During the Second World War my family provided direct assistance to escaped Allied prisoners of war. In particular, my great-grandmother Bianca’s family, made up of six siblings, lived in a small village in the province of Fermo, in the Marche region. After September 8, 1943, when many Allied soldiers managed to escape from prison camps…

My paternal great-grandfather, Francesco Cantone, owned a small farmhouse near Pettinengo, a village in the Biella hills. During the war, he offered shelter to a middle-aged Englishman who was trying to hide from German soldiers. One day, while walking along the path leading to the farmhouse with a bag of bread and vegetables for his…

My family, named Morelli, is originally from Val de Varri, a small village on the border between Lazio and Abruzzo, where I grew up and where my relatives still live today. The history of Val de Varri is a testament to how ordinary people made a difference in times of great difficulty. When the German occupation…

In our family, the war was never just a story in history books. It crept into our home one night, with tired and frightened faces, and it has never left our memory. My family, along with others in the community, was part of a silent network that made Operation Servigliano possible in May 1944. Partisans…