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

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”

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

GENERALE ALBERTO BRIGANTI UN PIONIERE DELL’AVIAZIONE GENERAL ALBERTO BRIGANTI AN AVIATION PIONEER curated by Fabio Mariotti by Alvaro Gragnoli The Frecce Tricolori for the 100th anniversary of the General August 31, 1996. The roar of the engines of the PAN MB339s, Aerobatic Team Nazionale Frecce Tricolori, is felt throughout Umbertide making the windows tremble houses. It forces citizens to roll their eyes to admire those planes so low, with the tricolor painted under the wings and on the fuselage, that in an instant disappear from sight. But after a few minutes here they appear again leaving a long trail of white, red and green smoke, and waving its wings in greeting up to disappear in the distance. Enthusiasm and surprise mix because not everyone knows that in the council chamber municipal, with a simple ceremony, wishes are being given to the general of the Alberto Briganti Air Force. He has just turned one hundred and the Frecce Tricolori they came to pay homage to the soldier and the man who had so much importance in the history of national aviation. But the Air Force Band also wanted to be present on this unrepeatable occasion and, in the evening, held a very popular concert at the Teatro del Parco Ranieri. The birth in Umbertide in 1896 If Umbertide has given valuable pilots, some of which are highly decorated (1), and if many young people continue to enlist in aviation, it is also due to the story of Briganti. Which curiously begins as a sailor. Born in Umbertide on December 22, 1896, he was orphaned by his mother at the age of two and was raised by his grandmother, who managed to get him to study until he graduated from secondary school. Perhaps we would have had one more teacher or accountant, and one less general if, during the holidays of the year of middle school, two Umbertidesi had not returned to the city and they would push him to the choice of life. One is long-time captain Armando Bettoni, who is he will thrill with stories about his life as a sailor, and the other is Count Balilla Grilli, director of the “Vittorio Emanuele” marine college in Livorno, who invites him to enroll in his school. And the young Alberto leaves for Livorno, where in 1915 he will obtain his nautical diploma and, at the beginning of 1916, having not yet called up the draft of 1896, he embarks on the steamship “Assiria”. He begins to navigate between the various ports of the Tyrrhenian Sea, but as soon as the course for additional officer cadets at the Naval Academy is announced, he applies and is ranked eleventh out of 120 participants. From the Navy to the Aviation It is during the exams that the admiral commanding the school informs them that the Navy needs airmen and invites them to apply. Sixteen of them decide in this sense and so the young Alberto who, his comment, "I went to the Nautical Institute without having seen the sea and without knowing how to swim, I went to aviation without ever having seen an airplane up close" (2), is envoy at the Flight School of Taranto, where he follows the course held by ten. of ship Mario Calderara, Italian pilot's license n.1 and pupil of Wilbur Wright. In May 1917 he obtained the seaplane pilot license and was assigned to the Venice office. We are in the middle of the war and the bombing and reconnaissance actions carried out at the controls of an L3 aircraft built by Macchi are daily. The objectives are mainly the port of Pula, the base of the navy Austrian, and the area around the Piave river. It is in the course of one of these actions that he is injured the thigh while still managing to return to the base even with the plane riddled with shots. In the Great War he was decorated with two medals bronze for the following reasons: “Bold seaplane pilot, after having strafed at low altitude stalking of enemy machine gunners, although wounded, seen his squadron leader descend into the swamp, he lingered on the spot until he made sure it was rescue from another seaplane and, despite the suffering, he then brought the aircraft back to the departure station demonstrating great fortitude. Basso Piave December 16, 1917 ". "Seaplane pilot was performing numerous bombings […] in enemy territory demonstrating always zeal and in various critical circumstances, admirable courage and calm. Upper Adriatic July-December 1918 "(3). The end of the war found him in Ancona from where he was transferred in May 1919, at the headquarters in Fiume. There he lives with D'Annunzio the whole dramatic history of that city. Returning to civilian life, he founds an airline, which however has a short life troubled. He then presents himself to the competition announced by the Regia Marina for officers in SPE, he brilliantly overtakes it and is embarked on the battleship “Vittorio Emanuele ”with the rank of lieutenant. But it is clear that his fate it is not facing the sea because, when it was founded in October 1923 the Air Force as an independent body, the decision to change the uniform of the Navy with that of the Air Force is taken without any second thoughts. “I had to choose my fate. I had been an aviator for five years […] I was slipped twice into the sea, I had been wounded in the air, faced storms and grazed death many times, but I had never had a moment of perplexity for having chosen to be a pilot " . (A. Briganti. "Op. Quoted) Thus he met Italo Balbo who had been entrusted with the task of organizing the new weapon, became his instructor for the pilot's license on seaplanes and in 1927 he was his flight assistant. In this new role she organizes and participates in various air cruises in the Mediterranean and in Europe. The one that sees him most committed at an organizational level and in which he should have participated as a driver, is the Atlantic crossing on the Savoia-Marchetti S.55A seaplanes from Rome to Brazil, which made Balbo and the Italian Air Force famous all over the world. But comes the appointment as aide-de-camp to the King, to which he cannot say no and must necessarily renounce. He will leave this post in 1933 to take command of the seaplane base of Orbetello. In this capacity, when his subject, the pilot lieutenant Roberto Federici asks him to be a witness at his wedding willingly accepts. The bride is a certain Claretta Petacci, who sadly ended her life alongside the Duce in Dongo. In 1936, at the age of forty, he was promoted to general. Duke Amedeo d'Aosta, commander of the first air division L'Aquila, communicates this to him. From that moment on, he would have been employed by him, having managed "to snatch him from Italo Balbo who wanted him with him" (4). He will remain with the duke for a little less than two years when, after a short period in the ministry as head of the training and operations department of the General Staff, he is assigned to Tripoli as commander of the Libyan Air Force. He thus returned to the employ of Balbo, who at that moment was the Governor of the Italian colony. In 1938 he was at his side in Germany in the meeting he had with Goering and Hitler, and with him he remained in Libya until the end of May 1940, when he was assigned to command the Milan Air Zone. On June 10, Italy also enters the war. On the 28th of the same month Italo Balbo will be shot down by our anti-aircraft in the skies of Tobruch (5). Thus closes a cycle of Briganti's life that had been full of satisfaction and interest. War, imprisonment and escape In March 1943, after spending about a year as commander-in-chief of the Navy Aviation (Italy was preparing an aircraft carrier, "L'Aquila", which was damaged by British bombing and the project was abandoned), destined for the command of the Air Force of the Aegean based in Rhodes. Here is the 8th of September and when the Germans invite all the military Italians to enlist in their army, the gen. Briganti refuses and sends a letter to the German command, of which we report a passage: “Today the King of Italy has ordered the suspension of hostilities towards the Anglo-American armed forces. Having taken an oath of loyalty to the King, the Departments of the Aegean Air Force feel the obligation to obey his orders and therefore declare, through me, to refrain from hostile acts both against the Anglo-Americans and against the Germanic troops: not therefore they can enlist in any army other than the Italian one ”. The consequence of this letter is the arrest and the transfer to Lager 64 / Z of Schokken in Poland, where he arrives after a long transfer first by plane and then by train. Lager 64 / Z is a camp intended for senior officers and the life of the prisoners takes place in an acceptable way if compared to other camps, albeit with many privations. Several times the commander of the camp invites the officers to enlist in the army of the Republic of Salò, but they only accept General Biseo, who was Mussolini's personal pilot, and a few others. Thus we arrive at January 20, 1945 when, to escape the advance of the Russian army, the Germans begin the transfer from the camp. It is a very hard march on frozen snow, with the temperature even dropping to 20 degrees below zero, but after five days of suffering, during a stop in the village of Rosko, near the city of Wielen, then the border with Germany, comes the opportunity to escape. It is a local farmer, a certain Domina, who proposes it to the prisoners to whom he is distributing milk and bread, telling them that he would help them. What to do? Go ahead and face the SS who see them as traitors or take risks with the Soviet soldiers instead? The gen. Briganti, the gen. Francesco Arena and ten. with the. of the air force Carlo Unia decide to try. Helped by the farmer who hides them from the sight of the guards, they slip into the door of a house. The column of prisoners passes in front of their hiding place and when it has disappeared in the distance, the three fugitives, accompanied by the Pole, head towards his home. Here they are refreshed and can finally sleep in shelter and warmth. Three days after the escape, on the evening of January 28, Domina and ten. with the. Unia have been out for a while to listen to a clandestine radio, when the door opens violently and two Soviet soldiers appear. Domina's sister tries to explain that the two are Italian prisoners who escaped from the Germans, but the two Soviets, shouting "Italianski, fascisti", violently push her away and they push Briganti and Arena out of the door threatening them with rifles. In the courtyard, while one of them keeps his rifle pointed, the other searches them and appropriates the little they have. The gen. Arena addresses Briganti with the words "here they kill us like dogs", to which Briganti replies: "Dear Arena, we thought we had guessed, but we were wrong". He does not hear the shot, but only a violent blow to the head that makes him fall to the ground unconscious. He will find out only several days later but, when he is lifeless on the ground, the soldier fires a second shot at him which wounds him in the neck. When he wakes up, he tries to understand what happened and only realizes the wound in his left ear that has torn part of the scalp. He sheds a lot of blood and can't stand, but he's alive, even if the pain in the head is excruciating. Look for gen. Arena and sees it a stone's throw from him poured in his blood. He did not have the same luck (6). With much suffering he drags himself home, the blow to the ear has upset the sense of balance and only with great pain does he manage to enter. All fours approaches the bed and, sitting on the ground, leans on it exhausted. A little later he hears one patter outside the door and thinks it is Unia and Domina returning. He calls them, but sees the two Soviet soldiers from just before entering. Then he lets himself slide to the ground, his right hand under his head, hoping that they think he is dead. It is not so. One shot and the bullet hits the thumb and touches the head. He closes his eyes thinking that this time he will not have the same luck and when he feels a contact in his chest, he thinks it is the barrel of the gun for the last shot. But it is the soldier's hand that tears off the insignia of his uniform and then he goes away. The next morning Domina, together with col. Unia finds him lying on the bed, with the blood he has crossed the pillow and spilled onto the floor. He gives him first aid but only after a fortnight does he partially regain his sense of balance and can be transported to the hospital in Scharnikow about twenty kilometers away. It is here that he discovers that there are two head injuries that, however, are fortunately healing. The wound on the thumb is infected, the finger is very sore and swollen to the point that it needs to be cut. There are no surgical instruments and a sharpener disinfected by the flame of a