European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

Everybody was in the streets, so the parade grew more and more.

From Castellazzo to Reggio it is seven or eight km.

A whole group of youths – since the older ones were at war – rode their bicycles all the way to the city.

Mussolini’s writings were everywhere:

“Credere, obbedire, combattere” (Believe, obey, fight);

“L’aratro traccia il solco e la spada lo difende” (The plough cuts furrows, the sword protects them).

Some boys managed to find paint and went up the ladders to cover them.

They also tried to pull down some of the monuments, the fasces or Mussolini’s busts.

Confusion was rather high at that moment.

The situation seemed to turn more complex, since we still had a King.

Then September 8th 1943 arrived.

That day we didn’t listen to the radio, since nobody had one.

But the news moved fast, on our bicycles.

Within an hour of the announcement the whole town knew that the King had signed the armistice.

We began to see soldiers wandering in the country, going back home.

I had developed an awareness regarding antifascism.

I was active together with other women in asking local families to offer hospitality

and clothes for these young men who were disbanded.

After the King had fled, the army had no leadership.

Then the Germans occupied the area, on that same day.