Attilio's Story

This is Attilio on his terrace in the mountains. His story is a long one but I will try to be brief.

When he was in high school he, and his classmates, were surprised when Nazis turned up in the classroom. They were all taken to the railroad station to help unload a freight train. They did not go home again until after the war and some never at all.

They were transported immediately to Bologna where they endlessly repaired a bridge which was endlessly bombed by the Americans every night. After the war Attilio discovered that one of the pilots on that very bombing run was his first cousin from Nevada.

One of Attilio's other jobs was to fish dead bodies from the River Po with a hook and to bury them. He once came face to face with the infamous Field Marshall Albert Kesselring who had the Italian prisoners lined up for inspection. He spat on the ground in front of them and walked away. Kesselring was responsible for many atrocities in the area of the Gothic line, La Linea Gotica, the Nazi's last line of defence against the invading allies.

He ended the war in a prison camp in Austria. When the war ended the prison camp gates were opened and the bewildered prisoners were free to go.

Attilio set out on foot to walk the entire way home. It was late April and the Alps were still covered in snow. He lived on handouts and once lower down, on weeds. He was without shoes since he had long outgrown his own and was never supplied with others.

Just outside Bologna he was given a lift in a jeep by a black American sergeant. The sergeant gave Attilio a large roll to eat. Attilio's eyes still glow when he remembers it. "It was the best bread I ever had," he says.

From Bologna he walked to Florence and then home to Lucca. He found work, married a wonderful woman called Laura and had two children. He has remained thin as a rake all of his life. Now in his mid-8Os he still tries to keep up his olive trees. He was inspecting the ravages of winter today. You can see his dead banana tree in this picture of his garden SHED

I would like to add that Attilio and Laura are the best neighbours anybody ever had.