lighter is used. In the absence of medicines, the wound is treated in an "artisanal" way, with the methods used by local farmers; the effects are still very effective and it will heal perfectly, while it will take several months to recover the balance. Meanwhile, the situation is slowly, albeit chaotically, normalizing and the Soviets organize the grouping of ex-prisoners of the Germans, Italians and allies, for repatriation. The lack of means, the interrupted lines and the resulting chaos will make the return journey long and difficult, albeit alleviated by the availability and help of the populations of the various countries crossed. The first days of September 1945 Alberto Briganti is in Ukraine from where he finally manages to continue with a certain regularity through half of Europe and to reach Italy. On 5 October 1945 he reunites with his family. The two head wounds, now healed, are the silent testimony of how much luck has helped him. The postwar period After the hostilities, we proceed with the reorganization of the Ministry of Aeronautics. Chief of Staff is appointed gen. of air squad Mario Ajmone-Cat, who wants the gen. Brigands in the commission charged with studying the new system. For the laws on the matter, Briganti is submitted to the judgment of the 1st degree commission for the purge of military personnel, accused of "having carried out undoubted fascist political activity by participating in action squads". But he was acquitted "for not having given manifestations of serious bias and having already for many years detached himself from the fascist ideology and abstained from further and specific political activities". In August 1946 he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff to replace gen. Ajmone-Cat, sent to Paris for peace negotiations. In a speech to the Chamber, the Hon. Cingolani, Minister of the Air Force, to silence concerns that there were generals with fascist and monarchist backgrounds at the top, declares: "If these officers, who yesterday were monarchists in good faith, in good faith today they accept to serve the Republic, and it is the case of the new Chief of Staff (Briganti, ed.), there is no reason not to believe that faith and that word "(7). In the six months that he held the post, Briganti managed to establish excellent personal relationships with his American allies, which gave him the opportunity to reconstitute a first military aviation unit using aircraft decommissioned by the allies. At the same time, he obtained the authorization to set up a civil aviation company. Thus was born the LAI (Italian Airlines) associated with the US TWA, immediately followed by another company, Alitalia, associated with British Airways. Subsequently, the two companies will merge into one, with the name Alitalia. In the years 1948-1949 Briganti was secretary general of the Air Force and in this capacity he was responsible for the design of the new Rome airport, which became necessary because that of Ciampino, due to the increased commercial traffic, is becoming insufficient. The choice falls on the Fiumicino area. Briganti presents a project that, at the Paris Air Show in 1949, collects the admiration of all experts; they call it "the most rational airport in the world". But in 1951, when he was general manager of Civil Aviation, he was unable to oppose a series of changes that would completely upset the project and lead to what is now the “Leonardo da Vinci” airport. Briganti will also hold the positions of president of the superior council of the Air Force and president of the superior council of the Armed Forces. He retired in 1954, having reached the age limit, with the rank of "four-star air squad general". At the time of his leave, the then President of the Republic Giovanni Gronchi, addressed this letter to the general: Dear General, when you leave the permanent service for having reached the age limit, I am pleased to send you the expression of gratitude that the Country and the Air Force owe you for what you have done for both as Navy and Air Force Officer. Bold pilot in peace and war, Commander of large mobilized air units, heroic defender of the island of Rhodes on 8 September 1943, reorganizer of the Italian military and civil Air Force as Chief of Staff and Secretary General of the Air Force, President of the Superior Council of the Armed Forces; these are the brilliant stages of your service, which make you a high example of soldier, organizer and leader. The firmness and pride of mind demonstrated during the internment in Poland, which left marks in His spirit and in His body still visible today, add a note of moral value which, together with the daring and high sense of duty, make it for the Air Force and for the country well worthy of esteem and memory. Please, dear General, my best wishes and many cordial greetings. Giovanni Gronchi. Rome June 16, 1955 (8). Among the many Italian and foreign decorations of which gen. Briganti was awarded the very high honor of "Knight of the Grand Cross of the Military Order of Italy", with the following motivation: "General Officer of high military qualities [...] Commander of the Air Force of the Aegean, at the time of the armistice he kept an exemplary demeanor as a man and as a Commander, personally following and pointing out to his employees the way of honor and duty. Aegean 1943 "(9). The monument at the Umbertide cemetery Briganti died in Rome on 2 July 1997 and was buried in the cemetery of "his" Umbertide. The story could end here, but we want to tell one last episode, indicative of how hard it is to die a mentality anchored in a distant past. In the early 2000s, the Umbertide Airmen Association, led by the colonel pilot Giuseppe Cozzari (silver medal and war cross for military valor), who with gen. Briganti collaborated after the war, he would like to honor with a monument the fellow citizen who gave so much prestige to his hometown. All the associates, but in particular the col. Cozzari and Marshal Muzio Venti , will work body and soul to achieve the target. The task of designing it is entrusted to Adriano Bottaccioli , painter, graphic, historical, much appreciated not only in Umbertide. The local Lions supports the initiative providing all possible help, including financial. The Cassa foundations also contribute di Risparmio di Perugia and Città di Castello. The municipal administration, to which it comes requested a space for the placement of the monument, he prevaricates for a long time until he gives his own decided "no". The reasons, even if not explicitly stated, seem obvious: yes it can honor those who have had a fascist past, albeit subordinated to a high sense of State, even if he acquired considerable merit in the activities to which he was called by Italian republic. We forget that in the much warmer years immediately after the war, with a very different spirit, a municipal administration of the same political color, had even organized the funeral - it was later learned that it was fake because the body was not been found again - to honor the driver Fausto Fornaci, who fell fighting for the Italian Social Republic. Meanwhile the years pass, the col. Cozzari and Marshal Venti and the stalemate does not seem to be unblocked. Finally, in 2008, a compromise was proposed: the monument could have its place inside the city cemetery. If, as Foscolo says, "the strong soul ignites the urn of the strong for excellent things", this is certainly not the ideal place, far from the gaze of anyone. But no alternatives are allowed. The solution is accepted, obtorto collo, and the monument is placed in the area of the new cemetery. A wonderful example to our dear departed ones. NOTE: 1. as Fausto Fornaci (Altotiberine Pages n.50), Gen. EMPucci (2 silver medals and War Cross at VM, Gen. A. Contini (3 silver medals at VM). two wars, there were 18 silver medals in the VM, 4 war crosses, 6 bronze medals, numerous commendations. (Luciana Ranieri Honorati. "The Umbrians in the history of flight" - Perugia 1984 - San Paolo di Tivoli. ) 2. A. Briganti, “Beyond the clouds the serene” Nuovo Studio Tecna - Rome - 2nd ed. Sept. 1994 3. Luciana Ranieri Honorati "The Umbrians in the history of flight - Perugia 1984‐ 4. Duke Amedeo d'Aosta defined Briganti's military and professional qualities in this way: “The complex of his moral skills, his culture and serenity of character, make it easy for him to work as an educator. Employees immediately feel confident in him and carry out their duties with keen enthusiasm. A very skilled pilot, he demonstrates in navigation that he possesses uncommon qualities for safety, expertise and in-depth knowledge of all the most modern systems. Excellent bombing pilot with 20/20. Excellent general of the Air Bombardment Brigade. May 1937 ". (Lucia R.Honorati. Op. Cited) 5. The next day an RAF plane parachuted a laurel wreath on the Italian field with the following note: "The British air forces express their sincere regret for the death of Marshal Balbo, a great leader and a valiant aviator who fate posed in the adverse field ". Today the body of Italo Balbo rests among those of the Atlantic flyers in a sector of the Orbetello cemetery reserved for them. 6. He will be buried in the small cemetery of the town and the grave will always be cared for by some inhabitants, until his return to Italy about fifteen years later. (A. Briganti. Op. Cited) 7. A. Briganti. Op. Cited 8. A. Briganti. Op. Cited 9. Luciana Ranieri Honorati. (Op cited) The photos, and the quotations in italics of the text, are taken from the book " Beyond the clouds the serene " by A. Briganti, and from the internet. The photos of the ceremonies are by Fabio Mariotti. Sources: Alberto Briganti “ Beyond the clouds, the serene ” 2nd edition ‐ September 1994 - Nuovo Studio Tecna ‐ Rome Luciana Ranieri Honorati. “ The Umbrians in the history of flight ” - Perugia 1984 - San Paolo di Tivoli printing press. This essay was published in nr. 53 - 2014 by Pagine Altotiberine published by the "Historical Association of the Upper Tiber Valley" on p. 127 It has also been published on the website “umbertideturismo.it” - Municipality of Umbertide The Frecce Tricolori above the Collegiate Church The religious ceremony in the Collegiate Church On the right, the General accompanied by Marshal Muzio Venti The Macchi L3 plane 1955. The General with the mayor Faloci after his leave The cover of the autobiographical book The Lt. Col. Pilot dr. Giuseppe Cozzari The project of the monument by Adriano Bottaccioli The monument at the Umbertide cemetery (Photo by Alvaro Gragnoli) The monument during the inauguration The deposition of a crown by the military authorities

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 "

REPORT OF MAYOR GIUSEPPE MIGLIORATI IN 1944 on the general situation of the Municipality which he sent to the Prefect of Perugia on 19 September 1944 with a letter bearing the Protocol number 999. It is of the utmost importance because it allows us to know the disastrous state in which the entire territory of the Municipality was immediately after the Liberation. Appointed on 15.8.1944 (1) Mayor of this Municipality by the Governor of the Allied Military Command, I fulfill the duty to submit to the EV this report on the general situation of the Municipality determined after the aerial bombardments suffered by this city, the withdrawal of the troops Germans and the consequent liberation by the allied troops. I state that the situation of the Municipality, as will be demonstrated below, is one of the most critical and consequently I am interested in the EV to be pleased to resolve, in the best way, what is possible. I begin with the municipal offices. MUNICIPAL OFFICES The municipal offices, immediately after the bombing of 25 April in which 88 (2) people were killed and 20 wounded, were transported to the countryside and precisely in the word Brecce. Here they remained until 12 June, until the German troops ordered a subsequent move, which was carried out by transporting what was possible to save from the devastation of the German troops themselves, in the locality of Fontanelle and precisely in the Rinaldi house. After the war operations, all the employees abandoned the offices, the deeds and the furnishings they had been given. The German troops therefore carried out even better the removal of all that they considered useful and the destruction of all that their vandalism advised. From a summary investigation in the process of greater investigations, it is removed or destroyed: 1. The ten typewriters and the calculator supplied to the offices. Now the municipality has no typewriter of its own. 2. The complete furnishings of the Mayor's Cabinet, the Secretary and other offices. 3. The technical tools of the Technical Office. 4. All prints, stationery, etc. supplied to the Offices. 5. Many documents of the Secretariat including all municipal regulations, tariffs, some volume of contract, etc. 6. Almost all the documents of the Bursar. 