm, when the red-faced fighter-bombers flew over him. He saw that they dropped something: to him too they looked like goose eggs which, however, when they fell on the village, raised a black smoke. When they finished, the fun stopped for him. After a while his parents came, crying in despair, to take him home. The little shepherd couldn't understand why they were so desperate. Nothing better could have happened to him: he had avoided spending a day alone with the sheep. For those animals, on the contrary, it really went wrong: they have to be satisfied with a little hay, inside the sheepfold (23). From Pietralunga The piercing scream of the engines pushed to the maximum and then the dark roar of the explosions repeated by the echo, down in the valleys, was a sign of death for the boys in the bush in Pietralunga: "They certainly bomb Umbertide", they thought (24). In Giglioni, in the Pietralunga area, they still don't know anything. The procession on the day of the rogations is parading behind Don Ivo (Andreani); the songs repeat the ancient invocations for the success of sowing and harvests, which on the occasion are above all pleas for a return to normality. In the morning the peasants placed crosses on the wheat fields: a reed stuck on the ground; on the top a split, with the flat leaf of the iris and a few ears of corn from the previous harvest stuck horizontally - to form a cross. Suddenly the news spreads with a buzz, along the double line of faithful, disturbing the monotony of the litanies: "Umbertide was fatally wounded ... It was a disaster ... the people at the Post Office are all dead ... ". The voice fades around Angelica, the teacher sister of Menco de Trivilino (Domenico Baldoni), a postal employee, on whom furtive glances of commiseration are concentrated (25). The sad singing of the litanies resumes with the usual rhythm and volume: "A plague, hunger and beautiful ... free nos, Domine! ... A sudden and sudden death, free nos, Domine! ...". Unfortunately, the opposite is happening: the Lord has not managed to free the world from disease, hunger, war, ... from sudden death. In Umbertide, dozens of people lost their lives in the blink of an eye, just a few hours ago, for no reason other than the absurd one of the war. Fortunately, the faithful in procession do not understand the meaning of their prayers, otherwise they could doubt the will of the Eternal Father. But He understands and shares the plea, so much so that He made the Son die on Calvary to change the foolish behavior of humanity. They are the final recipients of the prayer - the powerful of the world - who do not know Latin or pretend not to understand it. From the mountains of Pietralunga, where they had seen the planes turn over Umbertide and heard the blows of the bombs, a group of partisans of the Cairocchi battalion, near the San Faustino Brigade, immediately went down to the valley. Led by Deputy Commander Rossi, 26, they help collect the dead to take them to the Collegiate Church and the wounded to the hospital (26). They did not risk little, as the republican carabinieri of Umbertide and Castello were around. Still from Pietralunga, just over an hour after the bombing, another truck of rescuers arrived: seven or eight men with shovels and picks, led by Gildo Melgradi, began to dig in the rubble (27). From Gubbio The Bishop, Beniamino Ubaldi, hearing the news, immediately applied the Holy Mass for the victims of the bombing (28). In the seminary in Gubbio, in the interval between one lesson and another, they had noticed planes in the direction of Monte Acuto, which were circling threateningly in the sky area presumably above Umbertide, hidden from their view by the hills to the right of the Assino. Shortly after, the succession of the dark thunder of the bombs announced the tragedy that was sweeping the country. Now it is confirmed on the streets of Gubbio, where the population has poured in dismay. Two seminarians, Pietrino (Pietro Bottaccioli) and Romano (Children) joined the other Umbertide students who attend the Gubbio schools, to return home by train (29). Peppino del Sellaro (Cecchetti) was also in master's classes. Vincenzo (Fiorucci) had taken him for lunch at his house, in Madonna del Ponte, with an excuse: "Let's have a birthday". After lunch, returning to Gubbio, he slowly revealed to him that they had bombed the bridge at Umbertide. In Corso Garibaldi they found a huge crowd talking about the disaster. Peppino's companions arrived with great excitement: he learned that the most affected part of the town was near the bridge and began to cry, because his parents live in that area. His friends console him, including Gastone (Romanelli). They organize a collection, for the eventuality that, returning home, they do not find anyone; the proceeds are given to him by Franco (Belardi), of the Colonni family, owner of the Cementificio Marna (30). From the Assino Valley For the jolt at the first roar, the Iliad had fallen from the hands of Dina (Conti), a girl who, in Pian d'Assino, was preparing for the afternoon school shift (31). The teacher Checca (Fornaci) had sent all the pupils out, sending them under the bridge of the "Apennines". The most curious - Sirio and Japan - had gone to the top of the little patch. Seeing these black dicks fall, they thought it was a joke; they knew nothing that bombings exist (32). Maria (Ines Montanucci) was mowing the grass along a small road. Realizing the danger, she picked up her little son who was playing nearby and threw herself into the nearest shelter (33). Then, all the people went up to the hill, from where Umbertide was discovered: the smoke, which had risen like a cloud from many parts, spread everywhere, hiding the town from view (34). Peppe (Cardinali) watched from behind the oak trunk of the mill beyond the Assino (35). From Montelovesco they heard the thunder of the bombs coming from Umbertide and they saw the smoke dome getting bigger and bigger (36). The mass for the blessing of the crosses had just ended in Camporeggiano. The people in the churchyard saw the planes, the turns, the smoke, but did not hear any noise, shielded by the row of hills towards the Fratta. The cloak of silence made the vision of the apocalypse even more unreal (37). From Pierantonio Maestro Federico Giappichelli was returning from Civitella d'Arno. As soon as the train left Pierantonio, there was an alarm because planes threatened to bomb Umbertide. They all got out and scattered across the fields. They heard the roars: a hell of a lot. The train left around noon. The teacher got off at the station; he went to take the bicycle he had left at the Pambuffettis, where he goes every Wednesday to buy goods for the shop in Lisciano Niccone. He arrived home at three in the afternoon, exhausted and frightened (39). From Collestrada Renato (Codovini), with all the people from Umberto who joined the "Labor Service", was able to distinctly hear the thunder of bombs exploding from there (40). From Perugia The news has arrived in Perugia: the city is full of tension and emotion. Several people are in tears (41). 1) Dina Bebi. 2) Mario Bartocci, manuscript from 1986. 3) Elio Baldacci. 4) Giovanni Maria Bico. 5) Mario Tacconi. 6) Class III A, Mavarelli-Pascoli State Middle School, Grandfather, tell me about the war, 2004. Testimony of Pietro Migliorati. 7) Alda Pieroni. 8) Eliana Pirazzoli, manuscript from 1986. 9) Alvaro Tacchini (curator), Venanzio Gabriotti - Diary, Institute of History and Social Policy Venanzio Gabriotti, Petruzzi Editore, Città di Castello, 1998, pp. 192, 193. 10) Sandra Cecchetti. 11) Eliana Pirazzoli, manuscript from 1986. 12) Renato Silvestrelli. 13) Francesco Martinelli. 14) Giuliano Cappanna. 15) Gina Gallicchi, manuscript of 1995. 16) Luigi Braconi. 17) Giulio Onnis, typescript December 16, 2002. 18) Guido Caseti. 19) Lina Pippolini. 20) Maria Capoccetti. 21) Dina Lucchetti. 22) Leonello Galina. 23) Bruno Mastriforti. 24) Raffaele Mancini, ... At midnight we bet on the rising of the sun ..., Nuova Prhomos Editions, Città di Castello, 1993, p. 67. 25) Angelica Baldoni. 26) Mario Rossi. 27) Luigi Carlini. 28) Beniamino Ubaldi, bishop of Gubbio, letter of 6 May 1944 to the Salesians. 29) Pietro Bottaccioli. 30) Giuseppe Cecchetti. Gastone Romanelli, after a few weeks, will find death among the 40 Martyrs. Cementificio Marna will become Barbetti. 31) Dina Conti. 32) Sirio Lisetti. 33) Class III A, Mavarelli-Pascoli State Middle School, Grandfather, tell me about the war, 2004. Testimony of Maria Montanucci. 34) Dina Conti. 35) Giuseppe Cardinali. 36) Amelia Picciolli. 37) Francesco Silvestri. 38) Frames taken from: From Rome to Trasimeno: the liberation of '44, Uguccione Ranieri di Sorbello Foundation. The images are owned by the Imperial War Museum. 39) Federico Giappichelli. 40) Renato Codovini. 41) Betto Guardabassi. Dai dintorni THE TRAGEDY WAS WORN Solidarity and selfishness Solidarity, reinvigorated by despair or by the narrow escape, pervades the wounded community: we help each other, we are consoled, we are encouraged. The houses, the pantries are opened; beds are made up under every roof. Outraged humanity responds compactly to the inhumanity of violence. Aldo Burelli had been surprised by the bombs while he was delivering a preparation for the slaves. His son Sandrino, a pharmacist like his father, went to the house of the Gonfiacani, in Via Roma, where his parents are; but when he realizes the disaster and the wounded who are being taken to the hospital, he immediately goes there to bring help (2). Anyone who has ascertained the fate of his parents helps to dig, to bring the wounded to the hospital and the corpses to church. There are also those who are thinking of taking advantage of the misfortune of others: the jackals have already set in motion, filling bales of stuff (3). The dismay at such impudence has created a kind of collective psychosis that favors the spread of rumors that seem unlikely or, at least, exaggerated. Someone even claims to have seen the faiths parade from the corpses in the Collegiate Church. We don't want to believe it. The rumor has spread that "black shirts", coming from outside, have grabbed the destroyed houses. A soldier would have taken several gold jewels: from the discussion with another to divide them, one of the two would have been killed (4). It is only to be hoped that they are all rumors without foundation. Family groups try to get together From the stables of Andrea del Sellaro (Cecchetti) along the Regghia, Guerriero de l'Elena (Boldrini) had escaped turning towards San Francesco, because the Corso was immersed in a tide of dust. At the Arco di Piandana he met Giorgio (Bruni), a friend, close to a group of Neapolitan evacuees who were reciting the Ave Maria. He continued towards the Tiber where he saw his mother, who had gone to wash. Passing through the house, they find grandfather Nìcole in front of its rubble, all white with dust: he had been trapped in the entrance of the house in front of Ferruccio, together with others, including Remigio (5). The latter, being very slender, had managed to find a passage through the hole opened by another bomb, widening it just enough to allow the old de Paris (Miccioni) and Nìcole to pass too (6). After a while Brizio (Boldrini) arrives, Guerriero's brother. Crossing the mountain of stones, with his heart in his throat, he turns towards his house: it is no longer there. Sitting on a stone, all white with dust, grandfather Nìcole is waiting for him: he cries, tears run down his face. She helps him up, hugs him. His grandfather whispered to him: "Mother and Warrior are fine, they are waiting for us at their uncle's house (7). Orlando (Bucaioni), Brizio's neighbor, ran towards the town, after having abandoned cane and frogs. After crossing the same hill, he runs towards Piazza San Francesco without even looking back to check the state of his house: he is told that his mother has gone towards the Caminella. From her, when he finds her, he knows that the house is destroyed and that his father is certainly dead, because he has left him in the kitchen to have breakfast (8). Commissioner Ramaccioni wanders around the heap of rubble, who immediately went back down to the village, after having reassured himself of the conditions of his family in his villa on the slopes of Romeggio. He took his wife with him, known in the village as "the young lady" to distinguish her from her mother, "the lady". He wants to realize the disaster and bring help; the dismay and concern are magnified by the thought of the cursed siren that he failed to sound. People, when they see them, rant. Elena de Bartulino swears (9). Her husband, on top of the mound with his arms raised to the sky, yells: "Cowards ... cowards !!" (10). But immediately the urge to dig prevails. Pia (Gagliardini) arrives to ascertain the fate of her mother and sister who were in the shop on the Corso; Gino (Sonaglia) tries to block her and take her away, because it is