Browse Items (1325 total)
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Interview with Paola Giorgina Pasini
Paola Giorgina Pasini provides details of her early life in a family of agricultural workers and compares favourably their condition with those living in urban areas. Recalls the ominous sight of target indicators and flares, and remembers Pippo…
Interview with Paolo Bottani
Paolo Bottani recalls wartime memories of a working-class family in Milan. Describes the widespread enthusiasm for the declaration of war, followed by a relatively calm period. Mentions alarms as greeted initially with joy because classes stopped and…
Interview with Lucia Muratori
Lucia Muratori recalls her early life in Bologna in the family of a well-off foundry owner. Stresses that she had less traumatic war experiences compared to many other people at that time, the only disturbing episode being eye-witnessing the killing…
Interview with Fausta Maggioni
Fausta Maggioni recalls memories of her wartime life in Milan. She describes a sizeable shelter reinforced with wooden props, a little bag with the few valuables she had always to bring along, as well as the many duties of her father as warden, who…
Interview with Teresa Messali
Teresa Messali gives a brief account of her 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 stresses how she frequently resorted to ditches.…
Interview with Ada Dellaferrera
Ada Dellaferrera (b. 1928) recalls aircraft strafing the railway station and how she tried to hide next to a wall. Remembers when her mother sent her out in the blackout and the fear of the dark she has had ever since.
Interview with Luigia Colussi
Luigia Colussi (b. 1925) gives a short account of her wartime life and describes how she persuaded German troops to release her father. Stresses the contrast between the attitude of adults (who prayed and were generally worried by the situation) and…
Interview with Angela Squicciarini
Angela Squicciarini (b. 1925) gives an account of her life in wartime when she attended school. Mentions relatives, one of whom spent many years in Russia; describes how the living conditions improved over the years and provide details about olive…
Interview with Mafalda De Luca
Mafalda De Luca (b. 1939) recalls how her father moved to Fiume during the D’Annunzio occupation, where he met her mother. Remembers the blackout curtains at the windows and mentions underground shelters. Gives a brief account of a small bomb (or a…
Interview with Carla Griva
Carla Griva (b. 1935) describes different attitudes and various coping strategies of people inside a shelter in Turin: reciting the rosary, putting their hands over their ears to avoid listening, storytelling, and asking children to practice…
Interview with Erika Gautsch
Erika Gautsch (b. 1928) describes her wartime experience of being inside a shelter and the people she met there: an old sick man with his wife, who was incessantly reciting the rosary, and children clinging to their mothers. Emphasises tension and…
Interview with Ferdi Righi
Ferdinando Righi recalls his early life in Monfalcone, brought up by his mother while his father served as a submariner. Describes daily life in wartime: how he used to sleep fully clothed, waiting for the air raid siren. His mother would put some…
Interview with Eraldo Bessone
Eraldo Bessone (b. 1925) describes the bombing of an industrial area close to the Lingotto district in Turin. Remarks that it was completely unexpected and stresses how the population was totally unprepared . Describes his attempt to reach a shelter,…
Interview with Alberto Dini
Alberto Dini reminisces his wartime life in Trieste starting from the declaration of war until the end of the conflict. Describes life under the bombs, stressing disruption of utilities, devastated streets and chequered schooling history. Describes…
Interview with Matilde Pontecorvi
Matilde Pontecorvi (b. 1910) gives an account of the bombing of Ciampino when she was travelling by tram and bombs started to explode around it. Recalls how she survived only because a priest told her to duck under the seats. Describes the appalling…
Interview with Rosetta Gobetti
Rosetta Gobetti (b. 1930) describes the bombing of a marsh near Isola della Scala, describing it as probably target mis-identification. Recalls a more severe bombing which destroyed many houses and killed twenty-eight people. Gives a short…
Interview with Anna Maria Guglielmi
Anna Maria Guglielmi (b. 1940) recalls one of the first memories of her childhood when the siren sounded and she found herself in crowded shelter. Describes wartime anecdotes: drinking wine from a demijohn found in the attic, an encounter with two…
Interview with Ivonne Cerasoli
Ivonne Cerasoli (b. 1925) describes Milan shelters, consisting largely of basements reinforced with wooden props, and tells how people cut down trees for firewood.
Interview with Maria Malagni
Maria Malagni (b. 1921) recalls her difficult childhood and chequered schooling history. Mentions wartime anecdotes: the death of her fiancé, an airman shot down over Brindisi; fascists seizing supplies; the capture of two partisans that her father…
Interview with Francesca Marchese
Francesca Marchese (b. 1933) recalls the bombing attacks on Casale Monferrato, mentioning a bridge that survived multiple attacks and was nicknamed ‘The devil’s bridge’. Recollects people used to congregate in a field to watch the bombing of…
Interview with Silvana Zerbini
Silvana Zerbini (b. 1924) remembers the bombing of the San Lorenzo neighbourhood in Rome and the concern for her husband’s fate. She recalls the attempt to move her grandparents to a safer place out of the capital and remembers American troops…
Interview with Maria Luisa Verniconi
Maria Luisa Verniconi (b. 1930) recalls her youth in wartime, stressing how difficult it was for her mother to look after the family. She recollects adults listening to Radio Londra while the youths were on lookout. She stresses the violent behaviour…
Interview with Itala Coriddi
Itala Coriddi (b. 1928) recalls wartime hardships in the Rome countryside where she lived in a straw hut. Mentions a railway tunnel used as shelter, describes the Anzio landing and recalls looking for shell cases to be used for hiding food. Remembers…
Interview with Patrizia Riviera
Patrizia Riviera (b. 1930) gives a brief account of wartime life in Bergamo. Mentions food shortages, fear of bombings, basements used as shelters. Mentions disrupted schooling after the fall from power of the Fascist regime.
Interview with Elena Fornari
Elena Fornari (b. 1936) mentions the private shelter in her house in Rome and describes daily life under bombing. Recollects the frightening encounter with two German soldiers asking for information about her father.