Browse Items (106 total)
- Spatial Coverage is exactly "Italy--Po River Valley"
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Interview with Rinaldo Sarani
Rinaldo Sarani reminisces about the bombings of Pavia describing widespread damage at Borgo Ticino and people being extricated out of rubble. Stressed the importance of bridges: ponte della ferrovia, ponte vecchio, ponte dell’impero, ponte della…
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 Piercarlo Debernardi
Piercarlo Debernardi (b. 1928) describes how his father built the family home next to the convent of La Visitazione in Turin, a house now considered a landmark in the city. He gives an account of wartime building regulations, stressing the…
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 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 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 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 Mirco Marelli
Mirco Marelli describes a bombing raid on the factory where he used to work in 1941: when the alarm sounded, bombs started falling but he was too far from any of the shelters so he took cover under a staircase with a friend. He highlights how…
Interview with Maurizio Ghiretti
Maurizio Ghiretti describes his early life at Monticelli Terme, a small town near Parma. He remembers various episodes of wartime hardships: food shortages, a tree taken down at night for firewood, men hiding in concealed rooms to avoid roundups, and…
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 Marisa Bianchi
Marisa Bianchi remembers her wartime years at Sesso, a rural hamlet in the Reggio Emilia province. Stresses the abundance of locally farmed food and emphasises how billeted German troops were friendly and supportive, even if she and her family had to…
Interview with Marino Ferrari
Marino Ferrari recalls his early life as an engineer at Pavia arsenal, and later in Catanzaro and Verona. Describes his life as an Italian military internee in East Prussia, working in different lumberyards. Speaks with affection of the German…
Interview with Marialuigia Buffadossi
Marialuigia Buffadossi remembers her wartime life in the Lombardy region. Born in a low-class neighbourhood with poor-quality housing, she first worked as shorthand clerk for a solicitor, and then was employed by a major bank. Remembers her…
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 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…
Interview with Marco Pederielli
Marco Pederielli describes his father’s career as a Regia Aeronautica officer, providing details of his service in North Africa. Describes his personal situation after the fall of the Fascist regime, when he reluctantly joined the Aeronautica…
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 Luigi Cabrini
Luigi Cabrini describes his daily life in a rural community stressing the labour-intensive nature of farming in wartime. Mentions Pippo bombing at night, and reminisces a chequered schooling history in Pavia and Voghera owing to strafing, bombings…
Interview with Luciana Cella Guffanti
Luciana Cella Guffanti (b. 1932) describes the role played by officers of the Unione Nazionale Protezione Antiaerea during the bombings of Milan, especially when they had to persuade reluctant people to go to the shelters. She describes an occasion …
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 Lidia Barberis
Lidia Barberis (b. 1934) remembers her early life in Turin and Piedmont under the constant threat of bombing. She describes her father being taken away by the SS, the daily chores and a precarious trip by horse-drawn cart. Describe the postwar period…
Interview with Leontina Giovanetti
Leontina Giovanetti (b. 1913) reminisces about her early life with three sisters, her father who was a typographer and photographer and her mother a house-wife. Describes musical training at the Milan conservatory, stressing the demanding attitude of…
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…
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 Irma Ferranti
Irma Ferranti recalls a day when there were four bombings on Turin. She gives a complete account of the last one: how she ran through the street in search of shelter, before trying to take cover under a bridge. She goes on to remember the sound of…