dangerous, but to no avail (11). The smoke above the place where loved ones presumably were is a dramatic clue for those who are worried about resolving the most dramatic doubt: the death or the life of a family member. For everything else, the strength will be found. Nino (Egidio Grassini) had gone with his father to the tobacco factory, where his mother worked. It looked as if the building had been hit, for it was overhung by a huge cloud of dust; instead it was the cloud that had risen above the historic center, moved over there by a slime from the north wind. They find their mother unharmed; all together they make bundles and evacuate to San Benedetto (12). From Caldarelli, the farmer in front of Peppoletta, Franco (Villarini) embraces his father who is crying, because he has seen columns of smoke rising from Schiupitìno, near his house; Zerullo (Luigi Ceccarelli) consoles him who still does not know that he has lost his wife and two daughters: his whole family (13). The same black mushroom is near the house of Sor Guidi who immediately ran towards the Regghia to track down his sister-in-law; his son Walter also came to pick up his aunt Checchina (14). Margherita (Tosti), putting her head out of Secondo's stable, believed that the thick smoke towards the village was right above her house. She ran in that direction. Fortunately, immediately after, at the beginning of the Fornacino embankment, he met his father with his almost two-year-old brother riding over his shoulder (15). ... To flee clinging to / from a desperate head / to wander in search of survivors, / of a useless survival ... (16). As soon as the Margherita sees them - they are alive! - throws the satchel into a ditch, announcing that he will no longer go to school (17). He continues with them towards the patollo, together with his uncles. Someone calls and looks for relatives, while the first news of deaths arrives. The father, already desperate on his own because he lost his wife two months earlier, repeats to everyone he meets, horrified and anguished: "Beautiful works! Beautiful works!" (18). Gigino (Vestrelli), in search of his wife Giuditta, is upset because he is convinced that it is the poor woman who died in the square, which is actually Virginia (Cozzari). Instead he finds it on the Tiber, among a group of people who ask if they have seen it; she does not realize that she is among them, but completely unrecognizable, so much is she upset and dusty (19). Eva (Rondoni) ran down to the Tiber to see if the nuns' house had gone down. He takes his daughters and Anna de Caldari, the daughter of Armida, who stands door to door. Her husband Peppino went up to the workshop, but he couldn't find the children. Alberto was in the square, where he saw Virginia de Cozzari die, the Bebi ...; thanks be to God he saved himself from Bertanzi. The other smaller male, Pompeo, is hiding near the workshop. Peppino returned to his wife on the Tiber. He whistles in the usual way to track her down. When Eva hears him and sees that he is alone, she removes the desperation by intimating: 'I fioli du enno? [the children where are they?] He didn't win '[don't come] down without threads! You go as you please [take] the threads and bring them down "(20). The Nunziatina de Saltafinestre (Bucatelli) is still trying to track down her mother vegetable garden; Marshal Onnis - who knows her well - asks her what she is doing there, in the midst of that disaster. She replies that she is looking for her mother. The Commissioner, who is with the marshal, tells her - without any caution - that if she is dead he will find her in church. At which, the marshal is very worried (21). Another gardener, Annetta, reappears to her husband and daughter, in despair: she is unrecognizable, although she is shocked and covered with dust. They really recognize her from varicose veins. They go towards the Collegiate Church, where Senta Reggiani tries to alarm everyone by shouting: "Go ... go! Go away, because they come back!" (22). «Many people continue to go up the course of the Regghia; who screams, who cries, who curses; but no one says anything to little Luciana de Zúmbola, who tries to clean her knees, hands and nose, injured by a fall; she cannot understand what happened; it stops on the escarpment of the stream and waits for an infinity of time. At one point he sees his father Gino advancing on the small road, riding his black "Legnano". When he sees her, he jumps off the bicycle, picks her up and holds her tightly; a hug that Luciana will never forget! She doesn't look at him, but hears him crying. They sit on the edge of the field and remain embraced for a long time: she feels she is safe! After recovering a little, the father begins to ask people he knows if they have seen his wife and mother; having no news, he decides to go home. Leave the daughter to acquaintances. After a while he comes back with something to eat, which he has taken from the house. But he found neither his wife nor his mother, nor his youngest son: he is distraught, because he knew where the bombs fell. Try to get your daughter to eat something; then he decides to go even further. When I am under Viuliuo - the farmhouse on the hill - on the field that descends towards the Regghia, Luciana sees the figure of her grandmother with Enzo, her little brother in her arms: she calls her loudly, but her father has already gone off like a rocket. He crossed the stream and in a moment he is on the other side. Zùmbola takes her mother in her arms who, in turn, has her little grandson in her arms: a human bunch "(23). Elisa (Pucci), with her inseparable white towel over her shoulders, stopped on the cypress road: she must retrace her steps, as her first instinctive desire would have been, to return home to the "tree-lined" where 'is Franco, the son of a few months (24). He finds him with Giuditta (Alunni), who has brought him to safety. In Via Spoletini, at the nuns' school, the nuns hand over their children to their parents who gradually present themselves with an excited and weeping voice. Guerriero Corradi, who found it difficult to get out of the photographer's shop in Via Cibo, passes in front of the school on his way to the next door, where he lives. "It's all a ruin," he keeps repeating as in a chant. It proceeds in the middle of a river of weeping and lost people (25). In the house opposite, Giovannino (Migliorati) found his desperate people, because they do not know where his sister Maria is, who went to the Quadrio oven (26). Sora Maria (Pambuffetti), a neighbor, with the vain hope that her daughter Giovannina has already returned from class, arrives in a hurry - bare feet returning to the dust (27). She is exhausted. He continued to wander all the streets, begging for news. Everyone replied in a vague way, without the courage to take away her hope: "I seem to have seen you run away with Gina..." (28). She sits outside, desperate, under the window sill on the ground floor, with her fingers clinging to the fly protection net: she cries silently (29). At that moment the daughter of the Migliorati appears, Maria; she is so contracted that she cannot release her hand on the handle of the leather bag with which she had gone to buy the preserve two hours earlier (30). Giovannino (Duranti) was taken by the hand by Baldo (Ubaldo Morelli), a work colleague of his father, who returns him to his parents on the Tiber near Taschino, where a flood of people has gathered (31). Count Ranieri took over Fausto (Fagioli), with red hair, who lost his mother and sister. He takes him to the Castle of Civitella, seat of the German command (32), where a cousin of the child's mother, recently orphaned, helps in the kitchen (33). Long-term kinship with a maid is sufficient for solidarity. Under the hill of Civitella, Mariolina and Lea (Rapo), after escaping from under the bed, reunited with their grandmother, who had been surprised by the bombing under the Tiber bridge and had brought the clothes with the cart to the cellar of Camillo, hiding them under the barrels (34). Peppino (Lisetti), the shoemaker, returned home to Pian d'Assino and found everyone in great agitation, because the rumor had spread that "Peppino de Montecorona" had remained under the bombing; but they did not know if it was he or Giuseppe Pierini della Badia, the barber's boy Galeno, who really died. Someone notices that the little shoemaker is bleeding from his left leg: he hasn't even noticed that a seed, one of the longest ones, has stuck between the two bones of the leg, letting out only the head (35). Dina (Bebi) had taken refuge in the Lazzaro ditch. When her father found her, he confessed that her cousins, from whom she had recently separated, were dead. Together they went to the Marro, as agreed in the event of a bombing. The hosts welcomed everyone with great hospitality, making Sora Teresa, mother of Dina lie down on the bed. After a while, Peppe (Chicchioni) arrives, the boyfriend, who had gone back to Pierantonio, having heard the rumors about Umbertide. They hug: it is an opportunity to overcome the small disagreements that had shaken their bond (36). Oddly enough, bombs can also have pleasant side effects, for once: they strengthen love! Silvano (Bernacchi), who miraculously escaped the collapse that devastated his grandparents, is rescued by Doctor Porrozzi, who leads him to his home near the iron bridge of the Rio. The little boy is slightly injured. They meet the teacher Dino (Bernacchi), the father, who, having seen the planes and the smoke on Umbertide, had delivered the children and headed home by bicycle. But he does not recognize Silvano, until the doctor tells him: "Your son is here!" (37). Unfortunately, not all of them manage to reunite. Peppino (Baiocco), who had escaped to Piaggiola, set out to look for his mother and sister. She finds her mother with her cousin Franco (Mischianti); no trace of his sister and a tragic presentiment (38). Gigetto de la Posta (Luigi Gambucci) had tracked down his mother and sister to the nuns. Father Baldo was neither at home, where someone had seen him pass, nor with them; then he made them wait, assuring her that he would go looking for him. It goes towards the square from the Collegiata. He glimpses Virginia on the ground at the corner of Via Stella. Aldo Zurli stops him as he senses the reason for his wandering. He points to his father, after having accompanied him for a few steps: he is on the ground in the square, dead, just around the corner, towards the arches of the priest (39). Even Tittina (Fiorucci), around two o'clock, learned that her mother was dead: they found her on the step of the shop, with a cross beam that suffocated her. They take her to the cemetery with a cart (40). Lina (Silvia Cambiotti), with her mother, had gone to the Collegiate to see if her daughter and in-laws were there. No trace of the daughter among those poor bodies. Suddenly, the tremendous confirmation that Amalia is dead. They tell her that they took her away: she would have found her in the cemetery. In fact, the corpses from the Collegiate Church carry them away as they arrive, because they no longer have anything to do with it: carts full of bodies, one on top of the other, tied with ropes. Torn by desperation, Lina drags herself with her mother to the cemetery. In the church he throws himself on his Amalia, who he immediately recognizes in the midst of so many bodies lying on the floor: it is the end. All the unbearable cold, suffered in the glassless house in San Cassiano to keep her daughter safe, did nothing. He led her to die in the house in Via Mancini, after making her struggle unnecessarily. All in vain: so many sacrifices for nothing! She seems to recognize the mother-in-law in one of the other corpses. When in doubt he has to open her mouth to see if she is toothless like Marianna. She has all her teeth: it's not her. She picks up her daughter, with the head resting on her neck. On foot, she heads to Montecastelli, accompanied by her mother. He wants to bury her in the cemetery near his parents 'house: "So much as a mo' Moor [now I'm dying] too!", He thinks. They continually switch over to each other to bring that lifeless little body. They cross the Tiber with Carosciolo's boat in an unreal silence: no words, only the drops of the oars dripping on the river, like tears. Moored on the other bank, they proceed across the fields towards Montecastelli (41). The instinct for normality resurfaces The cloud of dust has not completely dissolved, which resurfaces in people who have not been affected in the closest affections the instinct to continue, despite everything. Life goes on. At the bottom of the Piaggiola, as soon as you begin to see something again, a woman sweeps in front of the house; Aldo (Fiorucci), her son, takes her by the arm and convinces her to flee towards Roccolo, which her father had established as a meeting point in the event of a bombing4 (42). Giovanna del torroncino (Mancini) and Carla have lost their