European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

So we went to a something of a barn to sleep

and eat because we still had not had breakfast.

They gave us a nice big cup of milk with bread.

I was with my brother in the Stalin unit.

I wasn't called Bonifacio VIII in memory of Matile of Canossa,

but i called myself Horace.

In those days I only had Horatii and Curiatii on my mind.

And in fact in my mortal fight with the Germans (being mortal for them, not for me),

i called myself “Horace” because the Germans,

these gasoline-coloured men,

they had eyes of that colour

they seemed to be big warriors.

Introduction and family

My name is Ulisse Gilioli, I was born on May 26th, 1921

a in Montecavolo near Quattro Castella (in the province of Reggio Emilia).

My family had been a miller family

for over 400 years.

In 1929 there was a terrible crisis and my father lost a great deal of money,

mostly because he was a great friend of the parson.

He had 12 or 14 sharecroppers working for him, so he was really rich,