Browse Items (60 total)

Alberto Dini recalls his wartime life in Trieste starting from the declaration of war until the end of the conflict. He describes life under the bombs, highlighting disruption of utilities, devastated streets and chequered schooling history. He…

Teresa Messali gives a brief account of pre-war life with her large family in a farmhouse near Bergamo. She mentions Pippo; describes the pressing need to find shelter during the bombings and tells how she frequently resorted to ditches. Teresa…

Paola Giorgina Pasini provides details of her early life in a family of agricultural workers and favourably compares their conditions with those living in urban areas. She recalls the ominous sight of target indicators and flares and remembers…

Alessandra Rivalta recalls her early life, first as member of Opera Nazionale Balilla then as an undergraduate student at the faculty of humanities. She describes the start of the war, early anti-aircraft precautions and wartime life: food shortages;…

Rosanna Giungi (b. 1933) describes how Pippo disrupted daily life in wartime, especially affecting those close to the Modena-Brennero and Modena-Verona railway lines. She reminisces about the sight of Germany-bound trains packed with people…

People are held back outside the gate of a walled yard as a trolley carrying an unexploded bomb is pulled by five men, four dressed in green and one in a white shirt with the colours of the Italian flag. A young boy has climbed a column just outside…

On a clear, moon-lit night, an aircraft with a British roundel bombs a street causing the roofs of buildings on either side to burst into flames. Incendiaries are burning while debris is falling onto the street among small explosions. In the…

Delia Cardini recalls her childhood as an orphan in a boarding school and how, at the age of 10, she moved to Milan. She remembers how the Fascists used castor oil to humiliate their opponents. Delia also describes how, after a night bombing, she was…

Lidia Fabris and Alfonso Fridiani remember 'Pippo'. Alfonso Fridiani recalls how his truck was saved from one of 'Pippo’s' attacks by a partisan. Lidia Fabris remembers the fear she felt when 'Pippo' fired off flares. She describes an incident in…

Franco Nocchieri recalls his early years as an orphan living in several different towns in the Province of Pavia. He describes the bombing of the Voghera railway station, which started while he was heading to school. He goes on to explain how he and…