orientation a little and are returning to the Tiberina, almost at Pian d 'Assino. They head towards the town and meet, in front of the Tobacco factory, an acquaintance who reproaches them, as if they had skipped school: "Ma` ndu séte state [where have you been], until now! v'arcercono [they seek]! Sintiréte le bòtte !! ". Never has the threat of a reprimand been so welcome: it is a sign that mothers are alive. Giovanna had feared the worst, because her family lives just behind the station, considered one of the most likely targets of the bombing. At the station he finds his mother and grandfather, who wants to take everyone to his home, to Niccone. But first we need to find the younger brother who is in kindergarten with the nuns. There are many looking for their children: but there is no trace of Luigino. Fortunately, Sister Adele happens to let him out from under the zinale where he had taken refuge, having considered it the most welcoming place: "Here he is, uncle Luigi!", She reassures us. He calls it that, affectionately, because it is the smallest of all4 (43). Sister Adele's petticoat [cassock] has really become the feathery cradle of a hen. As soon as the bombing had ceased, Nino (Grassini), at the bottom of the Piaggiola, had met Bruno again, from whom he had just separated. "Nino! Nino!", "Bruno!", They called each other. Together they had jumped the network that separates Via Vittorio Veneto from the field of the old church of Sant'Erasmo. Along the Regghia, Nino had met his father who had come down from San Benedetto, where he worked. Only then did he realize that he had never separated from the book of philosophy - 1-Emilio ", by Rousseau - which he should have brought to class; he had thrown it away with a kick. But immediately afterwards he had picked it up, thinking that otherwise he would have He had to buy it back: the school, like life, will continue. (44) Maria di Gesuè goes around the Collegiate Church to look for the satchel that his nephew Vittorino (Tognaccini) lost while fleeing from the sacristy to their tavern (45). Gigolétta (Mario Loschi), who has a small smelter's shop near Renzo's workshop, goes to check if the bronze statue of the Unknown Soldier has fallen in order to eventually melt the debris (46). From the Orlando Caldari workshop, recovering from the fright, they try to take the agricultural machinery to shelter in Civitella (47). The relatives of the owner of the shoe factory at the end of the Corso, abundantly scrambled their son Sirio (Lisetti) because he had run away, without notifying anyone. Then they went to retrieve the shoes thrown by the bombs on the banks of the Tiber: but most of them have already been taken by the people (48). Lorenzo (Andreani) and his family went back to the house to get the most necessary things. All loaded, they head towards the countryside. As they go down the Piaggiola, the basket with plates and cups slides from their mother's head to the ground. They collect all the pieces that, with glue and patience, will regain their original function: in the future there will be even less to throw away (49)! La Rosa (Baruffi), with her daughter Sunta, returns to the Tiber to pick up the cart, abandoned with the clothes she was washing (50). The money, which a few minutes ago fluttered around the square from the post office bag undisturbed, has already regained its value. A man looks for the bag he had kept ready near the door of the house with all the essentials, including that little bit of gold and the 100 lire postal vouchers that he paid every month for his daughter. He finds it under the arch of Via Mancini, about twenty meters from home: only the lining remains, but the contents are intact (51). Vera has returned to the Vibi house to get the gold and the money, but the soldiers prevent her from getting on. Tonino (Taticchi) - `l Bove - convinces them to let her pass, assuring them that she is the owner. He accompanies her and takes the opportunity to retrieve a revolver that he had hidden in a safe closet in that house (52). Even in Via Alberti the owners found, in the midst of the rubble, the purse with money - intact - and half a pat of lard, which will be a great company these days (53). The stomach, in fact, does not hear any laws; it knows no bombs, no deaths; when it is time, he arrogantly claims his share. Peppino (Rondoni), around eleven, went home. He found on the ground all the bread dough that had to be brought to the oven: leavened, it was overflowed by the mattra. He made up for it by making pancakes. He cooked and burned them. But when he distributed them to his own and to the people down the Tiber, no one made the griccia (54). At lunchtime, in the Sciabone farmyard - the farmer behind the Commenda, towards Civitella - there is bread and ham for everyone in the shade of the haystack; the effort of Anna (Bartocci) to bring him to safety was not in vain (55). Manco had been `nduvina [not even had been a fortune teller]! Guido (Lamponi) went to get seven rows of bread, which he had collected in the morning from the station oven, and a shoulder of pork. Everything is available to those present (56). Lazarus has brought some vinsanto, what he has prepared for when his son Pietro will sing mass. From the bottles that had become cloudy on the bottom due to the crash of the bombs, by pouring the clear part, he managed to fill a flask (57). Linda, having recovered from kindergarten, arrived along the Tiber from Palazzone, where she found a lot of other tobacconists and potters: someone is at home, others behind the haystack, others still behind the hedge. There are too many to have the courage to ask for hospitality. But there is no need: at half past two the hosts, Poldo and Rigo, distribute a cauldron of soup with chickpeas to everyone (58). Someone, relieved to have escaped, even has the strength to joke. "They did not recognize each other", comments - once the tragedy is over - the collaboration between Alfredo (Ciarabelli) and Giovanni (Ciangottini), who went back and forth from the rubble to the Collegiate Church, at the ends of the same stretcher with the dead person to take to the church: everyone knows that they are of opposite ideas - communist and fascist - with only myopia in common. Gamba de Balùllo manages to be witty. They ask him, "That man, have you [have] seen Trotta?" And he replies: "'n lu know [I don't know] ... trótton all!". In reality he had seen him, Dr. Trotta with his family, and had not hesitated to throw himself on the doctor's daughter, Lycia, obeying the splendid girl who begged: "Cover me, cover me!" (59). Animals also need consolation. Domenico (Duranti) crosses the bridge over the Regghia carrying with him the cage with the greenfinch Picchiottino, who is silent; he is vented by what he chirped for help, from under the table, where the cage from the window had been thrown (60). The eggs that had been laid to hatch in the house of the Boriosi hatched in fact due to the great noise: the chicks could not resist coming into the world to see what had happened. Now they console themselves in the breast of the mistress who has adapted to brood for the emergency, at Santa Maria da Sette (61). For the hierarchies nothing seems to have happened. An SS officer, accompanied by one of the militia, went to Marro to check the fate of the bag of money that disappeared from the post office. They ask Peppe della Fascina (Giuseppe Venti) who had brought the package from the station for an explanation: luckily he can show the receipt signed by an employee. Alongside the military, Gigino Ceccarelli - from the Post Office - must attend the bureaucratic task, despite being overwhelmed by grief for his exterminated family (63). Displacement As soon as you have found your relatives, you need to look for accommodation outside the country, to spend the night and to survive in the next few days, until when - who knows when? - life will not be reborn - will it be reborn? - in the destroyed country. A desperate multitude pours into the countryside: it is a biblical exodus. The family of Guerriero (Corradi), the photographer, is headed for the house in Preggio. He and father Antaeus in front; on bicycles; behind his wife, his daughters with the nanny (Emilia Matteucci) and the essentials on the cart pulled by a white-tailed horse, which Checco de Camillo was able to make available. They had to wait for the return of his wife Maria, who had gone to look for Umberto, the boy in charge of taking medicines: she had reappeared, white with dust, after being reassured by the pharmacist that the apprentice photographer was safe and that he had fled in the direction of San Benedetto. Other people have joined, taking advantage of the means to upload something. When the cart, after the level crossing, is just beyond the bridge over the Regghia, the father goes back to warn: "Stop, ... the dead are passing". The gig stops. The standing men take off their hats: on the first stretcher a woman with purple feet. More stretchers pass and someone asks whose miserable remains are. The transporters, on their way to the Collegiate Church, respond like automatons to what little they know (64). The teacher Gina (Gallicchi) was left alone with her daughter Luciana; he does not return to the temporary home in Montone, but sets out along the road that leads to the cemetery. Arrived at the curve of the cemetery she sits down on the grass, scrutinizing the faces of the people who come up from Umbertide, anxious to have some certain news. Everyone looks at her and no one speaks; fear can be read on their faces. They walk slowly, because they have bags, parcels and clothes in their hands that are used for temporary accommodation with friends or relatives. Look at those people who pass in silence as in a procession; he does not have the courage to ask anything, because he fears bad news. After a few hours of agonizing waiting, she sees Peppe, her husband, appear among the many people. Then exult with joy; goes to meet him; they hug. He picks up his daughter and fills her with kisses. It ensures that all their loved ones are safe (65). Around noon, grandfather Mancini leaves for Niccone with Giovanna del torroncino, her granddaughter, on the barrel of the bicycle and the rest of the family. When I am at the beginning of the bridge, the spectacle is terrible: mountains of rubble ... people screaming ... praying ... calling for help ...; the air is red-dust. Grandpa recommends: "Don't look ... don't look !! (66). Pistulino (Quintilio Tosti) with his family - his son riding a horse and his daughter by the hand - crosses the Tiber under the Gamboni lock: the water bubbling under his feet calms, after so much noise. They are directed to the farmhouse of their sister Ida, towards Niccone, whose family had replaced Milli, the farmer who had been sent away from the farm because of socialist ideas (67). Next to his parents' house destroyed by bombs, Nino de Capucino (Domenico Mariotti) saw Virgilio's (Bovari) bicycle perfectly efficient: it would be very useful for the transfer to Preggio which he is about to tackle, on foot, with the whole family; even if there is little to take away, other than what they are wearing. He tries in vain to borrow it from his master, but cannot find it. He decides to take it anyway: it is not the time for ceremonies. The family leaves for Preggio, with the support of Virgil's bicycle (68). Brutus (Boldrini), informed by someone that his daughter Cecilia is from Caporalino, arrives all out of breath to the Petrelle, where he discovers that the report was wrong: he finds his niece Adriana and not his daughter, who is buried, together with her friends and Bruno , under a mountain of stones. The uncle, when he realizes the misunderstanding, is unable to hide his disappointment in his face (69). Peppino da Milano (Feligioni) looks for his relatives coming down from Civitella through the fields; at the Cornacchia farm he finds his mother, aunt Ines and grandparents, desperate for his fate and for his father, who is still under the rubble, alive (70). Olimpia (Pieroni) and his family tried to flee towards the Abbey. They force them to go through the Madonna del Moro, where they meet Dante Baldelli and Giselda Ciangottini, who suggest they resume the straight instead of the river bank, otherwise they will arrive with difficulty. Along the way they stop at the house of the Fornaci, distant relatives as well as family friends, who offer food; then they leave again in the direction of the Colle, with the children Bettina and Marcello (71). 1) Drawing by Adriano Bottaccioli. 2) Maurizio Burelli. 3) Warrior Boldrini. 4 Mario Rossi, deputy commander of the Cairocchi battalion. 5) Warrior Boldrini. 6) Lidia Tonanni. 7) Fabrizio Boldrini. 8) Orlando Bucaioni. 9) Fabrizio Boldrini. 10) Mario Migliorati. 11) Pia Gagliardini. 12) Egidio Grassini. 13) Franco Villarini. 14) Ines Biti. 15) Margherita Tosti, manuscript of 1985. 