War in Val d'Orcia

Last updated

War in Val d'Orcia is a civilian Second World War memoir in diary form, set in Tuscany. The author was the Anglo-Irish writer and philanthropist Iris Origo. [1]

Contents

Setting

Origo, with her Italian husband Antonio, a nobleman, owned and managed the estate of La Foce, covering 57 farms on some 7000 acres (c. 2833 ha). The early parts of the book recount events in Italy from the end of January 1943 as seen and heard from the author's locality in rural Tuscany. The account begins with the arrival of the first refugee children, sent by parents with local links, in response to the Allied bombing of cities, particularly Genoa and Turin. [2] Detailed information is given on the opinions and allegiances of local people and officials. "The intention, presumably of the raids was to produce panic: the immediate result was rather resentment. Partly of the kind that the Allies wished to produce, resentment against Fascism.... But there was also... a healthy, elemental reaction of resentment against those who were dropping the bombs." [3]

The overthrow of Mussolini on 24 July 1943 [4] was followed by a short chaotic period of "Fascist Republican" rule under the Italian Social Republic, whose actions were progressively superseded by the weight of German occupation and military reinforcements from Germany. [5] Public desires for a separate peace were tempered by feelings of shame at the idea of capitulation. [6] The couple's tasks were complicated by having some 50 British prisoners of war billeted on them, [7] in addition to over 20 child evacuees, many other outlawed people, partisans, and others who had fallen foul of the Fascists and/or the German occupiers at various times. Meanwhile Origo's second daughter was born on 9 June. [8]

The events of those years and the feelings toward them in ordinary people are described in vivid detail. These include the deportation or arbitrary murder of the Jews of Italy. [9]

Allied advance

The Allied invasion of Sicily (9 July 1943 onwards) [10] and the Italian mainland (from 3 September 1943) affected Val d'Orcia through the Allied bombings of major cities elsewhere, the increasing partisan activities, and the reprisals made by the Republican Fascists and the occupying Germans. [11] Many of the prisoners of war at La Foce set out to join the Allied forces, in a few cases successfully. They were more than replaced by new arrivals: "Indeed, our woods [round La Foce] seem likely to be thickly populated this autumn, sheltering not only Italian soldiers [evading re-enlistment], but an ever-increasing number of Allied escaped prisoners..." [12] Allied advance was felt to be painfully slow: "The B.B.C. exhorts its listeners in England to be patient – but this is less easy for those living here, who are still enduring Allied bombings, as well as increasingly severe German and Fascist repressive measures." [13] "Allied progress imperceptible." [14] "Daily the B.B.C. tells of 'four miles' progress, two miles' progress'; it seems infinitesimal. The B.B.C. reports, too, with satisfaction, the results of the Moscow Conference, but here it seems very remote indeed.... Everywhere the screw is being tightened." [15]

Origo is critical also of the way the Allied air attacks were conducted: "Such incidents [as the bombing of a trainload of Allied prisoners and civilians evacuated from Rome] ... are part of war. But the bombing of a little town like Arezzo, including the districts farthest away from the railway – and of country churches, like the Convento dell'Osservanza outside Siena – these, and the machine-gunning of the civilian population, cannot easily be explained. It is difficult to believe that public opinion in England, if fully informed, would approve of all this." [16] She notes also the variant Italian and Allied accounts of air attacks: "the pot calling the kettle black." [17]

Later German personnel and equipment were also billeted on them. Personal possessions and food stocks had to be concealed. A further, more detailed account of the deep divisions in Italian opinion appears in the 15 October entry, but Origo adds that "the great mass of the Italian people... hold none of these extreme opinions – but tira a campare (just rubs along)." [18] On 17 November she notes, "Daily the procession continues of the fugitives, the homeless, the old and the hungry. Today... I interviewed... (1) Three fugitive Italian soldiers ... (2) Two other fugitives, Italian airmen from Albania .... We find a place for them on one of our farms. (3) Four of the British POWs from our own camp who (unknown to us) have been living all this time in a cave not far from here, fed by the farmers. (4) More families of evacuees .... (5) A destitute old woman from Chianciano, with five small grandchildren .... And so it goes on – an unending stream of human suffering." [19]

After several false alarms, Origo and her family and those dependent on them were forced to leave La Foce, as battle between the Germans and the Allies for control of the district heated up. The account of the flight with the evacuee children is a chilling one, but largely successful. [20] The house survived but not its contents. [21] "Destruction and death have visited us, but now – there is hope in the air." [22]

