The Italian Village that Stood up to the Nazis
A fading plaque hides the dark secrets of a picturesque Italian village
Under a sprawling linden tree, in the medieval village of Castiglione di Garfagnana, looking out over the lush Serchio Valley, stands a fading plaque dedicated to Luigi Dini.
Castiglione di Garfagnana is a village that embraces its history. Two days previously we had paid our annual visit to the village’s ‘Sagra Mediavale’, a two day festival during which the entire village celebrates its medieval origins.
In fact, the origins or Castiglione can be traced back to the year 723, but the town remains defined by its medieval layout, fortifications and towers.
Standing beneath the linden tree and gazing through the mid-morning haze upwards towards the hilltop village of Corfino, the plaque couldn’t occupy a more picturesque spot.
Whilst this remote corner of northern Tuscany doesn’t attract as many visitors as the more popular areas around Siena and Florence, it is an enchanting and peaceful region that is well worth exploring.
But, seventy five years ago, this area, as with the rest of northern Italy, was in the grips of a brutal German occupation. An atmosphere of fear and repression hung over the occupied territory, as the frontline in a brutal global conflict drew ever closer.
The formation of the Black Brigades (fascist Italian paramilitary groups loyal to Mussolini) had done little to quell partisan activity. In fact, such actions intensified during this period. Throughout August 1944, acts of retribution were commonplace with massacres of men, women and children committed at Bardine, San Terenzo and Sant’Anna di Stazzema, where, on 12 August 1944, 560 local villagers and refugees, including 130 children, were murdered, their bodies burnt by the SS.
Luigi Dini was the 36-year-old leader of a band of partisans operating in the countryside to the north of Lucca. On 25 September 1944, he was captured at Filicaia, a small village on the opposite bank of the Serchio Valley. The next day, he was taken to Castiglione to be interrogated by the Black Brigade.
But somehow Luigi had managed to conceal from his captors a hidden hand grenade which he now planned to use.
Rather than face interrogation and torture, he reached for the concealed grenade and pulled the pin.
He died instantly, along with two Nazi guards and their interpreter.
His mutilated corpse was unceremoniously dumped on a mound of dirt.
He was subsequently buried in a shallow grave outside Porta Inferi, the ancient gateway at the back of the village.
Then, on 2 November 1944, All Souls Day, Don Lemmi, the pastor of Castiglione, announced that he would bless the body of Luigi Dini. In order to avoid retaliation and reprisal, he commanded the people of the village to stay away.
But, in a remarkable display of solidarity and resistance, the men and women of Castiglione disobeyed the instructions of their priest and, under the scornful eyes of the Nazi occupiers, a short ceremony was held just outside the ancient gateway to the village, where the linden tree now stands.
His death, just one of so many in a cruel ideological conflict that shook the ancient towns and villages of the Serchio Valley.
This story was originally published by the autor in the blog www.notesfromverona.com.