16) Mario Tosti, The day of the bombing, poem taken from "National Competition XXV Aprile", Municipality of Umbertide, S. Francesco socio-cultural center, 1984. 17) Quintilio Tosti, oral testimony collected by his nephew Marco - 5th grade - 1985. 18) Margherita Tosti, manuscript of 1985. 19) Gigina Vestrelli. 20) Eva Burocchi, interview collected by his nephew Leonardo Tosti on April 25, 1994. 21) Annunziata Bucatelli. 22) Giovanna Nanni. 23) Luciana Sonaglia, 2001 manuscript. 24) Annunziata Caldari. 25) Lidia Corradi. 26) Giovanni Migliorati. 27) Lidia Corradi. 28) Ines Guasticchi. 29) Maria and Giovanni Migliorati. 30) Maria Migliorati. 31) Giovanni Duranti. 32) Saints Improved. 33) Fausto Fagioli. 34) Maria Luisa Rapo. 35) Giuseppe Lisetti. 36) Dina Bebi. 37) Silvano Bernacchi. 38) Giuseppe Baiocco. 39) Luigi Gambucci. 40) Annunziata Fiorucci. 41) Silvia Pitocchi and Anna Cambiotti, typescript December 16, 2003. 42) Aldo Fiorucci. 43) Giovanna Mancini. 44) Egidio Grassini. 45) Vittorio Tognaccini. 46) Renato Silvestrelli. 47) Amedeo Faloci. 48) Sirio Lisetti. 49) Lorenzo Andreani. 50) Assunta Baruffi. 51) Annunziata Fiorucci. 52) Vera Vibi. 53) Maria Chiasserini. 54) Eva Burocchi, interview collected by his nephew Leonardo Tosti on April 25, 1994. 55) Anna Bartocci. 56) Ines Biti. 57) Class III A, Mavarelli-Pascoli State Middle School, Grandfather, tell me about the war, 2004. Testimony of Giovanna Bottaccioli. 58) Linda Micucci. 59) Luigi Guiducci. 60) Maria Duranti. 61) Rina Boriosi. 62 Bruno Porrozzi, Umbertide in the pictures, Pro Loco Umbertide Association, 1977, p. 93. 63) Muzio Venti. 64) Lydia Corradi. 65) Gina Gallicchi, manuscript of 1995. 66) Giovanna Mancini. 67) Quintilio Tosti, oral testimony collected by his nephew Marco - 5th grade - 1985. 68) Domenico Mariotti. 69) Adriana Ciarabelli. 70) Giuseppe Feligioni. 71) Fausta Olimpia Pieroni. Prime reazioni nel cratere Tutti nel cratere Dai dintorni La tragedia si è consumata La seconda incursione - Catarsi La tragedia si è consumata THE SECOND RAID Word has spread that in the afternoon they will return to bomb, because in the morning they did not hit the bridge. Natalino (Lisetti) warned everyone he met. The Archpriest also has this presentiment (1). The few people left in the village, because they are engaged in excavations (2) or in taking away the indispensable (3) from the houses, are with ears pricked. It's just after four (4). Suddenly there is a stampede in the square: at the telephone point in the sentry box of the level crossing, the news of the arrival of another raid has arrived from Perugia (5). After a while, at 4:25 pm, the sirens sound in Città di Castello (6). The alarm spreads among the people, from person to person (7). Everyone flees like lightning towards the nearest safe place, in every direction: the Caminella (8), the slaughterhouse (9), the hospital, the furnace, the fields towards the Tiber (10). This time, after the morning disaster, no one underestimates the danger. Rescuers are also forced to flee. For the buried alive it is the coup de grace: when they realize it, they lose all hope. ronino de Bronzone (Antonio Feligioni), who in the late morning had managed to signal his presence and give instructions on how to be taken out, was about to be released; at this point he feels definitively lost (11) and screams in despair. Someone has the courage to stay to take advantage of the silence, which could make us perceive other traces of life. They hear the moans of a little girl. Perhaps it is Adriana, the niece of Quadrio Bebi (12) that Bronzone had reported near him, together with Cesira (Ceccagnoli). The planes from the direction of the Pantano approach Umbertide, strafing from time to time. At the height of the Canadà - the poplars that line the Tiber towards Montecorona - the fighter-bombers surprise the Pieroni, who are forced to hide; their children, now tired, fell asleep like dormice (13). La Loredana (Trentini) is returning to the Pantano, capecióna as before because Velia hadn't even started cutting her hair in the Corso hairdresser. At the Badia, right above her, she hears the machine gun crackle of an airplane. He has the impression that the little man who guides him is shooting at her. He throws himself on the ground in the middle of a field with stubble; blood comes out. Thinks you are hurt. Terrified she starts running. He climbs over a wall and falls behind, hitting his head on the ground. She feels doomed (14). The flock of red-tipped planes is the same as the one it bombed in the morning. The fighter-bombers proceed in formation from Montecorona; they pass Umbertide in the direction of Montone. Maybe it was a false alarm. A child, Benito, parries the pigs on the hill. To pass the time he had climbed to the top of a very thin cherry tree, as tall as an albaróne, playing swinging. Look, intrigued, at the German anti-aircraft battery that tries to counter the air attack from the position of Santa Maria da Sette: the bullets explode overhead, exploding like fireworks; some piece of metal falls around him. Not at all intimidated, he witnesses the show in ecstasy, blissfully continuing on his swing (15). Above Corlo, a plane suddenly veers left towards Sant'Anna (16), then dives into the bridge with the sun behind it (17). The others start to turn over the Faldo plain (18). It is a quarter past four (19). The multitude that had left the village since the morning, watches from the hills, dismayed and silent, aware of the new imminent havoc. The family of Guerriero (Corradi), the photographer, arrived in Montaguto on the cart pulled by the white-tailed breaker which, despite its size, can barely trudge along the uphill hairpin bends; they tried to make him rest, taking advantage of the stops to exchange news with all those passing by. Some people of the group remained in Romeggio, welcomed by Don Checco (Francesco Corradi), whom his grandfather Anteo wanted to greet together with the other brothers. They saw the planes appear on the horizon that suddenly fell downwards: "They dive!" someone says. "They drop the bombs", warns another (20). Gigetto (Luigi Gambucci) is halfway up the hill of Romeggio, together with his mother. He sees the first pair of bombs fall into the valley below, enveloping their home in a sea of smoke. "They took our house in full [they hit our house]", he whispers (21): the Vibi palace has been gutted. Within hours, his family was deprived of his father and his home. Among those rubble, on the first floor, also the relics of Garibaldi's passage disappear: the iron bed where he had slept, a saber and a painting with the General, who was the terror of children (22); the red enamel cup used by the hero of the two worlds, held like an oracle on the window sill above the rinsing machine (23). The symphony begins again (24): one at a time, the planes detach from the circle, strafe (25) and, in a dive, try to hit the bridge. The second pair of bombs falls near Trivilino; one remains unexploded (26). Another coppiola hits Camillo's house (27): the beams fly up, as in a firework (28). Nino de Capucino (Domenico Mariotti) sees her jump from Polgeto, where he arrived with the whole family and Virgil's bicycle (29). The ANAS warehouse near Maddoli is pulverized (30). Other bombs explode on the banks of the Tiber, throwing stones up to the slaughterhouse (31). One remains unexploded on the stone in front of Peppino Rondoni's house (32). Some boys who were coming down from the hill of Romeggio, where they had gone to look for the splinters, attend the show (34). Again, a great fuss arises over the town (35). Other young people hid in a small ditch on the edge of the same road. The aircraft that regain altitude pass very close to them, in the gully between Romeggio and Colle delle Vecchie. The boys distinguish the pilots very well and have the impression of being seen. They curl up even more in the ditch, for fear of being machine-gunned; the heart beats very strongly with fear, but above all with the thrill of seeing a bombing plane and its pilot up close (36). On the opposite side of the valley, towards the Marro, a terrified woman is unable to hold back the urine, which she spreads on the ground in front of everyone (37). The Fornaci ladies, always impeccable and refined, lie with their feet soaked in the Regghia, behind the crag that shelters them, too low to contain them (38). On the outskirts of the town, the rescuers who were busy in the excavations crouched in temporary shelters. At Caminella they threw themselves into the holes left by the roots of the uprooted poplars, where the carcasses of sick animals are usually buried (39). Settimio (Burberi) has his work cut out for his son Dolfo's head inside the hole, who stands up pointing to each plane when he dives: "Here he is ... here he is!" (40). Next to them Carlo (Polidori), another teenager, whimpers: "Oh my God, my casine!". At the same time the displacement of a bomb causes it to fall into the Tiber (41). The splinters hiss over the heads of people lying on the ground behind the river banks (42). Several people poured under the crag beyond the house in front of the hospital, towards the furnace. Here comes Emma (Roselletti) who was loading the last box of books on the cart with the horse and checking that it did not remain on the ground in favor of something he cares less about. She is terrified of having already suffered a bombing in Rome, in the area of the freight yard of the Prenestina station (43). From the market, many fled to the Piobbico garden and threw themselves into a ditch to collect rainwater, all getting dirty (44). Along the Reggiani orchard, at the Lazzaro ditch, Clementina says the rosary, while another old blasphemy because they machine guns, too (46). Mario (Destroyed) watched the scene paralyzed from the Gamboni lock, embracing a plant; to the unconsciousness of the morning, the experience just lived has made the terror take over (47). After this second undertaking, the pilots write down in their flight log the result that appeared to their eyes: they assert that the road was centered twice to the west of the bridge and once to the east; that three more shots fell just north of the bridge, on the stone; all the others did not hit the road bridge, but enveloped it in smoke and dust without inflicting damage. In reality, once again the bombs missed the target: only the first pair of bombs touched the target and another damaged the national road. The successive shots drifted further and further away, due to the cloud of smoke, like in the morning. This raid also failed. You return to the base without credits. When the planes fly over Ulderico's shop in Montecorona, at the level crossing at the end of the straight, in Pierini's house it is a pain. They have lost hope. Teresa, Peppino's new mother, is making the dress to bury her son who has not returned from Galen's barbershop (48). Up there, in the cockpits, they can't see or hear anything. During the return to the base camp, they console themselves by strafing a truck, which is destroyed by fire, and an electric locomotive: this is the sop given to the Pierantonio station (49). Visibility: bad. No AA over the target. Landing: 5.40 pm. Total flight time: 31.00 hours. 1) Don Luigi Cozzari, letter for the 1st anniversary (1945). 2) Christmas Lisetti. 3) Adolfo Burberi, Bruno Burberi. 4) PRO, London, Operation Record Book, Detail of work carried out, SAAF, 239th "Wing Desert Air Force", 5th air squadron. 5) Fabrizio Boldrini, Bruno Burberi. 6) Alvaro Tacchini (curator), Venanzio Gabriotti - Diary, Institute of Political and Social History Venanzio Gabriotti, Petruzzi Editore, Città di Castello, 1998, p. 192. 7) Franco Anastasi. 8) Fabrizio Boldrini, Bruno Burberi. 9) Betto Guardabassi. 10) Franco Anastasi. 11) Giuseppe Feligioni. 12) Mario Simonucci. 13) Fausta Olimpia Pieroni. 14) Loredana Trentini. 15) Benito Broncolo. 16) Angelo Santucci. 17) Franco Anastasi. 18) Willemo Ramaccioni, oral testimony collected by his son Carlo - 5th grade - 1985. 19) PRO, London, Operation Record Book, Detail of work carried out, SAAF, 239th "Wing Desert Air Force", 5th air squadron. 20) Lidia Corradi. 21) Luigi Gambucci. 22) Renato Silvestrelli. 23) Ruggero Polidori. 24) Bruno Burberi. 25) Velia Nanni. 26) Luigi Gambucci. 27) Franco Anastasi, Luigi Gambucci. 28) Margherita Tosti. 29) Domenico Mariotti. 30) Luigi Gambucci. 31) Betto Guardabassi. 32) Eva Burocchi, interview collected by his nephew Leonardo Tosti on April 25, 1994. 33) Bruno Porrozzi, Zlmbertide in the images, Pro Loco Umbertide Association, 1977, p. 94. 34) Giorgio Bruni. 35) Franco Anastasi, Fabrizio Boldrini. 36) Willemo Ramaccioni, oral testimony collected by his son Carlo - 5th grade - 1985. 37) Christmas Lisetti. 38) Warrior Gagliardini. 39) Fabrizio Boldrini. 40) Bruno Burberi. 41) Adolfo Burberi. 42) Giovanna Nanni. 43) Emma Roselletti. Taken from: Simona Bellucci and Edda Sonaglia (curators), "Group of women on March 8" by Umbertide; videotape. 44) Domenico Manuali. 