7. The following acts of the Civil Status: • Much of the personal data (family statuses and personal data sheets); • Migration practices defined relating to the years from 1937 to 1941; • Various procedures defined and being defined relating to the current year; • Files of marriage, birth and death certificates; • The register of list of the poor with the relative file; • Monthly statistics on the natural and migratory movement of the population; • The register of collection of civil status rights, secretariat and urgency; • 24 wooden boxes with automatic closing for the conservation of family statuses; • Lists of the military conscription of the classes from 1913 to 1920. 8. All the existing material in the warehouses, consisting of wood of various kinds and species, pipes for aqueducts, water meters, wheelbarrows, shovels, picks, etc. for a significant value. 9. Two "Beretta" 7.65 caliber automatic pistols supplied with the guards. 10. Motterl rifles also supplied to the guards. 11. The sum of Lire 10,000 located in part at the Treasury Office (approximately Lire 2,500), partly at the Police Office and Lire 5,000 at the milk shop. Much has been done in order to restore the offices to full efficiency, but much more needs to be done. It is necessary to equip them with the essential furniture, for which reason a contribution of at least 500,000 lire is requested from this Prefecture, with which they can buy the essential typewriters, a calculator, the tools for the Technical Office, the furniture for the decor of one room at least. Many deficiencies were found in the internal functioning of the Offices. Among the main notes, the failure to review municipal taxes annually, the failure to collect the fee for drinking water granted to individuals, the regular and complete collection of the amount of the niches and cemetery areas, the failure to stipulate contracts for concessions the aforementioned, the failure to recover the hospitals by the wealthy, the total failure to collect the assets, the neglect in requesting the repayment of the sums advanced on behalf of the State, etc., shortcomings to which he attributes the disastrous financial situation of the Municipality and which currently it is summed up by a cash deficit of over 2,000,000. I have already made provisions for the elimination of these serious drawbacks. Of course, the resolution of the same is subject to the needs of the reconstruction service based on the healthiest principles of almost all services. STAFF A first purge of staff was carried out and 16 elements were suspended among employees, salaried workers and health workers. The seats have been replaced with temporary staff, new to the services to which they have been entrusted. However, after the first period of adjustment, now almost everyone is doing quite well in the tasks entrusted to them. However, I would add that the purge has not finished and that investigations are being undertaken for other elements to ascertain their responsibilities. HOUSES The damage caused to civilian buildings by air raids and war actions are significant. A survey carried out shows that about 50 per cent of the homes have been destroyed or reduced to a condition to be demolished. Two hundred and fifty families were damaged and 900 people left homeless. To regulate the return of the population to the capital, which after the air raids had spread a little everywhere, I set up a special office and a special commission that oversees the relevant services. Despite all the provisions adopted by the Municipality such as those of placing at least two people per room and requisitioning all possible premises, not excluding the placement of families with other families (as many as 2,000 people are currently accommodated in this way, as many as 250 people are now homeless and still provisionally placed in the countryside, in barns, huts and similar premises. Twenty-five percent of homes inhabited and crammed by people need roof repairs before the winter season and window and window repairs. Such a situation cannot last long and this is also to avoid the occurrence of any epidemic diseases. It is therefore necessary to address the resolution of the important problem for which I take the liberty of proposing: 1. to promote, favor and encourage the private initiative of the reconstruction of the destroyed houses, under the control of the Civil Engineers who will have to establish the amount of the damages suffered and which will have to be reimbursed by the State; 2. that the following materials be assigned to this Municipality: a) at least 200,000 tiles; b) a suitable quantity of cement and other binders; c) at least 5,000 square meters of glass; d) timber for reinforcements and fixtures; e) that the necessary investigations to establish which buildings must be demolished and which can be restored are ordered to the Civil Engineering Office. SUPPORT Assistance was very neglected. In fact, only at the beginning of September it was possible to order the continuation of the displacement subsidy which had been suspended since 15 June 1944. However, all services are now being normalized. However, it is necessary that an assignment of clothing, clothing, footwear, blankets, sheets, mattresses, etc. be made. to be distributed to the victims and who cannot be left in such conditions in the approaching winter. POWER SUPPLY Apart from the ration of bread and pasta, given in grain, this population had only 100 grams of sugar per person and 150 grams of salt. Contrary to what was practiced for the other municipalities, this population was not distributed the ration of pig fats for the entire year. These greases were in fact removed by the German troops from the local warehouses of the Municipality where they were still stored. In consideration of this, the population of this Municipality, which following the bombings and the looting of the German troops has seen all the minimum stocks that any provident family could have had destroyed and removed, is in a state of real hardship. The EV is therefore interested in order for the distribution of the following genres to be urgently arranged in favor of this population: • oil (he hasn't had any since January); • pig fat (has not had any more since March); • sugar; • salt; • pasta as a replacement for the flour it has been receiving in wheat for a few months. Furthermore, given that the Municipality has no means of transport, it is necessary that a vehicle be assigned to transport the rationed goods. Cade acconcio that you are speaking here of an initiative taken by the Municipality for the sale of rationed and quoted goods, an initiative that was imposed following the destruction of many shops in the capital and the failure to reopen the others by the owners, who are proving of complete absenteeism. A Bottegone Comunale del Popolo has been established on which the distribution of rationed products, milk is made, which by the Municipality itself is collected from the collection centers where the various producers meet, and what else it is possible to have, to search on the site. This Bottegone will continue to function until normal commercial activity is resumed, unless the opportunity to transform it into a consumer cooperative appears. The Bottegone is currently managed by the members of the Board: Rometti Aspromonte for the technical-commercial part and Cerrini Tramaglino for the accounting part, who have taken care of its organization and operation. Bottegone himself does not affect the municipal budget in any way. MILLS Currently, given the lack of electricity, the grain is milled by means of the eleven mills operated partly by hydraulic power and partly by internal combustion engines. To ensure the functioning of the important service, however, it is necessary to ensure regular refueling. PUBLIC HEALTH Many cases of typhus have occurred and many are still ongoing among the population of this municipality. It is necessary for the EV to be assigned suitable medicines and disinfectants to prevent and fight such diseases. Two of the five doctors are in possession of a permit to circulate; however, it is necessary that the Municipality be made a monthly allocation of petrol to be allocated for this use. ROADS A total of 16 bridges were destroyed by the German troops. The damages suffered for those on municipal roads exceed 5,000,000 lire. Practices have begun for the construction of a voluntary consortium between the interested parties for the construction of footbridges to replace said bridges, in order to ensure in some way the restoration of the viability. The financing of the expenditure, while waiting for the State to do so, will be done by the interested parties through the Municipality. AQUEDUCTS In addition to the aqueduct of the capital, those in the hamlets of Pierantonio, Preggio, Niccone, Cioccolanti, Santa Giuliana and Palazzetto Nese were also damaged, for the repair and efficiency of which is expected to cost around 400,000 lire. PUBLIC BUILDINGS Almost all public buildings have suffered significant damage. These buildings are: Town Hall damages suffered approximately 200,000 lire Center school buildings damages suffered approximately 225,000 lire Rural school buildings damage suffered about lire 80,000 Start-up building damages suffered approximately 225,000 lire Kindergarten damage suffered about lire 45,000 Municipal warehouses damage suffered about lire 35,000 Slaughterhouse damage suffered about lire 28,000 Washhouse damage suffered about lire 30,000 Public latrines damage suffered about lire 21,000 Public hospital damages suffered approximately 100,000 lire Unable to work hospitalizations damage suffered about lire 30,000 Total 1,019,000 lire For the removal of the rubble of the streets and squares of the capital, for the reactivation of the aqueducts, for the clearing of the rubble from the bridges, from the riverbeds, an estimate was compiled by the Technical Office which rises to 1,141,000 lire. This estimate has already been sent to the Civil Engineering Office for approval and to give the authorization to continue the work and the assurance that the same Office will reimburse the expenses that this Municipality will sustain for this reason. UNEMPLOYMENT It is essential that the Civil Engineers assign the aforementioned sum not only for the execution of the urgent and deferrable works for the recovery, albeit minimal, of the normality of the Municipality, also to eliminate the unemployment that is currently relevant. No less than three hundred workers and over fifty employees of different categories (potters, railway workers, etc.) are unemployed. As for the materials necessary for the aforementioned works, since there are two brick kilns in the Municipality, this could ensure the needs if they are assigned the necessary fuel, which is being partially provided with the help of the Allied Military Governor. In order to guarantee the supply of the indispensable materials, this Municipality blocked all the production of the aforementioned two furnaces. The materials themselves are assigned to the owners of buildings following the division of the Technical Office, which in advance checks the requests one by one. I therefore strongly interest the EV because it wants to arrange for the Civil Engineers to assign the requested sum of 1,141,000 lire to the Municipality. PUBLIC SERVICES Currently no public service works. Only the postal service works partially. This Municipality is proceeding so that it can have the premises necessary for the disengagement of the services, but it is not easy to solve the problem given that the Umbrian Central Management, the only owner of suitable premises, puts forward many reasons not to sell them. The electric light doesn't work either. The Unione Esercizi Elettrici has been assured that in a month it will be able to reactivate the supply of electricity to a limited extent and in turn. SCHOOLS Almost all the furniture of the schools, both elementary and secondary, has been removed and destroyed. In order for them to resume their activities, it is necessary that the Municipality be assigned a suitable sum that cannot be less than 1,000,000 lire. It is also essential that all schools be reopened. In this regard, given the serious housing situation and therefore in consideration of the housing difficulties of the teachers who are not resident here, the opportunity arises that professors and teachers resident in this municipality are in charge of teaching, who, both in terms of number and by capacity, they are able to ensure smooth operation. AGRICULTURE The harvest of wheat, maize and secondary products was good and there was no significant damage from the war events. The wine, although promising very well, has recently been very damaged by iodine and therefore will be scarce and of poor quality. The olive harvest, on the other hand, promises very well. The placing of the grain in storage was very satisfactory. Over 30,000 quintals are already piled up. It is essential that provision is made for the assignment of carbon sulphide in order to prevent both the stored grain and that stored in their warehouses by the producers from going bad. It is also essential, given the approach of the sowing season, that both nitrogen fertilizers and fungicides are assigned. It is also necessary that it be arranged for the concession of electricity for oil mills in consideration of the approaching period of processing. CONCLUSION I conclude this report by insisting on the following essential points: 1. that at least the sum of 500,000 lire is assigned for the arrangement and reorganization of the Offices; 2. that the sum of 1,141,000 necessary for the removal of the rubble be assigned; 3. that the sum of 1,000,000 lire be assigned for the construction of school furnishings; 4. that the building materials are assigned: • 200,000 tiles; • cement and binding materials; • timber for reinforcement and window frames; • at least sqm. 5,000 glasses; 5. that fuel be assigned for the grain mills, brick kilns and municipal health services; 6. that carbide and oil are assigned for lighting; 7. that fats and oil are assigned for the population. I trust in the interest of the EV and I am sure that with this valid help I will be able to do some good to this population so tried by the pains of war. MAYOR G. Improve Note: 1. There is an inaccuracy in the date. The post of mayor was formally assumed on 3 September. Perhaps Migliorati refers to the interview with the Allied Military Governor who communicated the purpose of the appointment and which may have occurred on August 15, 1944. 