European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

Once he was stopped by a Black Brigade near the cemetery of Via Cecati while he was taking one home.

They asked him what that thing was. He replied that he was taking that tripod to the dairy in San Bartolomeo.

Fortunately they let him go, since he had two guns on him.

I told him what would have happened if he was searched. He replied: “I would have done like Tomix (a movie hero fast with his guns)”.

That’s how we always joked around.

The death of Fiorello

The Black Brigade, together with Germans, was going through the Ghiardo.

A twenty-year-old boy was walking on the road.

He started running as soon as he saw the Black Brigade and the armoured vehicles.

He jumped over a hedge and ran into a small road towards the barn we were lying in in ambush.

As we saw the Black Brigade truck coming in the courtyard we were forced to shoot.

If they came inside they would have killed us.

Then we moved out of the house and towards the hills. There the battle took place.

They lined up behind a hedge and started shooting. Fiorello was shot in the heart and died there.

We had started shooting because one of our comrades had run away

as the truck came in the courtyard. His name was Francia.

Instead of coming inside the barn, he ran towards the fields and was shot dead as well.

They had shot one of our men, and that’s why we had to shoot back.

We ended up killing all those who were inside the truck.

At night we went back there to collect Fiorello’s body.