45) PRO: Public Record Office, London, Operation Record Book, Detail of work carried out, SAAF, 239th "Wing Desert Air Force", 5th air squadron. Taken from: Mario Tosti (curator), Beautiful works !, Municipality of Umbertide, 1995, p. 50. 46) Assunta Baruffi. 47) Mario Destroyed. 48) Fausta Olimpia Pieroni. 49) Archive of the Umbrian Central Railway. Will to rise again Only a few weeks have passed since the disaster that nature - driven by the reproductive instinct of the species - has already begun to react. Perhaps she has no feelings: she has not noticed anything. Or he has already forgotten those strange thunders out of the blue. Or it has a soul: it wants to encourage men to raise their heads. The swallows screech again, in their beaten garrules hunting for insects among the ruins. New seeds have taken root, managing to pierce the carpet of dust: in the vegetable gardens the weed is spreading patches of green. Even among the debris of the apocalypse the stem of a few poppies spread bright red petals. Nature seems to herald the miracle of the country's resurrection, defying wickedness and encouraging hope. Fifteenth station Jesus rises from the tomb The will to react is also creeping into men's pain: collective tragedy tempers individual dramas; the pain of the neighbor contains and holds back one's own despair, soothing it. From the terraces of the hills all around the town, where we were welcomed, guarded, cared for, protected (2), we anxiously await the allied soldiers to bring peace and freedom. We do not have time to realize the paradox that the expected liberators will wear the same uniforms and wave the same banners of the twelve apostles, who sowed death along the Calvary of St. John. "We are forced to desire the arrival of an enemy to drive out another, more ferocious enemy ... Poor Italy! [Venanzio Gabriotti]" (3). The anxiety of going home, the hope of starting over makes us feel an extraordinary, inexplicable, incredible strength within us. Life after death touched upon is new life. We have the feeling that the martyrdom of our dead was not in vain: it was the tremendous passage towards a new redemption from the indolence of having passively witnessed the degradation of the founding values of civilization. All men have purified themselves - in a global catharsis - on a new Cross; on millions of crosses. Jesus died again with our dead, to save us and to rise again, together with humanity. A better world Life will be reborn: it will soothe pains, heal wounds. Paolino, the railway worker, will be able to bring flowers, together with new children, to the coffin that contains all his family; as well as Peppe de Moscióne (Bernacchi), his old neighbor in the alley of San Giovanni. Pompeo (Selleri) will have the strength to exhume his father shoemaker from the cemetery of Castello, where many times, from the Tifernate college, he had gone to visit him to honor his memory and draw courage. He will see the bones again, with the silver ring on his finger - the gold one he had given to the Fatherland - and with a broken leg (4). He will put the remains of his parents next to each other in Umbertide. He will resign himself to imagining close to them the bodies of the brothers that he will look for in vain in all the cemetery (5): no one will find any trace of them (6), as if they had sublimated themselves. Luciano's mother (Bebi) will find a sad serenity, in the eternally black dress of mourning. All together - we, the Germans, the Anglo-American allies - will have to have the courage to ask for forgiveness, for the acts of barbarism that each has on the conscience and the duty to forgive, as individuals and as States. A better world will be born from the tragedy. An imperfect world We know it will be an imperfect world. Heroes like Hamlet, Luciano, Linda, Maria, Fausto and all the others who died for the love of their loved ones will be forgotten. The marshal will risk being purged, despite his exemplary behavior, in a difficult balance between the obligations of the hierarchy and the duties of morality. The jackals will get rich with what they grabbed from the ruins while the others wept or helped the most unfortunate. The most acrobatic opportunists will acquire merit, to the detriment of those who have really raised their heads against evil. Even when it was clear that the wickedness of the individual has exceeded the limits of the rules of war, it will be easy to achieve impunity behind the alibi of the chain of command, of obedience to the superior, of the risk of life in case of disobedience: legitimate self-protection. . There will be enormous difficulties of investigation in tracing individual faults. In barbarism, with the end of reason, subjective responsibility fades into the spiral of hatred, revenge, terror, the survival instinct from which every individual is sucked. "In war everything is possible (7). But the war is not! There will be no more war! This will be the last! We are convinced that the sacrifice of the dead and the living will forever guarantee lasting, eternal peace: it is not possible that the tragedy experienced did not teach humanity everything! Forever! By now we are vaccinated: against dictatorship and against war. We have not learned the lesson from the history books that we are unable to read and could easily forget. We have lived this tragedy (8)! The martyrs of the Calvary of St. John live beyond life, inside our heads: the testimony of their sacrifice has been imprinted in the social chromosomes of our community, not only as a memory but as a teaching. We have witnessed that there is no Manichean separation between peoples of good and peoples of evil; but that there are good and perverse parts, according to the quality of the objectives they pursue. Within each part, the individual can maintain the autonomy of expressing his own nature, generous or evil, in his personal behavior, within the limits allowed by the environmental constraints that war magnifies. We have experienced that there are no collective faults. This time we have experienced firsthand that war is an abomination: not only because it tortures and kills, beyond all imaginable limits of perversion; but above all because, with the end of the rule of law, it empties man - every man, wherever he is on the side - of his faculty to judge and operate freely, according to his own will, nature, culture. War castrates man of the capacity for will that distinguishes him from animals. Man becomes an animal. Men become herds of animals. States become barbarians. The first gunshot generates a void in the categories of reason, law, ethics, in which men of good will lose the possibility of action and proposal: they cannot speak a language they do not know, use the tools that they do not know. they want to fight. It would be an unequal battle. They have to wait for the end of the war to restart the work of peacemakers with the restoration of the rule of law. These are the most disturbing effects of the state of war. The last useful war This, which still continues to sow tragedies along the path of blood to Berlin, will be the last war - adjectives can barely get out of our mouths - just and useful. It is really hard for us to admit that every day we approach the still fresh mounds of earth where our dead rest; yet, perhaps, this is the first time in human history that violence has served any good. This conflict defeated the abominable project of Nazism, with its diabolical atrocities. It has shown - and taught - that the terrifying destructive power of modern weapons has expanded the battlefields to the cities and the defenseless, hitherto essentially reserved for professionals, albeit unfortunate men. From today wars are no longer terrible competitions between soldiers, but tremendous instruments of destruction of peoples. Now half the world knows this, for having lived it on their own flesh and soul: common people will no longer have excuses to ignore themselves, nor will leaders have instruments of plagiarism towards unaware populations. This will be the last conflict: on the graves of our dead a new civilization will be founded, based on freedom, on democracy which, combined with awareness, will be a guarantee of indefinite peace. Plowshares and pruning spears will be built from the swords (9). Peace is not free It will not be free peace. We must avoid the risk that the other half of the world, unaware tomorrow as we yesterday, will repeat our same mistakes. We will have to help her to fight against ignorance and poverty, so that she can understand. Even before that, we must understand that our help does not respond only to the duty of solidarity but also to the selfishness of protecting our own peace: indifference towards distant outbreaks will be paid with greater virulence when these flare up on us. If cooperation does not replace exploitation, marginalized peoples - when they acquire awareness and discover secular abuses - will seek justice with the improper weapons to which they have been trained: ferocity, cruelty, hatred, fanaticism. The dangers The first, more subtle, danger to maintaining peace lies inside our heads. History teaches us that the memory of past mistakes is destined to fade with time and with generations. As the wounds - as is natural - heal and the pains ease, even in the survivors the memory of the single facts will fade. Even more the memory of the tragedy will fade in the minds of those who have only been able to imagine it from rare black and white images or from stories that will be perceived as unreal, impossible: sad fairy tales served up by old stoned. It is unthinkable that the generations of the third millennium are moved by past stories. just as we no longer shed tears for Cesare Battisti or the Bandiera brothers. Our duty It is up to us - only to us - to act immediately to prevent the recurrence of the evil. «At the origins of civilization, no one had questioned whether a war was just or legitimate: it was simply an instrument of the arrogance of the strong, who did not have to justify themselves to anyone. Then, with the Middle Ages, theories on just war arose, linking it to the pursuit of more or less noble aims. After the Spanish conquest of America, a new, modern legitimation of war was introduced, with the intention of justifying the dominion over the Indians and their world: war is the way in which the king, that is the sovereign state, does it justice. And since the sovereign state is such to the extent that it is sufficient in itself and cannot turn to a third authority for justice, if its own right is violated, justice is done with war, because it does not recognize any other authority above. self. War is the king's instrument of justice; it is a form of jurisdiction. War, as an expression of sovereignty and the figure of the modern state, is at the center of the system of international relations: it is a legitimate and, indeed, ordinary institution. It is up to us to undermine the concept of absolute sovereignty: no state can be considered self-sufficient. The task of prosecuting crimes between states, of claiming justice, of ensuring peace and security belongs to the international community, to a higher third which is the community of peoples "(10). Strengthened by freedom and democracy for the first time savored, we will immediately have to build supranational instruments capable of governing conflicts between peoples in the name of all humanity, avoiding confusing justice with revenge, law with force. We have the duty to enable our children to follow an obligatory, natural, definitive, obvious path. Apodittico: like the sun, the air, the universe. If we fail to leave this legacy, we will condemn them to relive other tragedies - on their own skin - to understand what we have undergone and learned. We will have betrayed our main duty as fathers by leaving them naked. The duty of the children The duty of the children will be to remember - without emotion - our history, which is the premise of their history; not to give in to the instinct to minimize the danger of new wars, attacks on freedom and democracy; defend and strengthen the tools - which we will have built - for the prevention and peaceful settlement of conflicts between peoples. Future generations will have to distill and cultivate the moral of our testimony: there was a terrible war in this valley too; the bombs, real, fell on their houses, they tore their relatives to pieces; the community to which they belong has no privileges of immunity to violence. The one just lived must be the last war; there can be no more useful wars, because they will have to be prevented in any case; any unfortunate future declaration of war will be the sign of the most tragic defeat of a world of forgetfulness. Our children will have to consider the problems of the rest of the world as their own, avoiding the risk that the well-being we have conquered becomes, for their consciences, an anesthetic to solidarity; while it will appear as an intolerable privilege in the eyes of the marginalized. To wake up from the torpor of opulence and addiction to violence, they will not have to wait for the unimaginable to happen: even the powerful and not just other humble shoemakers, sweepers, bricklayers, such as those of the Borgo di San Giovanni, become victims of barbarism; let the symbols of power collapse and not poor huts; that half the world is witnessing the atrocious spectacle, for some gimmick, and not just the diggers of Montone or the shepherds of Valcinella. If, even in this tragic eventuality, our children will jump indignantly in their armchairs, as if they discovered only in that moment the outrage of violence, without realizing that they are witnessing the last episode of a continuous series, in every corner of the world; if they will stubbornly respond to violence with blind violence instead of dialogue, feeling like the good sheriffs of the planet: then they will have the responsibility of having nullified the sacrifice of the dead of St. John and of those of all the other wars. The hope If that were the prospect, it wouldn't be worth it not even worth rolling up our sleeves to start over, in the hope that there is granted to see the birth of the new world (11). We are sure that man cannot be like this stupid not to have learned everything, forever! ... Now my heart is beating fast, I punch the pillow, then a nearby hand looks for my face and caresses me sweetly. Maybe I'll be able to sleep, now I feel the peace, peace is beautiful ... (12) 2) Raffaele Mancini, ... At midnight we bet on the rising of the sun ..., Edizioni Nuova Prhomos, Città di Castello, 1993. 