2. Here, too, Migliorati runs into an easily explainable inaccuracy. The dead were 70, but another 14 people had fled the country without reporting it and it was feared that they were buried under the rubble still to be cleared. Sources: "Umbertide in the XX Century 1900 - 1946" by Roberto Sciurpa - Municipality of Umbertide, Gesp - January 2006 THE CITY AFTER LIBERATION 1944 - 1952 Rendiconto Giunta 1946 - 1952 Relazione del Sindaco Giuseppe Migliorati nel 1944 Relazione del Sindaco Giuseppe Migliorati nel 1944 Rendiconto Giunta 1946 - 1952 RELATION SOCIAL-COMMUNIST MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION ON THE ACTIVITY CARRIED OUT FROM 1946 TO 1952 curated by Fabio Mariotti We feel the duty to give an account to the population of the activity carried out in our municipality in the period from the elections of 1946 to today. We do not want to judge our work, since it is not up to us to judge; however, we feel we have the right to affirm that we have made an effort to do everything in our power to meet the needs of citizens and to honestly fulfill the mandate they have entrusted to us. PUBLIC WORKS In order to be able to judge our work serenely, it is first of all necessary to recall the disastrous conditions in which we found our country due to the war: the capital, in particular, was reduced to a heap of rubble, so it was dedicated to it. more attention than to fractions. The transitory period of municipal administration, which took place under the aegis of the Allied Military Government and controlled by the latter with the Mayors of the then Liberation Committee, made it possible to begin the reorganization of the administrative offices as soon as possible. Citizens suffered severely from the hardships caused by the war. Almost all the families lacked the essentials: house, food, medicines, electricity, water, household goods, etc. Everything had been destroyed by bombing or removed by the retreating Germans. The city was littered with rubble; traffic was difficult due to the numerous road works that had been destroyed (as many as 27 bridges had been destroyed in our municipality). The lack of housing considerably aggravated the tragic situation of the moment: half of Umbertide's houses were destroyed or seriously damaged. It was an imperative duty of the municipal administration to face all these problems; and faithful to our general program, set out during the electoral campaign, we promptly set them out for a solution. Priority was given to the sanitation and welfare problem, having all the rubble removed; which, in addition to removing the sad vision of the ruins, averted the danger of spreading infectious diseases; Supplementary rations of bread, meat, wine, firewood were distributed. The prompt reactivation of the aqueducts both in the center and in the hamlets was provided. The schools, despite the damage suffered, were repaired and returned to their important function. Only the perimeter walls remained of our hospital; in a short time it was put back into efficiency and thus it was possible to meet those who needed hospital care. Today our hospital has very modern equipment, and it would have perfected its systems again if the Prefecture, without any reason, had not sent a Commissioner to manage the institution. The rapid rehabilitation of the hospital is due to the intelligent activity of its President, comrade Rometti Aspromonte and of the Board of Directors who dedicated so much diligence and passion to this humanitarian work, always supported in their work by the municipal administration and by the esteem of the entire population. The war had completely destroyed the Umbertide-Terni railway and the Fossato-Arezzo railway. Following our concern it was possible to reactivate the Terni-Umbertide section and the reconstruction of its warehouse-workshop in Umbertide. This work could be carried out with the help of the Minister of Transport Hon. Ferrari of the PCI and the Communist and Socialist Deputies of the district, who met in Umbertide at our invitation, to give instructions to the managers of the Mediterranea. The serious problem of the workforce has been tackled by overcoming all our budget possibilities many times, but the scourge of unemployment persists and certainly cannot be resolved with local interventions. This problem will find its complete solution only when it is possible for a truly democratic government to come to power which dedicates its national wealth to works of peace and which translates into action what is enshrined in the constitution. The workforce employed by the Municipality has always been significant and has had a strong impact on the budget. The severe shortage of housing that existed before the war, aggravated by the destruction, raised the urgent problem of building reconstruction and the Administration directed all energy to this. Sixty residential neighborhoods have already been built and occupied (public housing and homes for the victims) and ten neighborhoods have been built by INA-Casa; public housing is now being built in Preggio for 10,000,000 Lire. With all this we are still a long way off to be able to say that all citizens have a modest home. Dozens of families still live in attics, woodsheds, and in places that offend human dignity. The main cause of this was the ministerial provision which suppressed the Prefectural Housing Commissioner; This suppression has led to this inequality: the owners of buildings occupy fifteen rooms in four or five people, while large families live in unhealthy and unsafe hovels (this is certainly not Christian charity!) The streets in the center of Umbertide have been reactivated and asphalted. The damage of the war and the neglect of the past administrations had reduced the eighteenth-century Palazzo del Comune in bad conditions. This Administration has provided for the repair of all the rooms and on the first floor has particularly taken care of the restoration of the frescoed vaults, with a total cost of L. 1,520,000. The work must be continued, as it is a building that due to its style deserves to be preserved and restored to its primitive beauty. The restoration work on the façade has already been contracted for 1,500,000 Lire. The avenues have been enriched with hundreds of ornamental plants; a small garden has also been arranged in Largo Antonio Gramsci, as well as another in a corner of Piazza Mazzini. A small park was built between the council houses and those of the victims; another park was built in Largo Vittorio Veneto. The post office building has been rebuilt and enlarged, which will soon give back to the public a very modern post office. In the space behind the post office building, the reconstruction of old huts was prevented, giving air and sun to buildings that did not have them and creating the vast Piazza 25 Aprile. In addition to the paving of via Petrogalli, works for the pavement with asphalt tiles of the pavements of Via Garibaldi for L. 3,000,000 have already been contracted out. In the streets of our territory they have been 26 bridges rebuilt. It was in Ascagnano rebuilt the footbridge over the Tiber and it is proceeded at the same time to the arrangement of the road that leads to Palazzetto Nese. A stretch of road from Serra was also built Partucci in Campaola. Every possible cure has been dedicated to school problems, element indispensable for creating a better tomorrow. All the buildings have been restored municipally owned school, it was partly renewed the teaching material and furniture; 250 new ones are now under construction desks and 20 professorships in the amount of L. 2,000,000. Not being able to deal with means financial problems of the City the serious problem of school building, we asked insistently the intervention of the state. Three projects to build school buildings in Civitella, Niccone and Montecastelli are al Ministry of Public Works for a total cost of L. 28,000,000. They are complete in each their part and approved in technical and administrative terms; for over two years, however, they have been piled up and forgotten, because unfortunately at this moment the Christian Democratic regime has to satisfy other customers and therefore cannot satisfy the needs of the municipalities governed by popular administrations. A project for a school building site for the construction of the Pian di Nese-Racchiusole road has been at the Ministry of Labor for several years; despite our pressure on the Ministry and the Prefecture, the funding has not yet been granted. The local population insistently claims it as an area devoid of any trace of road; in the winter season it is really a problem to move from the houses scattered in that area. There are still fractions without light. The Municipality has expanded and built plants in Cioccolanti and Montecastelli; a new plant was built in the hamlets of Buzzacchero and Pian d'Assino, for an amount of L. 1,800,000; the lighting in the capital and in the hamlets was improved for a cost of L. 1,000,000. The possibility of giving electric light to the areas of San Benedetto, Petrella, Ospedalicchio, Mita and Banchetti is being studied. Substantial repairs were made to the Cemeteries of Racchiusole, Santa Giuliana, Polgeto, San Bartolomeo, Migianella, San Paolo, Comunaglia, Verna, Leoncini, with a total cost of L. 4,500,000. Modern public urinals have been installed in the center and in the hamlets. New sewers were built in the capital, in Preggio and in Niccone. The lower butcher's shop has been completely transformed according to hygiene requirements; now the restoration works of the municipal slaughterhouse are in progress; for these two works an expense of L. 1,000,000 is required. Taking into account the serious conditions in which many farmhouses are found, especially in the high hills, a municipal commission has been set up for the application of the health law, art. 223 of 27 July 1934, which forces the owners to carry out the necessary repairs: n. 69 farmhouses; the related practices are in progress, with the result that some owners have already had to carry out the required work. The problem of greatest concern is that of aqueducts, also because our area is very poor in second-layer water to feed them. To improve the existing plants in Cioccolanti, Preggio, Montecastelli and in the provincial capital, Lire 2,600,000 was spent, but more remains to be done, especially in the capital. For this reason, after having carried out all the necessary technical and bureaucratic procedures, last year the survey was carried out for the research of underground waters; the outcome was negative due to insufficient means available (Lire 1,000,000 was used). In our opinion it is necessary to insist on drilling, and this is also the suggestion of the technicians in the field of hydraulics, hoping to find sufficient water for the needs of the population, and then get to the financing of the work. However, at present to make up for this deficiency wells and cisterns have been built, subsidiary works that have reduced the serious shortage of water that has worried citizens for over 30 years in the peak months. The sewer system is linked to the problem of the