Reception

The New York Times called Origo's book "a remarkably moving document that, like the best of the elemental war stories, eventually becomes a statement about the unplanned nature and folly of war." [23] Dr Rick Price, an American reader, commented in 2010: "Iris Origo is remarkable for the ease with which she documents, almost daily, the progress of the war in Italy through her diary." [24] The New Yorker is quoted as saying, "War in Val D'Orcia is the simple, day-to-day record of the terrible years 1943–44 in Italy, set down by a woman who was always too busy, she noted, to remember to feel afraid." [25]

Editions

Originally published by Jonathan Cape, London (1947), the book was reissued in The Travellers Library (Cape, 1951) and by Penguin UK (1956); John Murray (1984); David R. Godine, Boston USA (1984–2002); Century Hutchinson (1985); Allison & Busby, UK (1999); HarperCollins, Australia (2002); and The New York Review of Books, USA (2018). Page references here are to the 1951 edition.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor Emmanuel III</span> King of Italy from 1900 to 1946

Victor Emmanuel III, born Vittorio Emanuele Ferdinando Maria Gennaro di Savoia, was King of Italy from 29 July 1900 until his abdication on 9 May 1946. A member of the House of Savoy, he also reigned as Emperor of Ethiopia (1936–41) and King of the Albanians (1939–43) following the Italian invasions of Ethiopia and Albania. During his reign of nearly 46 years, which began after the assassination of his father Umberto I, the Kingdom of Italy became involved in two world wars. His reign also encompassed the birth, rise, and fall of the Fascist regime in Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military history of Italy during World War II</span>

The participation of Italy in the Second World War was characterized by a complex framework of ideology, politics, and diplomacy, while its military actions were often heavily influenced by external factors. Italy joined the war as one of the Axis Powers in 1940 with a plan to concentrate Italian forces on a major offensive against the British Empire in Africa and the Middle East, known as the "parallel war", while expecting the collapse of British forces in the European theatre. The Italians bombed Mandatory Palestine, invaded Egypt and occupied British Somaliland with initial success. However, the British counterattacked, eventually necessitating German support to prevent an Italian collapse in North Africa. As the war carried on and German and Japanese actions in 1941 led to the entry of the Soviet Union and United States, respectively, into the war, the Italian plan of forcing Britain to agree to a negotiated peace settlement was foiled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italian Social Republic</span> 1943–1945 German puppet state in northern Italy

The Italian Social Republic, known prior to December 1943 as the National Republican State of Italy, but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò, was a German Fascist puppet state with limited diplomatic recognition that was created during the latter part of World War II. It existed from the beginning of the German occupation of Italy in September 1943 until the surrender of German troops in Italy in May 1945. The German occupation triggered widespread national resistance against it and the Italian Social Republic, leading to the Italian Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ardeatine massacre</span> 1944 mass killing outside Rome by German soldiers

The Ardeatine massacre, or Fosse Ardeatine massacre, was a mass killing of 335 civilians and political prisoners carried out in Rome on 24 March 1944 by German occupation troops during the Second World War as a reprisal for the Via Rasella attack in central Rome against the SS Police Regiment Bozen the previous day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italian resistance movement</span> Italian combatant organizations opposed to Nazi-Fascism

The Italian Resistance consisted of all the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social Republic during the Second World War in Italy from 1943 to 1945. As a diverse anti-fascist and anti-nazist movement and organisation, the Resistenza opposed Nazi Germany and its Fascist puppet state regime, the Italian Social Republic, which the Germans created following the Nazi German invasion and military occupation of Italy by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS from 8 September 1943 until 25 April 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Switzerland during the World Wars</span> History of Switzerland from 1914 to 1918 and 1939 to 1945

During World War I and World War II, Switzerland maintained armed neutrality, and was not invaded by its neighbors, in part because of its topography, much of which is mountainous. Germany was a threat, and Switzerland built a powerful defense. It served as a "protecting power" for the belligerents of both sides, with a special role in helping prisoners of war. The belligerent states made it the scene for diplomacy, espionage, and commerce, as well as being a safe haven for 300,000 refugees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allerona</span> Comune in Umbria, Italy