3) Alvaro Tacchini (curator), Venanzio Gabriotti - Diary, Institute of Political and Social History Venanzio Gabriotti, Petruzzi Editore, Città di Castello, 1998, p. 94. 4) Pompeo Selleri. 5) Linda Micucci. 6) Umbertide Municipal Archive, 30 September 1944. 7) Albert Kesselring, Memories of war, Garzanti, 1954, p. 263. 8) Francesco Martinelli. 9) Prophet Isaac, Chap. II. 10) Raniero La Valle, "The end of modernity", The return of the war, Editions "1'altrapagina", Città di Castello, 2002. 11) Bruno Orsini, typescript from 1990. 12) Giuseppe Avorio, Peace is beautiful, "National Competition 25th April", Municipality of Umbertide, S. Francesco socio-cultural center, 1994. 13) Mario Tosti (curator), Beautiful works !, Municipality of Umbertide, 1995, p. 37. PHOTO GALLERY La seconda incursione - Catarsi

The Stonecutters of Niccone And the "ciaccabreccia" of the Tiber curated by Francesco Deplanu This is a beginning, a research perspective with few news and sources that we intend to follow, however: workers and jobs lost in our territory linked to physical and productive characteristics that have changed over time. We have news of the stonecutters of Niccone da Giovanni Bottaccioli who in 1985 fixed his memories on the " stonecutters " of the hamlet where his family came from within his text on the victims of Penetola . In fact, among the victims of the Forni family there was Canzio and Ferruccio was also killed for the Nencioni family: both stonemasons. In this regard Bottaccioli wrote: “ As I have already mentioned, Canzio was part of that large group of Niccone stonemasons, for whom it is necessary to say a few words since their work was in demand 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 Forni 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. ". Giovanni had also kept some instruments of the Medici family, the family of his wife Renata, a beloved lifelong companion: hammer and chisel dating back to the end of the nineteenth century and left by him father Orlando. It is the action that is done with the tool that gave life to the name of their trade: “scalpére” is in fact a Latin term which means to carve, engrave, the term “chisel” and then “stonemason” derived from it. According to what Giovanni's nephew Giampaolo Bottaccioli reports, the chisel was hardened "with water" and not with "oil." That is, the tip was hardened with a series of successive immersions in water. Giampaolo also remembers the "acute ”Characterizing the hamlet of Niccone since the morning when he was little: the intermittent noise of the chisels on the stone. Again thanks to the Bottaccioli family, thanks to the availability of Giovanna, daughter of Giovanni and Renata, we were also able to photograph the 1893 hammer, which had belonged to Giuseppe Medici and then to his son Orlando, known as Guido. They were important tools, prepared precisely for the processing of stones and were passed from father to son. The gesture of hitting the chisel to model the yellow sandstone and the more gray one, that is the pietra serena, bent the metal giving us the sense of fatigue, blow by blow, which allowed their achievements. This instrument was the "mallet" or "stonecutter's mallet": it was composed of an untempered iron head with two quadrangular mouths and a central eye for grafting the wooden handle. The work of the stonemason in our areas probably did not have the same distinction that existed in other parts of Italy between real "quarrymen" and "stonecutters", the type of possible works and the realizations visible in the area. Our "stonecutters" moved among the roles of laborers, workers for structural work, craftsmen for the precise realization of architraves or other simple decorative elements and, if necessary, they had to respond to requests for skill and sensitivity almost from artists for the realization of more complex decorations. Surely the "bulk" of the activity was aimed at the construction of steps, sidewalks, building finishing stones, etc ..., and it was a tiring job: sitting on the ground with the constant risk of being hit by a splinter in the eye. Isotta Bottaccioli remembers the immediate and peremptory warnings to go away for this reason that they received as children when they got too close to the "stonecutters". Angeletti Angelo, in his book “ If only the Stones are left to speak ”, where he tells his childhood and the life he took to Montemigiano, also reports the child's games they played at Niccone: " Every now and then, interrupting the game, I would start looking at the stonecutters who, sitting on the ground, beat and beat with strange hammers on large stones and hit their hands and their faces thick with dust and sweat, but above all their eyes amazed me, because they reminded me of those of the rabbits my grandmother raised, so red they looked like burning coals. "(Cit. P.41). The precise indications of Giovanni Bottaccioli should be confirmed at least by working documents or indications of payments, if any, especially as regards the external columns of Santa Maria della Reggia. We are left with the existing decorative / architectural and the material sources. As for the church of Maria SS. del Carmine di Niccone, the work of the last "survivors" of this workforce is also visible in the decorative element of the portal of the facade, now actually completely covered with ivy. There is very little news on the net but on a site of the "Catholic Church" dedicated to the description of the churches in the various Dioceses you can read: " entrance portal consisting of an opening surmounted by a round arch surrounded by a large molded frame ". This At first glance, the "entrance portal" appears to be in "pietra serena" even if it is not specified on the site ... as certainly are the entrance and interior steps; instead, "Lisciano Niccone" rather than "Niccone" is indicated as the location of the church. The church, as reported on an internal plaque, was consecrated in 1947 by Bishop Cipriani and commissioned by Don Pericle Tirimagni. Cement, the building material it replaced the stone was used to structure " two large concrete parallelepipeds protruding from the plane that houses the openings and the portal. These projections that occupy the facade for its entire height are decorated with a series of horizontal bands that are repeated from the base to at the peak ". Isotta Bottaccioli has a clear memory of Orlando Medici, known as "Guido", who worked incessantly to create the external "decoration" of the forepart. The church of Niccone, with the façade still visible in the 70s-80s and as it is today. Photo 1: http://www.chieseitaliane.chiesacattolica.it/chieseitaliane/schedaca.jsp?sercd=37995 Photo 2: Francesco Deplanu Isotta also remembers the instrument with which "Guido" medici worked, "beat" or "tapped", to prepare the decorative stones of the facade of the church of Niccone and the external steps in pietra serena and those that allow you to go up to the Presbytery. A different hammer from the one preserved and visible above, with a notched plate on the surface. A hammer that Isotta recognizes among the historical ones that were certainly used in Tuscany that can be traced on the web: the "bocciarda". This instrument was also called "bocciardà" in the marble quarries of Bassano del Grappa. Duilio Truffelli, in the memories of his son, used to call this instrument is the "liar", an evidently distorted modality of the local dialect. We report the definition of a company of the "Tuscan boulder" that has recovered the tools of the ancient "stonecutters": " Big hammer having the end of the mouth equipped with several points pyramidal one next to the other, used in the processing of stones to make them rough (beating). Also known as a grain hammer. ". "bocciarda" was to hit the stone with the notched part so that all the points touch together. The surface of the affected stone thus becomes dotted and is defined as an "orange peel". An estimate can be made of how many stones that adorn the facade have undergone the "beatings" based on the old images of the church: the ornamental bands are about 60 for each "tower", each band has between 4 and 6 stones on each side ( are 3 sides), this leads to a number between 700 and 1000 stones worked probably one by one since in the immediate postwar period modern technologies were not available. It was certainly a collective work of the "stonecutters". Isotta on the steps of the church of Niccone in the 1950s. The decorative stones of the façade are still visible. The "bocciarda" to "tap" the stone. Image from the web. The "beating" of the exposed stone in the decorative stones of the facade of the church of Niccone with its "orange peel" result. Details of some internal and external ornamental stones of the church, with signs of aging and flaking together with the visible "fine-grained punching" in the entrance step. Commemorative plaque of the consecration (1947). Niccone building with openings on the facade all decorated in pietra serena. As for the origin of the most characteristic material used by the "stonecutters of Niccone", ie sandstones, we have confirmation of at least two "facts". The first is the existence of a "microtoponym" mentioned by Bottaccioli that is visible in the "tablet" of the IGMI with relief from 1941, F. 120 I NO, where you can highlight the signs of a slope line represented by small wedges, with probable emergence of sandstones, at " i Giappichini ", near Molin de Vitelli. The second is a historical reference to a sandstone "quarry" right near the town of Niccone. In the text of Bernardino Sperandio, " Of the Umbrian construction and ornamental stones " a document is reported among the "Inventories" entitled " State of Mines, Mineral Sources, Quarries, Workshops existing in the Municipality of Fratta, province of Perugia, district of Perugia ", ASCU year 1861. This inventory indicates the " Quarries and Torbiere " of Fratta (cited in the text "Umbertide" also if in fact his name had not yet been changed). The document reports various types of stones, among these the " Strong sandstone or stone are used for use [...] " (the "pietraforte" in Tuscany is a very solid sandstone) and their presence is indicated as well as in the Parish di Romeggio, also a site in the “ parish of M. Migiano owned by the suppressed Eremo di Montecorona ”. Montemigiano above Niccone. One thinks that it is no coincidence that such a high presence of "stonecutters" has developed at Niccone. The town acts as a "link" with the road that connects the Tiber Valley and Tuscany where the "pietra serena" was also used as a "stone of art". It's still famous is the pietra serena ("boulder") Fiorenzuola, an area where the only quarries still remain economically active today. In Tuoro sul Trasimeno there were some valuable quarries in the past, if you re-read the Bottaccioli pass you can see that the quarries used by the Niccone stonecutters "proceed" towards the lake; area with a similar surface geological composition. Proceeding from Molin de Vitelli and then towards "la Mita" you arrive at border with the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, historically, and Tuscany today. In Tuoro this activity is remembered by the sculptures of the "Campo del sole" at Punta Navaccia. It is probable that the "stonecutters" of our area have borrowed knowledge and working methods from