aqueduct; those already existing have been built with antiquated and unsanitary criteria; in the summer they constitute a serious danger to public health. The problem is urgent and must be addressed with an adequate financial plan. The construction of a well-equipped sports field and a theater capable of satisfying the increased needs of the population also remains to be tackled. SUPPORT Assistance has never been neglected within the maximum limits allowed by the budget, especially with regard to hospital admissions for needy citizens, the distribution of medicines, school meals, marine and mountain colonies. But what the Municipality can do in today's society is very little in the face of the real problem of assistance and the great need of most. The state has the duty to provide for the complete solution of the problem, but a bourgeois government will never be able to allocate billions for relief works. The Municipality spent 11 million Lire on assistance to the poor in the financial year 1951 alone. FINANCIAL PROBLEM The current tax system still regulated by the local finance law of 1931 is now outdated by the times, does not allow the Municipalities any autonomy in this matter and is not suitable for ensuring the indispensable means for the financing of institutional services; moreover, it unjustly distributes the tax burden. The needs of the times, made more acute by the backwardness found in all the most elementary collective services, therefore make it extremely difficult for the municipal administrations to carry out their tasks. These difficulties are noted to a greater extent in the administrations run by Social Communists because they, as far as possible, try to relieve the workers from the tax burden, however they reduce budget revenues, since with the system in place, it is difficult for them to find an adequate counterpart by increasing the taxes to the employer class as appropriate, which by resorting to the GPA escapes its duty towards the community. This state of affairs also forced our Administration to have to apply taxes, albeit to the most limited extent, even to the working class, while its intention was substantially the opposite. On the other hand, in order to ensure a minimum of administrative functioning and to resolve, even partially, the serious problems arising from the war and described above, the municipal administration in the current state of affairs cannot dispose of other resources. State funding is almost nil, all engaged in rearmament. We have always granted municipal employees all increases in allowances to the maximum extent permitted by law. The staff of permanent staff has been expanded. ADMINISTRATION AND POLITICAL LIFE This Administration has not failed to give, within the limits of the right, its support to the initiatives taken by the various city organizations in defense of peace and workers' rights. However, this was not to the satisfaction of the higher Authorities, inspired by an antisocial and intolerant mentality, and the Mayor suffered the consequences: he was repeatedly suspended from office and reported to the Judicial Authority for having authorized the posting of posters in the who criticized the work of the Government, for having spoken in a public rally in favor of peace against the threat of war deriving from the well-known adhesion of our Government to the Atlantic Pact. Some might argue that those provisions were just, since the Mayor must be concerned exclusively with administrative problems; but such an objection appears naive if we consider that administrative problems are always closely linked to political problems, that the inhabitants of a city are not abstract numerical entities, but men animated by demands and needs, moved by hopes and ideals. The problems of the municipal administration are closely linked to the struggles that its citizens wage throughout the country for their emancipation. We could not remain insensitive to the events taking place in Italy and in the world; we knew that by fighting against the war, at the same time we were fighting so that the millions allocated for weapons were again converted into civilian expenses, for our homes, for our aqueduct, for our hospital, for our schools, for our streets. When we fought for peace we felt the duty to do so; in memory of the dead of the sad bombings of 1944, worried about the future of the entire citizenry. THE COUNCIL MINORITY Our work as administrators has lacked the contribution of the Christian Democratic minority, which has deserted almost all the meetings of the Council. It, while remaining in the opposition, could have benefited the country if it had limited itself to a serene criticism and had at least supported us in asking for the intervention of its government friends to finance the public works of greatest interest. When, after the liberation, our representatives also sat in the government, Umbertide was able to quickly carry out public works for several hundreds of millions (2 bridges, railway, warehouse-workshop, public houses, etc.). Since the leftist parties have been expelled from the government, the latter has given priority to the expenses of rearmament and has become deaf to the requests of the populations who want to see at least their most urgent problems solved (the construction of school buildings and the school sites for the construction of rural roads has been waiting for funding from the Ministries for years). Leaving the Administration of the Municipality, due to the expiry of the mandate received, we express our gratitude to the employees, to the Bodies, Associations and individuals who have given us their precious collaboration, we thank the working people who have supported us in our efforts, we wish the Directors who will be elected, to be able to continue our work even more profitably for the good of our country. To this end, we make votes so that the future Municipal Administration can carry out its work with the help of a better Government, which instead of hindering the initiatives of the Municipality through the Prefectural Bodies, understands their needs and gives its concrete support to meet them. . We wish peace and freedom to the hard-working population of our municipality for an ever better tomorrow. and social justice. P. THE MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION A. BELLAROSA - Mayor A. RENZINI - V. Mayor C. PALAZZETTI - Councilor G. RONDONI - " B. BOLDRINI - " M. BELARDINELLI - “Suppl. A. ROSSETTI " Part of the Palazzo delle Poste and via Petrogalli (destroyed by the war) Casa Borgarelli (from Piazza XXV Aprile, demolished by the air raid Building reconstruction in via Andreani (homes for the victims) The back of the Palazzo delle Poste

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

THE HISTORY OF THE RIUNITI THEATER curated by Fabio Mariotti From the book "Project Recovery and Restoration of the Teatro dei Riuniti di Umbertide" The history of the Teatro dei Riuniti di Umbertide is linked not only to the theater as a building, but also to a literary and theatrical academy that existed in the city since the 16th century. For this reason we will report here parallel news regarding both topics. It must be said immediately that all the documentation produced by the Academy, to which certain "Books of academic acts" certainly belonged, has been lost; most of the news we have comes from the Municipal Archives of Umbertide, from an unpublished typescript by Renato Codovini on the history of Umbertide and from the memories of some citizens. Among the papers in the Municipal Archive there is a manuscript by a certain Filippo Natali (born in Umbertide in 1837, he was municipal secretary in Gualdo Todino where he died in 1922 (1), entitled: "News on the theater of Fratta (Umbertide) and on 'annexed academy of the Riuniti' and dated November 1883 which passes on valuable information to us. From it we know of an "investigation dated 7 March 1615 by deed of the Frattense notary Benedetto Santi" concerning our Academy (2). This is the oldest document we have (apart from an act of constitution, but not the first, of the Academy, dated 1614). The deed was drawn up in the presence of eight members of the "Congregation of the Unstable" (3) and of three people who asked to be part of it, to whom permission was granted "having done on their persons and virtues the colloquio et addunanza according to the style of the said Congregation ". At this date the Academy of the Inestables - as it was called until 1746 - already had its own statute and the prospect of "augmenting the said Congregation, so that with the people who are in it, and will enter it for the future, can make progress in virtuous acts as is appropriate ... ". At that time the Academies represented a very free place of exchange, and also rare in a culturally impoverished society. Unofficial poetic productions flourished in them such as satire, dithyrambic and didactic poetry and more generally the Theater; but they were also deputed to the education of the nobility who exercised their qualities here to govern. They had a strong local character which was rarely surpassed and in the long run the quantity of their products came at the expense of quality. Gradually the stage actions became the main purpose of the academic meetings so that the need arose to have a place to gather suitable for performances. We then moved from simple rooms to small theaters that were first used only by the members of the Academy, thus reflecting all their needs, then they became public places and the Academies themselves in most cases were the "managers". In Umbertide we know that, before the current theater rebuilt in 1808 in the place where it was the ancient one, the seat of the Academy was a room located on the first floor of a building owned by the Municipality, which was accessed by an external stone staircase. In the same building there were the Commissioner's house - of which the room itself was part -, the Archive on the ground floor, the public chancellery and the prison. Unfortunately we have no news on the activity of the Academy until 1746, but we can assume that it had been decreasing to resume only shortly before this date. In fact, again from Natali, which reports a note found at the beginning of the "First Book of Academic Acts", we learn "how they wanted to rebuild the association in 1746, asking not only the use but also the ownership of the theater from the Municipality , ... ". It was also decided to draw up the statute of the Academy (4) "establishing that the Academy should aim at honest and useful entertainment through acting, which consisted of a determined number of people chosen from the civil class who had to pay an annual fee "; arrangements were made for an "Academic Prince", a Depositary and a Secretary in charge of drafting the academic documents to be elected annually. Also on this date, the name of the Academy was finally changed from “Inestabili” to “Riuniti”, probably precisely to establish the desire for change. At that time the members of the Academy were eleven and among them were the most prominent characters of the town: Prospero and Annibale Mariotti (according to Lupattelli the latter was born in Umbertide and not in Perugia, Giulio Cesare Fracassini, the famous castrato Domenico Bruni who sang in the major theaters of Europe (5), Francesco Guardabassi, and some members of the most important families of Umbertide: Ranieri and Bourbon di Sorbello. The new academics Riuniti chose as their emblem the representation of a hand holding three gold cords tied together , and alongside the motto "Difficile solvitur." Regarding the theatrical activity, the Prince was required to stage one or more comedies during the carnival period with interludes of music and sometimes even dance, while in the other seasons the amateur dramatists of the 'Accademia performed in minor representations. From this period we have received the text of two "three-voice interludes": "The slave for love" and "Don Falc one ”,“ to be recited in the Fratta theater ”and published in 1772 (Figs. 1-2); most likely they were sung by the then fourteen year old Domenico Bruni. Finally, there is a sonnet by A. Mariotti from 1788, again for the theater of Fratta (6) (Fig. 3). A curious news also refers to this period we report from Natali: “By way of curiosity and to show how much religious spirit crept into the bosom of the young people who then did delighted in acting, we will notice how in 1754, on 1 February the Theater Academy, on the demand of amateur dramatics, grants them a free performance, in order to use the proceeds for to support the souls in Purgatory! Those were the times! How much unlike our incredulous young men! But to put a little of water on this boiling fervor, let the bigots know that the Academy in granting the permit, expressing itself as follows: “As long as do not pass in example such a protension! ". In 