European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

We reached Ciano without shooting.

It was a complete desert, we didn't even meet any local person on the street.

"What's going on?"

Since in Ciano there was nothing we decided to go further on to the crossroads to San Polo.

We were walking slowly,

keeping 10 meters distance between each of us because it was dangerous.

So we reached the church.

We were there, chatting, all the machine guns ready

and all of a sudden an armoured car turned up.

We thought it was the Germans

and got ready to shoot but

it was a car driven by a black man, smoking a long cigar.

They recognized us as partisans so they came to us and we hugged.

That guy was from Brazil

and as he came to us he threw the cigar away.

As I saw it I ran to the cigar, put it out and put it in my pocket.

To that time we were smoking leaves from nut- and cherry-trees.

But the guy saw what I was doing and gave me a new one to smoke.

They gave us some chocolate

and asked us how we were doing, they spoke Italian.