their Tuscan neighbors rather than from the ancient tradition of the "stonecutters" of the Eugubino, where limestone was and is the stone of art and construction. Limestone that needs another type of processing and that has a very different resistance to atmospheric agents. But here there is absolutely no security given what can be found in the quoted text by Sperandio quoted above. In the Gubbio, in fact, there are two specific types of sandstone, the " corniolo " and the " palombino ". The first is also called "boulder". The "Corniolo", mainly used since the 15th century, it is assumed that it came from the Scheggia area or from San Benedetto towards Pietralunga. Also it is mentioned that this stone when it was found it was “ set aside in the fields, in small boulders of gray-green colors until they took on a yellow-ocher hue ”. Harvesting action carried out in the winter by farmers since the Middle Ages. Those who know the hills that go from Niccone to Tuscany know well how it is common to find similar "boulders", which are usually present in our rural buildings. The “Palombino”, a less frequent and more compact straw yellow sandstone, was used instead in the 17th century and was extracted in the upper part of the Bottaccione. The Collegiate, Santa Maria della Reggia, (details and photos from 1929) with the external columns in evidence; the fountain rebuilt in 1978 and the main door of the Town Hall, all in pietra serena. The fountain that someone today calls of “One thousand lire”, due to the last restoration made with the last “lire” in 2001, after the changeover to the euro, has an ancient history. The previous restorations date back, as Bottaccioli tells us, to 1978 when a refurbishment took place by the “stonemason” Duilio Truffelli. Even before its placement under the fortress it was positioned, as told by prof. Sciurpa, leaning against the ancient church of Sant'Erasmo. Here, writes Sciurpa, << on 29 September 1849 it was decided to make “the necessary restorations to the public fountain to water the horses, located in the Upper Borgo along the Via Montonese ” >>. As mentioned in 1978 there was a remake of it by the Municipal Administration. Today the fountain it has been moved and still not repositioned due to the works to refurbish the square in front of the Rocca. Photo from: http://www.lorenzocoriophotography.altervista.org/landscapes/italia/umbria/dsc_1066-1000px.jpg.html Giampaolo Bottaccioli recalls that in Umbertide there was, in addition to the activity of working the most valuable stones, also that of working simple stones and pebbles from the Tiber river, smaller "pieces" used for different activities based on the size. It should be remembered that until the post-war period the same road that connected Umbertide to Niccone was also a road made of "breach". Shortly after the end of the bridge over the Tiber, in the direction of Niccone where the road has a crossroads for the Abbey of Montecorona, it was usual to see men in charge of breaking the stones of the Tiber into smaller parts. The "ciaccabreccia" (or "ciaccabreccia") Pàrise at work. Photo by Fabio Mariotti. They were the "ciaccabreccia" probably present along the river in more villages. We transcribe a part of the text "The Tiber and Umbertide" on pg. 46 referring to the work of the "ciaccabreccia": “For the stones and the pitrìccio the ciaccabreccia came into action : all day with a mazzétta he ciaccàva i sàssa and capàva the bòni to tira on the walls , 'all day long with a club he choped the stones; he put aside the best ones destined for construction ". In addition to this, in the text by Maria Cecilia Moretti you can also read a description, always in the dialectal language, of the tools for splitting stones: " A la Fràtta, 'a Umbertide', an old ciaccaìno used three hammers: a larger one for large stones , a mezzanòtta, 'an average for medium stones', ùna more migna plus picini stones ,' the smaller one for minute stones "; quàn s e'ra stew de da ta n sàsso grosso ... change the mazze'tta e déa ta n sàsso picìno , 'when he was tired of using the heavy wad he changed the wad and chopped the smaller stones.' He always knocked on the same point; in Pretola, the point where the blows fell was called the cacatìna ; the montòn de brécia , 'the heap of breccia', was growing. " The work of "ciaccabreccia" was certainly ancient, but it was found to coexist for a long time with the mechanization that started in the early 1900s, it was certainly present in the collection and processing of river stone as seen in this image from 1939. This document shows us the coexistence in the production process linked to the building material between the cart pulled by donkeys, manual work and the machine in action. We conclude by always specifying from the work of the Sperandio a synthesis of the others rock or construction materials present in our territory. As for the quarries and peat bogs, the "substances" indicated in 1861 were "white marble", "dark red or white marble", "cenerino marble", "red veined white marble", "white veined marble", "black marble" , "Sand quarry", "Clay quarry", "Pozzolana quarry", Quarry for Macine "as well as" Strong sandstone stones ". The "quarry for millstones" was located at the Parish of San Giuliano, or in the area of San Giuliano delle Pignatte, from whose church comes the 8th century ciborium. today moved to the Abbey of Montecorona. Precisely the Montecorona area, along the Nese stream, was characterized by the presence of "calcarenites", or "marbles". At Monte Acuto the calcarenites of "dark red marble" and "substances" of "pozzolana" emerged. Finally, sand and clay that were found in areas near the Tiber. SOURCES: PHOTO: -Francesco Deplanu and Fabio Mariotti (Municipal and personal archives). Photo of the "bocciarda" from the web. - Photo of the fountain after the 2002 restoration: http://www.lorenzocoriophotography.altervista.org/landscapes/italia/umbria/dsc_1066-1000px.jpg.html ORAL SOURCES - Bottaccioli Isotta, Bottaccioli Giampaolo and Bottaccioli Giovanna. TEXTS - Giovanni Bottaccioli: " Penetola, not all the dead die " - Municipality of Umbertide, 1985/2005. Fully visible and downloadable in the .pdf version prepared by "umbertidestoria" by clicking here . - “The Tiber and Umbertide” (curated by Sestilio Polimanti) by Maria Cecilia Moretti, Lorena Benedice Filippini and Fausto Minciarelli. Text extracted from Maria Cecilia Moretti, "The Tiber, a built and interpreted space" (1986); p. 46. - Roberto Sciurpa: Umbertide in the 20th century 1900 - 1946 - Ed. GESP, Città di Castello, 2005 (p. 354). - Bernardino Sperandio, Of the Umbrian construction and ornamental stones., Perugia, Quattroemme, 2004 (p. 265, pp 288-289). - Angelo Angeletti: “If only the stones are left to speak”, Digital book Srl, Città di Castello, 2019 8p. 41). LINKS - http://www.chieseitaliane.chiesacattolica.it/chieseitaliane/schedaca.jsp?sercd=37995 - https://www.umbriatourism.it/it-IT/web/umbria/-/campo-del-sole - https://www.etimo.it/?term=scalpello - http://www.prolocotuorosultrasimeno.it/campo-del-sole/ - http://www.comune.firenzuola.fi.it/museo-della-pietra-serena - http://www.frosinipietre.it/gli-strumenti-dello-scalpellino-parte-4/ - http://www.frosinipietre.it/gli-strumenti-dello-scalpellino-parte-5/ - https://www.bassanodelgrappaedintorni.it/pove-le-rocce-le-cavce-gli-scalpellini/ Help us remember umbertidestoria@gmail.com

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

Lamberto and the Resistance curated by Isotta Bottaccioli and Francesco Deplanu After the 8th of September 1943 Lamberto Beatini, coming from a family of republican faith, at 19 he refused the call to arms of the Republic of Salò e together with a friend he went into the woods; after a few months he was captured and locked up in the prison of Perugia; Lamberto besides the fear of not leaving that place said "being imprisoned because you refuse war, weapons, violence, oppression, injustices is something that causes you pain and a lot of anger". He saved himself and over the years he became the "Maestrone", a man of the school so called because he was more than 1.90 cm tall. Years ago he told his second wife, Isolde, what happened in that period. Isotta recounts: “ rather than fighting alongside the Nazi-fascists, many young people preferred the bush. Making this courageous choice was very dangerous because we were considered deserters and, if caught, punishable by the death penalty ”. Lamberto made this choice one evening in September 1943 together with a friend of his from Umbria, Antonelli, left towards S. Cristina. The two walked through woods and fields and tired, they stopped behind a haystack not far from a farmhouse. They lay down on a pile of straw and suddenly fell asleep. During the night it started to rain but the two noticed it when they woke up wet and dirty. After a "sgrullata" they set off again and finally reached S. Cristina where, bravely, they were hosted by a relative of Antonelli. A different life began for Lamberto and his partner. Early in the morning they left the host family and were hiding in the nearby woods, returning at dusk. Some evenings, through shortcuts and away from the main road, they went to Lamberto's sister, Costantina known as Gosta, in Civitella Benazzone who, as soon as she saw them, began to make her good tagliatelle. With a full stomach they resumed their way back in the middle of the night. The mother Anna, to see her son again, following alternative routes to the normal ones because she was afraid of being followed, in the early morning she left Umbertide to go to S. Cristina. The road ahead was long and there were many climbs, but for her there were no obstacles, no weariness; the goal was too precious not to be reached at any cost. When the carabinieri knocked on the door of the Beatini family to ask where the deserter son was, the mother replied: << I wish I knew! I would run to him. I really want to see him again. >>. The two deserters spent three months in the bush and in December, perhaps due to a spying on them, they were discovered and taken to prison in Perugia. The stay lasted six months and marked Lamberto so much that when he recounted certain episodes, after so many years, his eyes were shadowed by so much sadness and sometimes tears. After having crossed the door of the prison that Lamberto called << college of Piazza Partigiani >>, his personal details were taken, his fingerprints were taken, everything he had in his pockets was removed, his belt and shoelaces were removed. While awaiting questioning, he was placed in a small cell with other inmates. A few days later he began his tiring interrogation. For a few hours he was asked the same question very firmly and harshly, always in the hope of making him fall into contradiction. So much was the mental fatigue and tension that from the high shoulders sweat was coming out of his coat. At the end of the long interrogation a graduate entered who abruptly asked Lamberto for his personal details. << I'm Lamberto Beatini, son of Antonio and Anna Gregori >>. At this name the Captain stood up and after a loud blasphemy he said \ u0026lt; \ u0026lt; Are you Anna's son? Do you know your mom is my milk sister? but what did you make me do ... >>. But by now Lamberto was in prison, the gear had been set in motion and the superior was also a prisoner of certain laws. For two or three days Lamberto was fasting because the food of the "college" just looking at him made his stomach sick. On the third day, hunger prevailed and he managed to eat a soup where bits of cabbage leaves floated among a few stars of fat. A once he removed 17 flies from the broth before eating it. " In his cell they put a man from Torgiano accused of insulting the fascist party. While he was reading a manifesto of the regime signed by the notorious Rocchi, he voluntarily made a huge burp. It happened that at that moment a fanatic fascist hierarch passed by who, taking the poor man for the collar of his jacket, scrambled him and denounced him.The man was tried and sentenced to a prison sentence.The unfortunate fell into a bad depression could not eat. Not far from Lamberto's cell, on the so-called death row, there was a convict. Nobody knew the reason for the sentence, but everyone thought it was for political reasons. The guards said that the young man knew he was going to die and every time they opened his cell, the young man changed. His body tensed and his complexion turned yellow, as if his blood stopped. This swing of very strong emotions made him lose all hair and hair. Once Lamberto saw him pass between two agents and I am impressed by his thin head, smooth, shiny as a billiard ball, by his thin and blood lips and by two black eyes without lashes and eyebrows that seem to come out of their sockets. That night Lamberto did not sleep because he always had before him the hallucinating visions of this young man. Fortunately, the war ended and the poor fellow was released from prison. Every time he