1748, for the first time, with a certain embarrassment of academics, once tour company of such "Giovanni Gazzola, histrion" asked to to be able to use the Teatro dei Riuniti. On the occasion they brought in scene the characters of Pulcinella, Balanzone and Brighella. From a list of performances held in the theater from 1759 to 1795 and reported by Natali (7), we mention two famous works: the drama of Metastasio "La clemenza di Tito" given in 1759 (the first takes place in 1741) and Voltaire's "Mohammed" given in 1787 (the first dates back to 1742). It was only in 1783 that the Municipality, having heard the opinion of the Sacra Consulta, granted "for perpetual use of the Accademia de 'Riuniti .... the house where its theater is, ... which house consists of a room which is the theater, and its stalls, and two adjoining rooms to said hall. "(8). From 1791 to 1798 Pius VI for security reasons forbade all events in which people could gather and therefore closed all the theaters of the Papal State. This of course was also the fate of Umbertide's theater. Moreover, as soon as it reopened, it was semi-destroyed on the occasion of a clash between the Pope's troops and a group of rioters from Arezzo who came to support the insurgents of the Tiberina valley, so that it remained closed for another four years, until 1802, when it suffered a first restoration. But at that time a much more important project for the construction of a real theater was already beginning to take shape. It should also be said that years followed in which the town planning of Fratta underwent many changes and innovations including the arrangement of the square, the clock tower, the bridge over the Royal Palace, etc. Also in 1802 the Academy decided to occupy the three rooms on the ground floor under the theater, and bought the timber for the rebuilding of the roof of the building. In 1805 it was decided to entrust Giovanni Cerrini (9) with the project for the construction of the new theater: this included three orders of 13 boxes each, the stalls, a large stage with adjoining dressing rooms and two rooms for the Academy (10 ). However, in order to reach the number of boxes and the measures established by Cerrini (11), it was necessary that the Municipality also granted a "scio" (passage) that ran between the walls and the building (12) in exchange for which the 'Accademia undertook to maintain the walls. To get an idea of the greatness of Fratta at that time, just think that in 1826 it had two parishes and 1300 inhabitants, while 8630 were the inhabitants of the whole territory of Umbertide in 1812 (unfortunately we only have these data, which in any case are indicative ). Between 1810 and 1812 the pictorial decorations were made by the Perugian Giovanni Monotti (13) and by Faina, the same that we see today brought to light and restored by the Guerri e Polidori firm. These are two bands of decoration along the second and third tier of boxes in which the heads of famous dramatic actors are depicted framed by laurel wreaths and interspersed with swans. The ceiling of the stalls was decorated with a painting, also by Faina, representing Talia, muse of comedy (14); today it no longer exists as the ceiling was first repainted and then completely redone. In 1810, Faina also painted the curtain with the story of “Alcide at the crossroads” which, according to those who remember him, was very beautiful. Unfortunately it has been lost in recent years. A letter preserved in the Municipal Archives (15) and written between 1822 and 1823 by the "heads of the families of artists" of Umbertide was addressed to the Apostolic Delegate of Perugia to intercede with the Academicians and the Municipality to finish the decoration of the theater and especially the scenarios, so as to finally make the theater accessible. From the tone of this letter it would seem that the Academicians delayed the completion of the works to not allow ordinary people to enter, however other documents testify that already since 1811 there were performances in the theater. According to Natali, who in this case entrusts himself to the memory of the elderly, the new theater was inaugurated in 1813 or 1814 with Mozart's Don Giovanni; if this were true - and it seems difficult to us - it must have been a truly exceptional performance, given that the same work was given for the first time in Italy in 1811 in Bergamo and Rome, then in 1812 in Naples and in 1814 in Milan (16) . But even before the inauguration the new theater had hosted the Mosso company which from mid-November 1811 to mid-January 1812 had represented 17 works in prose, including Voltaire and Goldoni (17). The staging of two works by a local historian and professor of rhetoric dates back to 1815: Don Antonio Guerrini (18): “The salt columns” and “ll Pizzarro”. In the same year Domenico Bruni held concerts in the churches of Umbertide. In 1823 the company directed by Luigi Salsilli arrived and staged 34 performances. In 1825 the impresario Gasparo Zannini applied to represent a show with ten dancers in the theater, and asked the Gonfaloniere for a hefty sum as compensation; but the latter, unable to grant it to him, offered him the income from the third-rate boxes and the coffee box office. The following year, however, the Gonfaloniere did not grant the theater to Filippo Troiani's "Compagnia d'opera in musica", composed of a prima donna and two buffi, citing the lack of interest of his fellow citizens for that kind of entertainment as a reason. In this century, in addition to evenings of prose and music, the theater was used for performances by comedians, acrobats and mimes, raffles were organized and dances were given. In 1857, after 45 years, they wanted to renew the pictorial decoration of the theater; the work was entrusted to a painter from Assisi, Augusto Malatesta. To evaluate the realization, we hear the opinion of Natali: "the theater as it was painted by Monotti and Faina, if it could not be said to be splendid, and well decorated, was moreover better than what we see today, reduced to such a poor state in 1857 , certainly self-styled painter Augusto Malatesta of Assisi who made up for the lack of talent with the recommendations of the friars and with the protection of the president of the time, and while I covered the vault of the stalls with a layer of lime, which also in the center contained a painting of some value, on which Talia, muse of comedy was painted, replaced some tracery worthy of appearing in a bedroom and four figures of an impossible anatomy, and of such daring and bizarre movements, as to make us wonder how they can also be painted up there 'plaster. It is true that the heavy swans, the grave crowns and the most grave medallions that framed the busts of great dramatic actors were removed from the bands of the boxes; but what was substituted for that painting I will not say beautiful but less baroque? A coat of white lead was given, which was called marble for derision, small wooden frames were stuck around the windowsills, badly, and a frieze was painted with a faded blue that clashes with the paintings (we will call them so) of the vault and with the heavy plinth featuring a marble, or rather colored cobblestone, neither described nor known by any geologist while above the pillars that separate the boxes he applied three leaves that look like as many butterflies of an unknown fauna. " In the photo of 1916 shown here (fig. 7) the decorations of Malatesta targeted by Natali are probably reproduced, while those we see today are the oldest ones by Monotti and Faina. In the nineteenth century he was director of the theater for 30 years, the distinguished Perugian historian Luigi Bonazzi, who was also an appreciated dramatic actor. If until 1867 the offer of music was small, between 1868 and 1881 several musical works were represented: in 1871 "La Traviata" by Giuseppe Verdi (18 years after the first Venetian), brought by one of the most famous entrepreneurs of the moment, Vincenzo Paoli of Florence, who undertook 12 performances, from 10 November to 10 December, with part of his orchestra and the entire company. In 1881 "La Sonnambula" by Vincenzo Bellini was on the bill. However, to stage these works, the theater always ended up going at a loss. For this reason, in 1886 there was a long discussion before deciding to raise the annual quota of the Academicians to 200 lire. A curious news is transmitted to us by the resolutions of the council of 1869. In fact, it was decided to illuminate the theater "with stearic wax" only for the evening of 6 June, "on the occasion of the statute party", the date on which great celebrations were organized in Thicket; on the other hand, the theater was generally gas-lit. From 1887 to 1890 the theater was closed to carry out works deemed necessary following the provisions on safety in theaters. In 1897 a new regulation came out and the commission in charge of inspecting Umbertide's theater established that it could hold a maximum of 450 people: 200 in the stalls, 200 in the boxes, 50 on the stage. He ordered the opening of two more doors to the outside and a fire extinguishing system with water outlets. The non-compliance of the theater with the new regulations, however, did not prevent the continuation of the activity until 1906, when it was again closed due to an injunction by the Public Security office. In 1910, 271 citizens signed a petition to urge the reopening of the theater, but we know that only in 1913 the restorations were completed. In the same year, a new statute of the Accademia dei Riuniti was drawn up in which it is reiterated that: "The headquarters of the Academy is in the same theater of the Riuniti, which it owns" (article 2), and that "The Society is made up of all the co-owners of the boxes ... "(article 5). In the years of Fascism, the theater was also called "only after-work cinema" because films were shown there, as well as the representation of operettas and plays by school pupils. But what most people remember are the parties and dances that took place there. This was how we arranged: we had the buffet come from a bar (in the theater there was not one until the sixties); for the lighting each carried one or two acetylene lamps which rested on the sills of the boxes; the audience was freed from the chairs and, to warm up, a demijohn was placed on the stage with a tap that allowed them to draw wine from the orchestra pit where at that point nothing was missing ... It was at this time that the internal structure of the theater was modified. In the years preceding the 1940s, this cinema destination was somehow made official in the new name of the Society and the Theater: “Teacine”. In the sixties, the Teacine, practically little more than accessible, was taken over by a company that restructured it as best as possible, enlarging the stage and reopening it to the public. Due to these changes, the acoustics of the hall worsened and the curtain of the Faina was lost. Despite the deterioration of the wall structure, however, the Accademia dei Riuniti has resumed its activity for 25 years and today is made up of a company of thirty amateurs, aged 15 to 60, which brings its varied repertoire to national reviews and participates in exchanges with other European nations. Not only that, but Umbertide has also become the site of an amateur theater festival, “Teatro in Umbria”, which after five years of life is now of international level. All this, at the conclusion of these pages of history, confirms the existence of a tradition and an interest in the theater that is alive and felt in the city which justify the restoration of the building and hope for an appropriate use of it. PHOTO GALLERY Note: 1) Filippo Natali, from Umberto I, attended the faculty of law in Perugia and enlisted in the retinue of Garibaldi. He wrote: an unpublished story of Umbertide, “Excursion around Lake Trasimeno”, “History of the Free State of Cospaia” and various things about Gualdo T. (dc: G. Briziarelli, 1959). The manuscript on the theater is found in the Municipal Archives of Umbertide, b.383, Various objects. 2) Umbertide Municipal Archive, Notarial Fund, protocol 482. 3) This kind of appellations were given to the Academies to underline their particular character ... 4) This statute underwent some changes in 1769 and again, under the influence of the new ideas propagated by the French Revolution, in 1808. 5) Domenico Bruni, 1758-1821. He was in Petersburg for three years at the court of Empress Catherine, then in Saxony, Poland, England and France. In 1797 he returned to Umbertide to take care of music schools. In his city he held public offices: Moire and Gonfaloniere. (from Don A. Guerrini, 1883). 6) These texts are kept at the Augusta Municipal Library in Perugia. 