Browse Items (68 total)
- Publisher is exactly "Memoro. La banca della memoria"
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Interview with Paolo Racugno
Paolo Racugno (b. 1917), recollects the February 1943 Cagliari bombing. Mentions scenes of destruction with wounded civilians and describes how he used his coat to protect two girls from falling debris.
Tags: bombing; civil defence; home front
Interview with Pietro Cosma
Pietro Cosma (b. 1927) remembers the bombings of Milan and recollects two wartime anecdotes: the execution of a man in front of his home and Benito Mussolini’s corpse on public display in Piazzale Loreto. Describes wartime hardships: losses; food…
Interview with Tino Luparia
Tino Luparia (b. 1930) chronicles the first daylight bombing of Turin which was aimed at the SPA industries, then a defence contractor. Describes the effects of a massive unexploded bomb which pierced all floors of a building and stopped immediately…
Tags: animal; bombing; childhood in wartime; civil defence; home front
Interview with Antonio Bozzetti
Antonio Bozzetti (b. 1924) remembers the efforts to dodge fascist paramilitary service. Describes how he avoided being enlisted because he had a reserved occupation in a factory working for the Germans. Points out he witnessed all Milan bombings and…
Interview with Vittorio Finauri
Vittorio Finauri (b. 1931) remembers the first bombing of Foligno on 22 November 1943. Explains that it was completely unexpected and people were caught unprepared, so bombs aimed at nearby barracks resulted in a heavy death toll. Describes how some…
Tags: bombing; childhood in wartime; faith; home front
Interview with Eraldo Bessone
Eraldo Bessone (b. 1925) remembers the 18 November 1942 bombing of Turin , the first intense attack after a series of operations which caused limited alarm and little damage. Gives a vivid and emotional account of the destruction of a nearby military…
Tags: bombing; civil defence
Interview with Paolo Ferroni
Paolo Ferroni (b. 1937) remembers the bombings of Rome stressing the ubiquitous noise of sirens wailing and the psychological distress associated with it. Contrasts night bombings, when civilians dashed to improvised dugouts nearby and day attacks…
Tags: bombing; childhood in wartime; civil defence
Interview with Romualdo Siccardi
Romualdo Siccardi (b. 1926) remembers the November 1942 bombing of the Borgo San Paolo gas holder in Turin, when he was sixteen. Mentions briefly makeshift shelters in basements deemed tantamount to death traps and gives a detailed account of the…
Interview with Osvaldo Gramegna
Osvaldo Gramegna (b. 1937) remembers the bombings of Turin. Mentions civilians initially fleeing along the railway during alarms and explains how, in hindsight, it was foolish behaviour. Anecdotes of his evacuee life at Casalgrasso: ineffective civil…
Interview with Aldo Magnaghi
Aldo Magnaghi (b. 1927) remembers the bombings of Milan and explains how his house was not directly hit but rather heavily damaged by blast waves. He describes phosphorus loaded incendiaries, their effects on wooden structures, and how civilians…
Interview with Renato Cardarelli
Renato Cardarelli (b. 1923) remembers his youth as an altar boy and then sexton at the church of San Paolo in Rome. He mentions his decision to enter the seminary at 18, where he spent two years, and explains how he was deemed temporarily unfit for…
Interview with Umberto Veroli
Umberto Veroli (b. 1933) recollects wartime memories when his father was an electrical engineer: living close to power substations; a kitten killed by an electric arc; Germans forcing workers to remove transformers and smash meters. He describes how…
Tags: bombing; childhood in wartime; fear; home front
Interview with Albino Ristorto
Albino Ristorto (b. 1938) remembers the day he challenged the president of the local partisans association, who was reluctant to admit their involvement in the bombing of Dronero. He reports the widely held belief that the partisans asked the Allies…
Tags: bombing; childhood in wartime; Resistance
Interview with Albino Ristorto
Albino Ristorto (b. 1938) remembers the bombing of Dronero in 1944 when he saw a formation of aircraft approaching from the north, coming from Turin (Torino)
airport. He describes how one them made a swooping manoeuvre and mentions how the pilot…
airport. He describes how one them made a swooping manoeuvre and mentions how the pilot…
Tags: bombing; childhood in wartime; Resistance
Interview with Gianfranco Nardi
Gianfranco Nardi (b. 1933) recalls the first bombing of Cesenatico in 1944, a night action carried out by 'Pippo'. Explains how the aircraft missed the train station and hit the nearby town centre; maintains that the pilot was drunk. Describes three…
Tags: bombing; childhood in wartime; civil defence; Pippo
Interview with Anna Maria Sarno
Anna Maria Sarno (b. 1945) retells wartime hardships in the surroundings of Avellino. Mentions how her family took shelter in a railway tunnel and describes disrupted transport.
Tags: bombing; civil defence; home front
Interview with Mario Cocco
Mario Cocco (b. 1938) remembers the torpedoing of the Tirso dam, emphasising its beauty and meaning as an engineering marvel. Describes how a torpedo net prevented three torpedoes from reaching their target. Gives a detailed account of the bombing of…
Tags: bombing; childhood in wartime; home front
Interview with Angelo Cassia
Angelo Cassia (b. 1926) gives an account of the bombing of Turin in the summer of 1943. Mentions the use of a shelter in the basement until it became clear that it wouldn’t withstand a blast wave, therefore trapping the occupants inside. Describes…
Tags: bombing; civil defence; home front
Interview with Gianfranco Maffucci
Gianfranco Maffucci (b. 1930) remembers episodes of everyday life in wartime: bartering food, going into the shelter when the alarm sounded; men working in the factories while women going to market. Gives a detailed account of his neighbourhood:…
Interview with Adriano Acquistucci
Adriano Acquistucci (b. 1927) remembers the bombing of the San Lorenzo neighbourhood in Rome. Upon the arrival of the Allies on 4 June 1944 describes how some felt liberated and others occupied. Mentions one of his friends as having “a hammer and…
Interview with Renato Maldarelli
Renato Maldarelli (b. 1937) describes the 1943 bombing of Naples. Remembers being woken up by the alarm, his mother wrapping him in a blanket and going down to a cold shelter. Doesn’t recall the fear of being buried alive under his collapsed home,…
Interview with Alessandro Novellini
Alessandro Novellini (b. 1932) remembers the bombings of Turin and mentions different shelters in the city: the one in the basement of his house and the much bigger one at Piazza Risorgimento, built in 1943 when the tide of war was turning in favour…
Interview with Marta Papotti
Marta Papotti (b. 1937) remembers the bombings of Turin and how she and her family dashed to the shelter in the basement. Reminisces over the sense of community and describes people reciting the rosary or just chatting. Describes how her father the…
Interview with Laura Perego
Laura Perego (b. 1919) narrates how her village in the outskirts of Milan went through the war almost unscathed, in spite of being close to an ammunition dump and other potential targets. Remembers a mysterious badly dressed man who lived in a nearby…
Tags: bombing; home front; incendiary device; Pippo
Interview with Margherita Franco
Margherita Franco (b. 1934) remembers listening to declaration of war on the radio while her father kept working in the garden. Describes her mother preparing a bag with food and other basic necessities and hanging heavy curtains at the windows as…