recounted this episode on Lamberto's face one could read the suffering and also the anger at the bestiality of war and dictatorship. A different fate touches another young anti-fascist who was shot a few days before the liberation. This was Mario Bricchi, whose sister Gloria was a high school companion of Maria Teresa Beatini, nephew of Lamberto. " Isotta tells that Lamberto used to tell ... "When my daughter Anna asked me what was the best day of your life I replied: the day I got out of prison. Anna was upset because she knows how much I wanted it, the great love I feel for her. But Anna is a joy that I have tasted minute by minute since I learned it existed, for eight months he was the center of my thoughts, so his birth was a long and beautiful wait. My release was, however, the end of a great nightmare of which I was not sure I could get out alive. Often when i my companions slept, I too closed my eyes and began to dream. I dreamed of my future beautiful, serene, bright, full of girls and love; instead I opened my eyes and saw darkness, not a glimmer of light. Hope alternated with despair and resignation. A whirlwind of emotions me it invaded continuously. Being imprisoned at twenty for your ideas that you find human right, being imprisoned because you refuse war, weapons, violence, oppression, injustices is something that causes you pain and a lot of anger. I remember, still with sorrow and sadness, long afternoons in April and May, when behind the bars I glimpsed trees with their new leaves, when the spring air full of perfumes entered the cell, when you could hear the loving calls of birds and the voices playful of children playing in the street. It was the time of memories, of nostalgia, of sadness. Then I would lie down on my "straw mattress" and think of my family and my friends who free, they could be among themselves, be with their girlfriends, have lunch and dinner with their loved ones, look and touch the spring. Certain sensations, both good and bad, cannot be told, but must be lived to know what one feels and to be innocent in prison, at twenty years old, when someone like me who loves life, light, the heat of the sun, colors, people, freedom, love, is a condition that I do not wish on anyone. "... Isotta continues: "On June 13, 1944, the day of St. Anthony, the prison door opened for Lamberto and his friend Antonelli. Outside the prison door two stopped, looked 360 degrees and took a long sigh of relief. They were free together and began a journey that would bring them home. Passing by chance they arrived at Ponte Felcino in Ponte Valleceppi where grandmother Clorinda lived. They all presented themselves happy about his house, but immediately they cooled down because some German soldiers found him in the house. The moment was embarrassing, but grandmother Clorinda understood the situation and speaking and gesticulating he made the Germans understand that two of them were mentally ill. Which was not difficult because Lamberto, due to the absence of movement, was so swollen that it seemed swollen. He wore trousers that reached the calf of his legs, wore two shoes without very broken laces, the jacket covered the back and a little of the front, the sleeves reached just below the elbow. On the contrary Antonelli, also tall, was dry, lanky, frightened, I looked like a dead man walking. The fact is that the Germans, as if frightened, said goodbye and left. Grandmother Clorinda then greeted them with great warmth, kissing and hugging them, then, quickly, quickly, she began to cook. After being refreshed, they set out along the railway in the direction of Umbertide. In Ponte Pattoli They separated. Antonelli headed for Santa Cristina where he would find his family displaced by relatives, Lamberto continued in the direction of Umbertide. The road was very long, the boots became heavier and heavier, the damaged and swollen feet no longer fit inside the shoes and began to bleed; finally he arrived in Montecorona and felt relieved, in sight of the town he thought to the meeting that his loved ones. He headed for the house of "Guardengolo", a farmer who gave hospitality to his family and that of his brother Pietro. Meanwhile, from the loggia of the farmhouse, mother Anna and Pietro's wife Marietta saw at the end of the road a big fat man walking with difficulty. The two women, a little frightened because they were alone, wondered who he was and what he wanted. As Lamberto approached he made signs of greeting with his arms but the two women remained impassive. Only a few meters away did they recognize him. The mother Anna started running crying with joy and hugged her son in an embrace that never seemed to end. " On 23 July 1944 Lamberto, together with 21 other people from Umberto I, gave life to the Local Committee for National Liberation in the hall of the municipal council. After the war Lamberto yes he adapted to do many small jobs: it was important and necessary to bring something home because it was needed. He worked for the Land Registry, for the Municipality, then he began to study for the master's degree competition which he passed brilliantly. He taught in Colmotino di Cascia, in Reschio, in Civitella Ranieri, ad Umbertide ... then dissatisfied with the teaching he began to work in the secretariat of the elementary school, a job that he did with seriousness, commitment and great competence until 1979. We report here the letter of greeting from Director Candido Palazzetti when Lamberto left school. Maestro Beatini on the step and Director Candido Palazzetti on his left, to his right the other Director Spadoni. In the photos at the beginning we have we report the documents of the Anpi as a "partisan" and the card of the CGIL, the union close to the communist party to which Lamberto joined. Here under the public recognition that the mayor of Umbertide Celestino Sonaglia, in 1974, gave to Lamberto for his being a partisan. In the meantime Lamberto had committed himself body and soul to give life and strength to the section of the Avis of Umbria, donating from the very beginning in person, even directly, that blood that he did not want to shed. In 1959, in fact, Dr. Mariano Migliorati promoted a "Committee" to set up a first nucleus of donors for the hospital of Umbertide, a "hospital" that had already been downgraded to "nursing" under Fascism but was very active. and working with the help of the "medical doctors"; this even after the bombing, in fact, it continued to function in the Serra Partucci headquarters. The members of the Committee were Lamberto Beatini, Raffaele Mancini, Marta Gandin and Aurelio Nocioni. Two teachers and two Headmasters. Lamberto was the only member of the Committee who was also a donor, and had the card no. 1 of the Avis of Umbertide; gift up to the age limit established by law. He was elected among the first 5 members and also President. Office for which he was re-elected until 1986, when became "Secretary". Image from the Facebook page of Avis di Umbertide Lamberto always maintained an ideality together with an extraordinary humanity, a social and democratic vision lived and breathed in the family. In his desk he kept among other things the documents of his father Giovanni, probably obtained from his grandfather Costantino, a letter from Giuseppe Mazzini and the "santino" also from Mazzini where he, as a child, had written his name over the period in which he had followed with his father to Cantiano together with his family, when his father, a former officer in the First World War, played the role of stationmaster. Grandfather Costantino, in fact, was one of the young people of republican faith who tried to oppose the monarchy in Umbertide together with Leopoldo Grilli, who was the animator of the republican circle "Thought and action", Torquato Bucci and Raffaello Scagnetti. Lamberto and Celestino Sonaglia during the delivery of a "partisan" medal in 1974 Costantino Beatini Probably the letter is not complete, the final part seems to be missing at the bottom (let's imagine a sheet made up of six squares); it is thought that by their very existence these letters were dangerous and were introduced folded into several parts and perhaps sewn inside the clothes. The letter is from 1868, after the most famous organizations such as "Giovane Italia" and "Giovane Europa" an indomitable Mazzini did not recognize the Savoyard monarchy as legitimate. He therefore continued to profess and organize associations of "republican faith" such as, in this case, "the Universal Republican Alliance" in Lugano. In the text you can read: The purpose of the Section of the All (eanza) Rep (ubblicana) Univ (ersale) in Lugano should be: to pay homage to the principle that requires the political order of men of republican faith, wherever, few or many, are: they organize multiple means of safe introduction of letters and more from the Canton of Italy: help with the monthly quota of the brothers and with the offers obtained for just once, the coffers of the Alliance: Try to make Italians, belonging to any class e in general they should follow the rules contained in the circular of October 1865 if possible. Giuseppe Mazzini. Nov. 1868 ". Antonio Beatini with the black ribbon of the republicans The letter passed to Lamberto's father, Antonio Beatini, a republican who usually wore the black bow instead of the ties of the time as it was in use among the republicans. Antonio was a supporter of the entry into war against the Austrian Empire in 1915 and wrote in " Il Popolo: organ of the Umbrian-Sabine republicans " on February 6 of that year that it was necessary to go to war against Austria " not out of mania warmonger, but for the protection of the rights and interests of our country, always tampered with and outraged by it ". The newspaper carried on Mazzini's ideals, was born as a party newspaper aimed at aggregating and informing members and supporters. He was suspended for two months in 1915 due to the call to arms of many collaborators, it was then closed in 1922 with the arrival of fascism. Antonio also left as an officer despite the 5 children. The letter it then passed to Lamberto who grew up with different ideals but with the same seriousness and ideality. We conclude with a last anecdote reported by Isotta to make people understand the sensitivity and value that every living being had for Lamberto: " the episode that Lamberto told smiling with such grace is the episode of the little mouse that he managed to teach by becoming his friend. This episode Anna (the daughter), a friend of animals, had it described in a fourth grade theme whose title was: "the father tells", here is the transcript: \ u0026lt; \ u0026lt; I was going to buy candies and as I passed on the sidewalk, with the care of the eye, on the road, I saw a dead mouse. Immediately, frightened, I returned at home. There was my father who, seeing me upset, asked me what had happened. I replied that I had seen a hideous rat squashed with a pancake on the road. It remained a silent moment then he began to tell: “you know Anna, when I was there weren't many entertainments in prison and so if we wanted to play checkers, we had to build the pieces ourselves. We put a piece of bread in our mouth and after chewing it for a long time we made balls that we put to dry outside the bars. The next day instead of the balls there were only crumbs. Immediately I thought of a mouse and then I wanted to try to get him back. I put the balls back on the windowsill for wait for them to dry. The mouse arrived and a little fearful hesitated a little then seeing that I was indifferent approached the balls and began to gnaw. I went up to him, he looked at me with fearful eyes. I stroked him gently on the head and he mounted me on the arm. A few days passed and the little mouse and I were already good friends. He got into the habit, when I was lying on the cot, of mounting on my chest and scrape on my shirt. I had to unbutton myself and he would go inside and then fall asleep. In a short time his coat had become long long and shiny, i his teeth were sharp and he was in good shape. When I got out of the prison I looked for the little mouse but I couldn't find it. I would have taken it away. I was a little sorry but then he understood that the little mouse had to go home, he too had his father and mother. " Father had made me understand that even a mouse could be tamed and become a companion of man. >>. ". Sources: - Family archive of the Beatini-Bottaccioli family - Mario Tosti: " Beautiful works. Information, documents, testimonies and images on life and death events that took place in the Municipality of Umbertide during the Second World War . Edited by Mario Tosti. Municipality of Umbertide, 25 April 1995. - Roberto Sciurpa, The Blood of the Fratta. History of the Avis section of Umbertide, Gesp editrice - http://augustaem.comune.perugia.it/scheda.aspx?ID=12&cod=PORU - http://www.storiatifernate.it/allegati_prod/01-neutralismo.pdf - photo: Archive fam. Beatini-Bottaccioli