7) In 1759 "La clemenza di Tito"; in 1754 "The old disappointed" and "Demetrio"; in 1765 "Pulcinella power"; in 1768 "La letterata"; in 1769 "Sirce"; in 1770 "The punished miser"; in 1774 "Pulcinella fake gambler"; in 1776 "Pulcinella with the three wives" and "La finta malata"; in 1778 "The wife, despair of the husband and the guardian"; in 1783 "The Madonna ..."; in 1787 "La grotta delle mummie" and "Il Moometto" by Voltaire; in 1795 "The corsair in Marseille" and "The guilty woman". Almost all of these theatrical compositions were staged with interludes of music for four or more voices and often with dance. (see Natali manuscript). 8) Umbertide Municipal Archive, notary Vittorio Paolucci, prot. 862. 9) We know of Giovanni Cerrini that in Umbertide he also made the bridge over the Palace (designed in 1804 and finished in 1814), a project for a bell tower above the tower of the fortress and various other works. 10) Umbertide Municipal Archive, notary Tommaso Paolucci, prot. 923/4. 11) Cerrini had "compared them with the width of the boxes of the theater recently built in the land of Panicale". 12) In this regard, it should be remembered that the two buffered arches, but left in view by the current restoration, located under the stage on two walls that form a 90 degree angle, created a passage in the corner of the building that allowed the continuation of the " scito ”mentioned above (even the building adjacent to the theater, originally, did not reach up to the wall). 13) Giovanni Cerrini and Giovanni Monotti attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Perugia together and in 1791, as a drawing exam in the class of Prof. Baldassarre Orsini, they presented a project for a choir chapel in the Cathedral of Perugia with which they obtained the first prize. 14) The muse Talia is generally represented with a cartouche, a viola or other instrument and from the seventeenth century. even with a mask. 15) Umbertide Municipal Archive, b.28. 16) The following performances were: in Turin in 1815, in Florence and Bologna in 1817, in Parma in 1821, etc. 17) Here is the list of those works reported in Codovini's manuscript: November 14, 1811: The knight of honor, by Mr. Avelloni. 16 said: La Semiramide, by Mr. Voltaire, translated by Mr. Cesarotti. 17 said: The madman for love, unpublished. 17 said: Carlotta and Werter, by Mr. Sagrasti. 19 said: The Diogenes, by Mr. Chiari. 20 said: The Geneva of Scotland, tragedy of Mr. Miller, 21 said: Clementina and Dalmanzi, of Mr. Avelloni. 23 said: Justice reaches underground, an unprecedented drama. 24 said; The mirror of obstinacy, unprecedented. 25 said: The jealousies of Agapito and Silvestro, of Mr. Giraud. 26 said: The fraternal reconciliation, by Mr. Zozebue. 27 said: The Persian bride, by Mr. Goldoni. 28 said: repetition of "fraternal reconciliation". 30 said: Replica of Voltaire's “Semiramide”. December 1st: La Zaira, by Mr. Voltaire. 3 said: S. Francesco al campo di Corrodine, unpublished. 4 said: (illegible), by Mr. D'Armand. 8 said: The banquet of Baldassarre, by Mr. Dirghieri. 10 said: The conversion of St. Margaret of Cortona, unpublished. 11 said: replica of the aforementioned. 18) Don A. Guerrini (1780-1845) was a distinguished scholar, professor of rhetoric in Umbertide, he wrote "History of the land of Fratta" published, unfinished, after his death, in 1883. (See the biography that makes it Antonio Mezzanotte as an introduction to the aforementioned book). From the book "Project Recovery and Restoration of the Teatro dei Riuniti di Umbertide" - Publishing theme, 1990 - The history of the Teatro dei Riuniti, edited by Flavia di Serego Alighieri BIBLIOGRAPHY - Don A. Guerrini, History of the land of Fratta from its origin to the year 1845, Città di Castello, tip. Tiberina, 1883. - G. Brizziarelli, Umbertide and umbertidesi in history, Città di Castello, 1959. R. Sabatini, Umbrian theaters, Perugia, 1981. - B. Porrozzi, Umbertide and its territory, Città di Castello, sd. Theaters, entertainment venues and academies in Montepulciano and Valdichiana, Exhibition catalog, Montepulciano, 1984. SOURCES - Municipal Archive of Umbertide - Renato Codovini, History of Umbertide - sec. XIX, unpublished typescript. LA DOCUMENTAZIONE RELATIVA ALL’ACQUISTO DEI LOCALI DEL TEATRO DA PARTE DELL’ACCADEMIA DEI SIGNORI RIUNITI Si tratta di documenti che abbracciano il periodo che va dal 1783 al 1788 e sono interessanti, oltre che per l’oggetto in discussione, anche per conoscere la lingua italiana che si usava allora per le trascrizioni notarili. Si può pure notare che, a livello ecclesiastico, veniva usato ancora il latino. Riunione del 24 gennaio 1783 In nomine Dei amen. Anno Domini millesimo septingentesimo octuagesimo tertio [1783] die vero vigesimo quarto januarii [24 gennaio]... Personalmente costituiti avanti di me notaio i testimoni infrascritti gli Ill.mi signori Domenico Gioacchino del fu signor Mariano Savelli al presente Governatore di Otricoli per la Sagra Consulta, il sig. dott. Bonaventura del fu dott. Giambattista Spinetti, il signor dott. Giuseppe del fu signor Giantommaso capitano Paolucci, il dott. Giuseppe figlio del signor dott. Benedetto Bertanzi, il tenente Filippo del fu sig. Ruggero Burelli, il sig. Giambattista del fu sig. dott. Fabrizio Mazzaforti per il signor Paolo suo fratello, il signor Giambattista del fu signor Ludovico Criacci, e i signori Domenico del quondam [fu] signor Sante Cerboncelli e il signor Stefano del quondam signor Carlo Vibi per il signor dott. Lorenzo suo fratello, individui dell'Accademia dei Riuniti di questa Terra della Fratta da me tutti cogniti, i quali a fine di avere da questa Comunità l'uso perpetuo della sala ove sta il teatro e le stanze annesse per esercitare la gioventù in decorose rappresentazioni ed onesti divertimenti e così mantenere sempre più l'unione di tutto il paese specialmente ed in ogni modo migliore, tutti li suddetti signori ed il suddetto Giuseppe Bertanzi colla rinunzia al beneficio della patria potestà e alla L. I.2... Tit... Cod... quod cum eo, ed a tute le altre leggi, statuti e privilegi a favore dei figli di famiglia disponenti mediante il suo giuramento toccate le scritture delle quali specialmente ed in ogni [è una formula di giuramento], promettono, convengono si obbligano di pagare e sborsare la somma e quantità di uno scudo per cadauno all'anno per lo spazio di anni sei da oggi prossimi, e come siegue fenire entro il mese di gennaio incominciando dal mese presente perfinché saranno compiti li predetti anni sei ed in caso di ritardato pagamento, a contumacia li medesimi signori Accademici acconsentono di essere convenuti giuridicamente dal corpo delli Accademici colla spedizione del mandato esecutivo con la semplice intimazione avanti qualunque giudice, con questo patto però, che detto annuo pagamento non debba convertirsi in altr'uso, se non che nel formare un capitale fruttifero stabile e siguro, il di cui annuo fruttato debba impiegarsi in mantenimento e rifacimento della casa ov'è il teatro, stanze, e ditta, scale ed altro che occorrerà e ciò in vigore degli ordini della Sagra Congregazione del Buon Governo, ad effetto di ottenere la cessione, che si farà dalla Comunità a questa nostra Accademia dell'uso perpetuo di detta fabbrica per l'effetto suddetto. E promettono li detti signori Accademici di fare un tal annuo pagamento per questo primo anno in mani del signor Stefano Vibi esattore eletto dalla Congregazione oggi venuta di detta Accademia, dal quale dovrà poi consegnarsi la somma esatta in mano del signor Domenico Cerboncelli Depositario della suddetta Accademia ad effetto di farne il rinvestimento annuo accenato, e negli anni susseguenti in mano dell'altro esattore che verrà eletto, e così di anno in anno col peso sempre di farli pervenire in mano di detto signor Cerboncelli, il quale radunato che avrà una somma sufficiente dovrà avere il peso di rinvestirla coll'intelligenza sempre però della suddetta Accademia in uno o più investimenti siguri secondo le somme che esigerà di mano in mano, a secondo le occasioni che si presenteranno sigure e fruttifere, ed il fruttato di questi rinvestimenti debba esigersi ogn'anno dal detto signor Cerboncelli Depositario, detto sopra eletto, senza che gli altri signori Accademici o Principe pro tempore abbia avere il pensiero di fare simili riscossioni e questi frutti debbono impiegarsi in risarcimento delle case come sopra da cedersi all'Accademia, né convertirsi in altr'uso senza licenza della medesima, ed in caso in qualch'anno non abbisognassero tali risarcimenti per il mantenimento della casa suddetta, si debbano riservare per altre occasioni di detti risarcimenti. E promettono li suddetti signori Accademici, come sopra presenti, il presente obbligo sempre attendere ed osservare colle suddette condizioni, mai contro di esse fare, dire o venire, anzi farvi acconsentire ogni o qualunque persona e che a loro è lecito di farla volendo essere sempre tenuti alla perpetua oservanza [sic] del medesimo colle suddette condizioni non solo in questo ma anche in ogni modo migliore. [Notaio Vittorio Paolucci. Archivio Notarile Umbertide. Registro n. 866]. Contratto di cessione della sala del teatro In Dei nomine amen. Anno Domini millesimo septingentesimo octuagesimo terbio [1783] - In prima die vero prima mensis februarii [1 febbraio]... Personalmente costituiti avanti di me notaro e testimoni infrascritti l'Eccellentissimo Signor Dottore Giuseppe figlio della beata memoria del Signor Capitano Giantommaso Paolucci e li Signori Vittorio del quondam [fu] Bernardino Ceccarelli, Filippo del quondam Giambattista Legnetti anche in nome di Pietro del quondam Benedetto Crosti tutti di questa Terra della Fratta a me cogniti pubblici rappresentanti della Comunità di questa Terra li quali facendo l'atto infrascritto in virtù della risoluzione del pubblico generale Consiglio celebrato sotto il dì 9 maggio 1780, copia di cui a me diedero per inscriverla col presente istromento, del tenore alla quale, ed in vigore delle facoltà riportate a seconda del medesimo Consiglio della Sagra Congregazione del Buon Governo e della Sagra Consulta, che si giustifica colle lettere di Monsignore Illustrissimo e Reverendissimo Governatore di Perugia in data del 27 giugno e 29 aprile dell'anno 1780, che parimente a me diedero per allegarle nel presente strumento, del tenore che in vece e nome di detta Comunità danno, cedono e concedono per uso perpetuo dell'Accademia de' Riuniti di detta Terra alli signori Accademici di essa e per la medesima all'eccellentissimo signor dottore Gioacchino Maria della beata memoria del signor Mariano Savelli governatore al presente della Terra d'Otricoli parimente a me cognito deputato da essa a questo atto nell'adunanza tenuta il dì 24 gennaro scorso copia della quale parimente a me diedero ad effetto d'inserirla nel presente istromento per detta Accademia e Signori Riuniti assieme con me notaio stipulante ed accettante in favore l'uso perpetuo della casa ov'è il pubblico teatro, alla quale si sale con scala di pietra al di fuori, posta in questa Terra della Fratta nella Piazza del Grano di questa Comunità, ove è la Rocca, conforme davanti la detta Piazza, da un lato la casa del signor Pensa e Padri Minori Conventuali di San Francesco di questa medesima Terra, e dagli altri lati le mura castellane, e di sotto la pubblica Cancelleria, l'Archivio e Carceri, qual casa consiste in una sala, ove è il teatro e la platea del medesimo e due camere contigue a detta sala con tutti i suoi scioiti, annessi, connessi, membri, adiacenze, pertinenze, ponendolo, costituendolo, dandogli... E questa cessione fanno detù Signori pubblici rappresentanti perché asseriscono e confessano aver fatto acquisto della casa degli eredi Petrogalli di detta Terra per il preciso fine ed effetto dell'abitazione del signor Commissario pro tempore per cui servirà la casa ceduta a uso de' Cancellieri, Sbirri e Balivo come appare per rogito del signor dottore Filippo Maria Savelli notaio di questa Terra il dì 8 gennaio 1780, al quale [si rinvia], con li seguenti patti, capitoli e condizioni, cioè: 1. che li Signori Accademici pro tempore siano tenuti mantenere detta casa di tutti li necessari risarcimenti, senza che la Comunità suddetta abbia avervi alcun pensiero, conforme detto signor deputato in vece e nome di essa Accademia promette di fare a tenore del detto gentile Consiglio, ed approva [il suddetto], per il quale oggetto di mantenimento obbliga ed ipoteca il rinvestimento che hanno promesso di fare li detti Signori Accademici per rogito mio il dì 24 gennaio di detto anno, volendo e dichiarando che il fondo o rinvestimento da farsi come sopra di scudi sessanta dalli detti Signori Accademici delli loro proprii denari resti perpetuamente obbligato per detto mantenimento di casa, quale dovrà farsi colli frutti che decorreranno del detto rinvestimento, senza che il capitale e frutti di esso possano convertirsi in altr'uso, e non altrimenti. 