So we were on our way to our market town of Aulla this morning and apparently there’s been an invasion. American soldiers in jeeps have pulled off the road and are conversing with Italians. Motorcycles pull up, decked out in camouflage colors.
No, the uber-busy D.C. war room isn’t sending actual troops to invade Italy in WWII garb because they’re too financially strapped to finance modern uniforms, it’s the weekend of liberazione. Liberation day was yesterday, the 25th of April. People were out at festas then. Today they’re dressing up.
Aulla was totally leveled by the Allied forces during the war, except for a portion of the apse of the church. When they excavated there, they found wandering Saint Caprasio’s tomb, as well as an unexploded American bomb. Nearby, the town of Serricciola was leveled entirely by the Nazis.
The resistance here in the Lunigiana was legendary. The attack on Serricciola was made in retaliation for the resistance’s fine work in making German tanks unfit to be started up, I’ve heard. War sure changes the langscape…
Coincidentally, April 25th is another day of war remembrance half way across the globe:
On 25 April 1915, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) landed at Gallipoli in Turkey where thousands lost their lives.
The soldiers’ bravery in that campaign has become legendary in both countries. I am not one for patriotic fanfare, but, if you’re a Kiwi or an Aussie, you can’t help but feel the emotion of this story.
Oddly, the Austrian/New Zealand commemoration is associated with food and the Italian one isn’t, as far as I know.
ANZAC biscuits are described by Syrie Wongkaew, About.com’s new guide to Australian / New Zealand Food who gives you a good ANZAC biscuit recipe in her personal blog Taste Buddies
Peace be with you.