Browse Items (106 total)
- Spatial Coverage is exactly "Italy--Po River Valley"
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Interview with Inge Nicolis
Inge Nicolis, the daughter of a Swedish engineer faher and an Italian mother, reminisces about her wartime experiences in Milan. She stresses the sense of having been thrown into a tragedy and the anguish of not being able to evacuate Milan, on the…
Interview with an eye-witness of Milan bombings
The interviewee describes two bombings in the Sesto San Giovanni and Niguarda areas, which he eye-witnessed. During the first, he was in a basement adapted as underground shelter: he recollects women reciting the rosary and a queasy sensation in the…
Interview with Guido Toccacieli
Guido Toccaceri remembers his wartime experiences as a schoolboy in Milan: the day war broke out; food shortages; his father working at an airfield near Bergamo; train strafing; basements used as makeshift shelters; being evacuated outside Milan,…
Interview with Marco Pederielli
Marco Pederielli describes his father’s career as a Regia Aeronautica officer, providing details of his service in North Africa. He describes his personal situation after the fall of the Fascist regime, when he, reluctantly, joined the Aeronautica…
Paolo Troglio travel permit
Travel permit issued to Paolo Troglio by the 'Italia' partisan brigade. It allows him to travel freely to Milan and asks other partisan groups to provide support.
Tags: Resistance
Interview with Paolo Bottani
Paolo Bottani recalls wartime memories as part of a working-class family in Milan. He describes the widespread enthusiasm for the declaration of war, followed by a relatively calm period. He remembers the alarms being greeted, initially, with joy…
Interview with Guido Dell’Era
Guido Dell’Era recollects daily life in wartime Milan, stressing inadequate war preparation. He describes a disciplined, regimented society which later turned to disillusionment. He recollects the declaration of war, the fall of the fascist regime…
Interview with Ferruccio Bergomi
Ferruccio Bergomi recalls his early life as a street urchin in the Precotto neighbourhood in Milan - describes monkey business, horseplay, fierce rivalries, melees, pilfering sundries and street games with friends. He gives an eyewitness account of…
Interview with Enrica Mariani
Enrica Mariani recollects her wartime experiences in Milan: her brother dying of bronchitis after spending too much time in the shelter and her father working in an armaments factory; the aggressive fascist militiamen and the long hours she spent in…
Interview with Franco Nocchieri
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…
Tags: animal; bombing; childhood in wartime; fear; home front; Pippo; Resistance; strafing
Interview with Marino Ferrari
Marino Ferrari recalls his early life as an engineer at Pavia arsenal, and later in Catanzaro and Verona. He describes his life as an Italian military internee in East Prussia, working in different lumberyards. Marino speaks with affection of the…
Interview with Federico Martinotti
Federico Martinotti reminisces over the Pavia bombing on the 26 September 1944, describes the effects on the buildings near the Ticino River (the old bridge being the aiming point of the attack), mentions the salvaging of valuable items from the…
Tags: bombing; childhood in wartime; civil defence; home front; Pippo
Interview with Angela Bianchi
Angela Bianchi remembers wartime life in the outskirts of Pavia, where she lived on a farm with other families. She recalls her experiences of being bombed while working in a clothes factory, situated close to one of the most important Ticino…
Interview with three survivors of the Po valley bombings
The group remembers wartime hardships endured near Pavia and Piacenza. They recalled several stories, such as a farmhouse being thoroughly searched for partisans; children questioned; people injured by shell splinters; a makeshift dugout used as…
Tags: bombing; childhood in wartime; home front; Pippo; Resistance; strafing
Interview with Tullio Magnani
Tullio Magnani remembers his wartime years in the Pavia province. Although his father was blacklisted as a subversive communist, he did not have any trouble at school. He recounted his role as a young resistance helper smuggling food rationing…
Interview with Gabriella Bisio and Teresa Mascherpa
Gabriella Bisio and Teresa Mascherpa recollect the bombing of Pavia and give a vivid description of its immediate aftermath. They describe food shortages, resorting to eating potatoes with milk and queuing up for a portion of salt. Gabriella tells…
Interview with Sandro Boiocchi
Sandro Boiocchi remembers wartime memories at Travacò, in the Pavia area and mentions various episodes: food shortages; the black market; fascist and German roundups; Pippo flying at night; bombing of bridges; giving shelter to evacuees.He tells how…
Tags: bombing; childhood in wartime; evacuation; fear; home front; Pippo; Resistance; shot down
A survivor of the Voghera bombings (informant A)
The interviewee reminisces about her wartime experiences in the Voghera countryside, at the time when her three brothers where enlisted and how difficult it was for her parents to run the farm. She remembers how she narrowly escaped an aircraft…
Interview with a survivor of the Voghera bombings (informant B)
The interviewee recollects his wartime memories in Voghera and describes how bombings, strafing, and “Pippo” flying at night became part of everyday life and how the population tried to cope. He gives a vivid and detailed account of the August…
Interview with Celestino Chiesa
Celestino Chiesa remembers his wartime memories as a schoolboy in Pavia, attending the Artigianelli boarding school, including: food shortages; rationing; “Pippo” bombing at night; machine-gun nests along the Ticino river; a friend joining the…
Interview with Carluccio Intropido
Carluccio Intropido recalls his early life as an orphan studying in Pavia at the Artigianelli, a boarding school providing technical training. He recalls that children used to watch aircraft enroute to Milan, until Pavia was bombed, due to the…
Interview with Francesco Bozzi
Francesco Bozzi recalls his military training followed by service in Greece. He describes harsh living conditions while in Germany-occupied Crete after September 1943: hard labour; scarce food; punishment; brutalities; being wounded while digging a…
Tags: bombing; forced labour; Resistance; strafing
Interview with Rinaldo Sarani
Rinaldo Sarani tells of the bombings of Pavia describing widespread damage at Borgo Ticino and people being extricated from rubble. He stresses the importance of bridges: Ponte della Ferrovia, Ponte Vecchio, Ponte dell’Impero, Ponte della Becca,…
Interview with a survivor of the Voghera bombings (informant C)
The interviewee recollects his wartime experiences in Voghera. He claims he has always had the gift of sensing impending events, the first episode being when he told his mother that aircraft are approaching before, the siren had sounded, and…
Interview with Luigi Cabrini
Luigi Cabrini describes his daily life in a rural community, stressing the labour-intensive nature of farming in wartime. He tells of Pippo bombing at night and reminisces about an interrupted schooling history in Pavia and Voghera, due to strafing,…
Tags: bombing; childhood in wartime; fear; home front; love and romance; Pippo; strafing