Dear Readers,
With Armistice Day (now called Veteran’s Day) coming up November 11th, I got to thinking about the many “bambinos” born worldwide in the 1890’s who were destined to become cannon fodder during “La Prima Guerra Mondiale” (World War I) when Italy was allied with Belgium, France, Great-Britain, Russia and the United States in “the war to end all wars” (1915-1918).
My father Vincenzo, born in 1896, was one of the lucky ones, in that he served in the Italian army, fighting against the “Austriaci” (Austrians) and came home to tell and swap tales with his “ex-combattenti” paesani at their weekly “Tre Sette” card sessions on Sunday.
As a child, if I was within earshot, the words I remember hearing most were “freddo” (cold) and “neve” (snow) as well as “poveri figli di mamma” (poor mama’s boys), usually uttered by my mother who added in Italian that mothers nurtured their young sons like prized hothouse flowers, making sure they buttoned their sweaters or put on their galoshes before going ourdoors, and then the Government would harvest these “fiori di gioventù” (flowers of youth) when they bloomed for “servizio militare” and they would go, often poorly equipped and clothed to fight, and frequently freeze to death in some “terra straniera”.
I also got to thinking that since “old men declare wars, but it is the youth that must fight them”, if it were mandatory that those around the world who declare wars had to fight them or had to send their sons or daughters to be first in line to enlist, there would be fewer wars.
Hence, it came to pass, that in a “Lest We Forget” mode a dozen years ago, greatly assisted by longtime Italian Connection benefactor Tony Ghezzo, I followed through on an opportunity to obtain some slides from Italy that showed significant battle zones and a variety of combat scenes in Italy from 1915 to 1918, i.e., the frontier zone near Rovereto where the first shots of the war on this front were fired. (Italy’s war museum is in Rovereto now, where a large bell tolls 100 times for the war’s fallen every evening.)
There are also slides of Alpini in Austrian mountain top fortresses, scenes from “White War” combat areas high in the Alps and battlefields along the Bolzano-Cortina Grande Strade delle Dolomiti area (where you can now ride Europe’s highest cable car, the Tondi di Faloria, at the Olympic town of Cortina).
Because all the slides were over 80 years old, some did not reproduce well. Among them, scenes from the twin fortified zones on either side of Bassano, the Asiago Plateau where both Pope John XXIII and Ernest Hemingway served, Mt. Grappa, a key Italian defensive line in 1918, and the Isonzo front along the Slovenian border, where a war of attrition was fought.
Also not included may be these other places where your relatives may have served: the Venetian fortress at Palmanova, Codroipo (where American doughboys fought), Redipuglia (site of Italy’s largest war memorial), the Piave River where the Italian army with Allied help made an epic stand, and the towns for which two of the world’s most famous battles are named, Caporetto and Vittorio Veneto. Italy was then engaged in a great struggle with the invading forces of her northern neighbors: Austria-Hungary and Germany.
After a disastrous defeat at Caporetto, the Italian forces regrouped and soundly defeated the Austrians in the Piave and the Apline mountain regions. This forced the Armistice, and eventually led to the treatry that returned to Italy their rightful territory that had been in dispute since the Napoleonic conquest. In addition to other areas, this treaty returned to Italy the Trentino, Venetian Plain and Trieste.
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In 1992 thanks to the generous Sicilian spirit of Frank Bonfiglio, president and founder of the Sicilian American Foundation and owner of Imperial Color Labs in San Francisco, those vintage slides were transformed, enhanced, and enlarged, printed, then mounted with added informative titles, and made suitable for sharing and viewing during a Veteran’s Day Remembrance in the month of November.
The exhibit then previewed at the San Francisco Athletic Club, founded in 1918 and with added WWI memorabilia provided by SFIAC Paul De Martini, the late Roger Boschetti, Eugene De Martini and Dominic Spinetta from their private collections’ memorabilia, their display along with rare WWI photos went on to the Museo ItaloAmericano of San Francisco.
Now it is 2010 and some of the key players that helped bring our “La Grande Guerra” exhibit to fruition are no longer with us, but since November is the month when we remember all our Veterans I thought I would share with you some of these vintage fotos, taken ninety years ago, when the allies were engaged in the great war to end all wars - WWI. The Allies were Belgium, France, Great Britain, Italy, Russia and United States.