2. che in caso si dissolvesse quest'adunanza di Riuniti, la Comunità suddetta possa e debba rientrare al possesso ed uso della casa come sopra descritto con tutti i suoi risarcimenti, bonificazioni e che il rinvestimento da farsi per fondo di detto mantenimento resti vincolato ed ogni casa delli suddetti Signori Accademici possa ritirare quella somma che avrà sborsata per sommare il suddetto capitale colli suoi frutti, in caso non fossero stati impiegati. E siccome la Comunità cede all'Accademia il solo dominio utile di detta casa, benché perpetuo, conviene per patto espresso, quale detto signor deputato intende, vuole e dichiara che si abbia per espresso nel principio, mezzo e fine del presente istromento, altrimenti non sarebbe venuto al presente contratto: che dandosi qualche caso fortuito d'incendio, terremoto o altro sinistro accadente (che Iddio non voglia) 1'Accademia suddetta non sia tenuta ad alcun risarcimento, sul riflesso che la Comunità si riserva il dominio diretto e non altrimenti, perché così. 3. che sia leccito [sic] alli Signori Accademici pro tempore di ampliare la platea, fare aggiunta, mutare ingresso, fare li cassini e tutto altro che stimeranno opportuno per l'esercizio delle loro accademie e recite di commedie e come a loro più piacerà e parerà per maggiore ornamento, comodo e decoro del luogo pubblico. E finalmente che la chiave di detta casa debba tenersi dal Principe o Presidente pro tempore di detta Accademia. Dichiarando detti signori pubblici rappresentanti debba restare in perpetuo l'uso della casa Petrogalli, come sopra comprata per il signor Commissario, Cancellieri e Sbirri e Balivo e la casa e di lei uso, ove è il detto teatro, debba ancor questa restare in perpetuo per l'Accademia suddetta dei Riuniti, senza che mai possa ritogliersi, promettendo di sempre e perpetuamente mantenerla nel libero, quieto e pacifico posesso [sic] ed uso di essa, né a ciò mai contro dire o venire per qualunque capo, causa o motivo, volendo esser sempre tenuti in nome della loro Comunità ch'a perpetua osservanza del presente contratto non solo in questo, ma anche in ogni altro modo migliore. [Notaio Vittorio Paolucci. Archivio Notarile Umbertide. Registro n. 866.] Lettera di Giampietro Pensa Giampietro Pensa da Città di Castello [omissis] l'espone avere una casa nella Terra della Fratta per la metà ed indivisa con questi Reverendi Padri Conventuali di San Francesco posta nella Piazza frumentaria, presso davanti la detta piazza, di dietro li sciolti delle muraglie castellane, da uno il palazzo del pubblico, casa ereditaria del Fracassini, ora de' Signori conti Ranieri di Perugia rifermata in ultimo luogo al detto oratore in terza generazione il dì 8 novembre 1741 per rogito del fu Maurizio Savelli notaro di detta Terra e descritta al libro livellare di detta sua mensa a carta 59; e siccome desidero vendere la metà della medesima casa per indivisa, come sopra, stimata dai periti communi in somma di scudi 15, supplica pertanto l'oratore Vostra Illustrissima [...] per la licenza di poter vendere detta casa per il suddetto prezzo ..... Nulla osta rilasciato dalla Diocesi Nulla osta del Vescovo di Gubbio relativo alla compra-vendita della casa del Pansa adiacente al teatro. Attentis narratis servato dominis favore nostrae mensae episcopalis et sine prejudicio habentium meliora et potiora jura quater oratori petitam licentiam vendendi medietatem domus, de qua in precibus, concedimus atque impartimus ita tamen ut emptor intra debitum tempus precies nobis porrigat ad effectum conseguendi debitam investituram, et non intelligatur illatum illum praejudicium [...] exigendi canones decursos et non solutos. Incipiendi datum Eugubii ex Cancelleria Episcopale hac die prima mensis septembris 1785. Episcupus Eugubino Franciscus Lusieri LVD. Cancelliere Episcopale. Stima della casa dei frati Noi Maestri muratori [Bruni e Porrini] di questa Terra della Fratta, essendo stati richiesti, Mastro Pietro Bruni ad istanza dell'illustrissimo signor Domenico Cerboncelli come Depositario degli Accademici del teatro di questa Terra della Fratta, e Mastro Francesco Porrini ad istanza dei Padri Minori Conventuali di questa medesima Terra per vedere, considerare, stimare e riferire il giusto prezzo e valore di una casa che in comune si gode da terra fino al tetto dalli suddetti Padri Conventuali e dalla suddetta Accademia del teatro posta in questa Terra nella Piazza della Rocca che confina da Levante le mura castellane mediante lo steccato, O [occidente] la Piazza della Rocca et eredi Fracassini, S [sud] il teatro salvi etc. composta di tre piani e stalla a pianterreno, il prezzo della qual casa, libera da ogni defalco, la giudichiamo secondo la nostra perizia e coscienza avendo minutamente considerato ascendere a scudi sessanta moneta romana di paoli dieci per scudo e per essere tutto ciò alla verità conforme sarà il presente foglio sottoscritto e rispettivamente segnato col segno della Santa Croce da noi infrascritti. In fede questo dì 26 febbraio 1787 nella Terra della Fratta. [Notaio Giovan Battista Burelli. Archivio Notarile Umbertide. Registro 885 c. 30]. Richiesta dei frati al Vescovo Illustrissimo e reverendissimo Monsignore, il Guardiano e Religiosi Minori Conventuali di San Francesco della Terra della Fratta umilmente rappresentano a Vostra Signoria Illustrissima e Reverendissima come, fra gli altri stabili al loro Convento appartenenti, tengono una casa in detta Terra situata nella Piazza della Rocca compatronale ed indivisa con l'Accademia del teatro di detto luogo del valore di scudi sessanta moneta romana, trenta dei quali appartenenti e di ragione al loro Convento e gli altri trenta a detta Accademia; come anche ritengono un pezzo d'orto del valore di scudi quattro romana moneta, e siccome sì dell'uno che dell'altro ne ritraggono al presente poco e quasi niente d'utile, supplicano pertanto Vostra Signoria Illustrissima e Reverendissima volergli accordare il permesso di poter vendere detti stabili ascendenti al valore di scudi trentaquattro, come dalle perizie giurate e qui annesse, obbligandosi di depositare il denaro nel loro errario [sic] per rinvestirlo poi in miglior fondo. Che della grazia..... [Notaio Giovanni Battista Burelli. Archivio Notarile Umbertide. Registro 885 c. 29 ]. Contratto di compravendita tra i frati e gli accademici In Dei nomine amen.Die vigesima septima junii anno... [27 giugno 1788] Presenti e personalmente costituiti alla presenza mia e dei testimoni infrascritti li Reverendissimi Padri Francesco Antonio Celestini guardiano, Filippo Maria Magnanini e Felice Antonio Angelucci sacerdoti e religiosi di famiglia del venerabile convento de' Minori Conventuali di San Francesco di questa Terra della Fratta e quello intieramente rappresentando, tutti a me cogniti, i quali inerendo alla risoluzione del loro Capitolo congregato fin dal dì 21 maggio 1787, al quale di loro spontanea volontà ed in ogni altro modo migliore, in vigore della licenza e facoltà ottenuta dall'Illustrissimo e Reverendissimo Monsignor Vescovo di Gubbio, come dal suo rescritto in data 4 marzo 1788 che a me fu dato originale per inserirlo nel presente istromento, al quale danno, cedono e vendono all'Accademia del Teatro dei Riuniti di questa Terra, e per essa al [...] signor Don Nicolò del quondam signor Pietro Antonio Guardabassi membro della medesima qui presente a me cognito, a tale effetto dall'Accademia medesima deputato e per essa insieme con me notaio accettante e stipulante. La metà indivisa d'una casa, che detto convento godeva in comune coll'Accademia suddetta posta in questa Terra nella Piazza della Rocca, confinante nella parte posteriore le muraglie castellane mediante lo steccato; davanti la Piazza suddetta, da un lato le case degli eredi Fracassini e dall'altro il teatro suddetto salvi, composta di tre piani e stalla a pian terreno, con tutti i suoi scioiti, membri e pertinenze, ad avere, tenere e possedere con tutte e singole ragioni al detto convento competenti, ponendola e costituendola e fintantoché [omissis - formule varie] per il prezzo di scudi trenta moneta romana a tenore del foglio di perizia… [Notaio Giovanni Battista Burelli. Archivio Notarile Umbertide. Registro n. 885 c. 27]. Fonti: “Umbertide nel Secolo XVIII” di Renato Codovini e Roberto Sciurpa – Comune di Umbertide – Gesp, 2003

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

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

Serra Partucci 24 GIUGNO 1944 LE VITTIME / THE VICTIMS Natale Centovalli, anni 30; Domenico Černic, anni 26; Bruno Ciribilli, anni 20; Giuseppe Radicchi, anni 17; Mario Radicchi anni 24. Il massacro di Serra Partucci - voce di Paola Avorio 00:00 / 02:37 The massacre of Serra Partucci - voice by Paola Avorio 00:00 / 03:06 24 GIUGNO 1944 Allineati lungo il muro dietro il cippo che ricorda la strage, il 24 giugno del 1944 sono stati fucilati cinque giovani. Il giorno precedente un giovane contadino della zona, approfittando del prevedibile imminente arrivo degli alleati da Perugia, liberata tre giorni prima, aveva sparato ad un soldato tedesco, ferendolo ad un piede, per appropriarsi della sua motocicletta Per rappresaglia, una quindicina di soldati SS hanno rastrellato le vittime alle prime luci dell’alba, in modo da sorprenderle nel sonno. Nel casolare dei Radicchi, a mezza costa della collina, hanno prelevato i figli di Santino, Mario di 24 anni e Giuseppe di 17. Hanno proseguito verso questo luogo, Vocabolo Lago, dove abitavano i Centovalli. In casa erano tutti svegli, pronti per andare a mietere il grano in un campo vicino. I militari sono entrati. Hanno chiesto pane e lardo. Dopo essersi rifocillati hanno fatto uscire Natale, 30 anni, ed il fratello Quinto, 24. Per rispettare la regola di 5 condannati a morte per un tedesco ferito, mancava la quinta vittima. Hanno deciso di andarlo a prendere nella chiesa di San Giovanni, in cima alla collina, che era gremita da fedeli per la ricorrenza di San Giovanni Battista, festa patronale a Serra Partucci. Hanno scelto Domenico Černic, 26 anni, un ragazzone sloveno, forse perché si era messo in evidenza parlando bene il tedesco Al ritorno dalla chiesa, il quinto prigioniero è stato fatto accostare agli altri quattro. Fra di loro, Quinto era senza una mano, che aveva perso in un trinciaforaggi. Domenico ha fatto notare ai tedeschi che in quelle condizioni mai avrebbe potuto sparare. È stato individuato come quinto condannato Bruno Ciribilli, vent’anni, che stava passando per caso. I cinque innocenti sono stati fatti allineare lungo il muro. Senza proferire parola, l’ufficiale ha fatto un cenno rapido con il braccio. Sono partite raffiche di mitra. Dopo qualche attimo, cinque colpi hanno dato il colpo di grazia, ristabilendo il silenzio. Senza indugio, il manipolo dei soldati si è dileguato rapidamente, quasi di corsa. Missione compiuta! 24 June 1944 Lined up along the wall behind the memorial stone commemorating the massacre, five young people were shot on 24th June 1944. Three days earlier the allied troops had arrived in Perugia and On the 23rd, a young farmer from the area, taking advantage of the imminent arrival of the allies from Perugia shot a German soldier, wounding him in the foot, in order to steal his motorcycle In retaliation, the same night about fifteen SS soldiers rounded up the victims at first light, so as to catch them sleeping . In the Radicchi farmhouse, halfway up the hill, they picked up Santino's sons, Mario, 24, and Giuseppe, 17. They continued towards Vocabolo Lago, where the Centovallis lived. Everyone in the house was awake, ready to go and harvest wheat in a nearby field. The soldiers entered. They asked for bread and lard. After having refreshed themselves, they brought out Natale, 30 years old, and his brother Quinto, 24. To comply with the rule of 5 sentenced to death for a wounded German, the fifth victim was missing. They decided to pick a victim in the church of San Giovanni, at the top of the hill, which was full of people because of San Giovanni Battista Celebrations, the patronal feast in Serra Partucci. They chose Domenico Černic, 26 years old, a big Slovenian boy, perhaps because he had stood out by speaking German well Upon returning from church, the fifth prisoner was brought alongside the other four. Among them, Quinto was without a hand, which he had lost in a fodder shredder. Domenico pointed out to the Germans that he would never have been able to shoot in those conditions. Bruno Ciribilli, twenty years old, who was occasionally passing by was identified as the fifth convict. The five innocents were lined up along the wall. Without saying a word, the officer quickly waved his arm. Machine gun fire began. After a few moments, five shots delivered the final blow, re-establishing silence. Without hesitation, the handful of soldiers quickly disappeared, almost running. Mission accomplished! Testo tratto da: Mario Tosti, Cinque cipressi, Digital editor, 2014. Voce di Paola Avorio Immagine di sfondo: opera di Antonio Renzini: "L'eccidio di Serra Partucci" 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 "