Allerona is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Terni in the Italian region Umbria, located about 50 km southwest of Perugia and about 60 km northwest of Terni. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia. The town consists of Allerona Alta, the hill town, and Allerona Scalo, the more populated town with a few bars, restaurants, grocers, and other services. The land is a mix of sand and clay soils, representing an ancient coastline where fossilized seashells can be found dating back a million years in the ancient sand dunes. Along the river that meanders on the valley west of the Autostrada, is an ancient Roman road. The fog settled in the valley quite often, leaving the hilltop village visible at a distance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Val d'Orcia</span> Region of Tuscany, Italy

The Val d'Orcia or Valdorcia is a region of Tuscany, central Italy, which extends from the hills south of Siena to Monte Amiata. Its gentle, cultivated hills are occasionally broken by gullies and by picturesque towns and villages such as Pienza, Radicofani and Montalcino. Its landscape has been depicted in works of art from Renaissance painting to modern photography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bombing of Rome in World War II</span> 1943–1944 aerial attacks in Italy

Rome was bombed several times during 1943 and 1944, primarily by Allied and to a smaller degree by Axis aircraft, before the city was liberated by the Allies on June 4, 1944. Pope Pius XII was initially unsuccessful in attempting to have Rome declared an open city, through negotiations with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt via Archbishop Francis Spellman. Rome was eventually declared an open city on August 14, 1943 by the defending Italian forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italian Civil War</span> Civil war fought between the Mussolini regime and Allied-aligned anti-fascists

The Italian Civil War was a civil war in the Kingdom of Italy fought during the Italian campaign of World War II between Italian fascists and Italian partisans and, to a lesser extent, the Italian Co-belligerent Army.

Caroline Mary Moorehead is a human rights journalist and biographer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military history of Gibraltar during World War II</span>

The military history of Gibraltar during World War II exemplifies Gibraltar's position as a British fortress from the early-18th century onwards and as a vital factor in British military strategy, both as a foothold on the continent of Europe, and as a bastion of British sea power. During World War II, Gibraltar served a vital role in both the Atlantic Theatre and the Mediterranean Theatre, controlling virtually all naval traffic moving between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iris Origo</span> British writer (1902–1988)

Dame Iris Margaret Origo, Marchesa Origo, DBE was an English-born biographer and writer. She lived in Italy and devoted much of her life to improving the Tuscan estate at La Foce, near Montepulciano, which she bought with her husband in the 1920s. During the Second World War, she persistently sheltered refugee children and helped many escaped Allied prisoners of war and partisans, in defiance of Italy's fascist regime and Nazi occupation forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bombing of Podgorica in World War II</span>

The bombing of Podgorica in World War II was carried out by the Allies from 1943 to 1944 at the request of the Yugoslav Partisans.

La Foce is a large estate that lies close to the towns of Montepulciano, Chiusi, and Chianciano Terme in the Southern Tuscan region of Val d'Orcia, midway between Florence and Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paglia (river)</span> River in Italy

The Paglia is an Italian river and a tributary of the Tiber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bombing of the Vatican</span> Air attacks violating Vatican neutrality during World War II

Vatican City was bombed twice during World War II. The first occasion was on the evening of 5 November 1943, when a plane dropped bombs on the area south-west of St. Peter's Basilica, causing considerable damage but no casualties. The second bombing, which affected only the outer margin of the city, was at about the same hour on 1 March 1944. It killed one person and injured another.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">July 1943</span> Month of 1943

The following events occurred in July 1943:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">German prisoners of war in the United Kingdom</span>

Large numbers of German prisoners of war were held in Britain between the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 and late 1948. Their numbers reached a peak of around 400,000 in 1946, and then began to fall when repatriation began. The experiences of these prisoners differed in certain important respects from those of captured German servicemen held by other nations. The treatment of the captives, though strict, was generally humane, and fewer prisoners died in British captivity than in other countries. The British government also introduced a programme of re-education, which was intended to demonstrate to the POWs the evils of the Nazi regime, while promoting the advantages of democracy. Some 25,000 German prisoners remained in the United Kingdom voluntarily after being released from prisoner of war status.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Axis war crimes in Italy</span> Aspect of World War II

Two of the three major Axis powers of World War II—Nazi Germany and their Fascist Italian allies—committed war crimes in the Kingdom of Italy.

References

  1. ↑ Origo, Iris. War in Val d'Orcia, Jonathan Cape, London 1947, p. 7 ff.
  2. ↑ Origo, pp. 19 ff. Val d'Orcia itself escaped bombing until 17 August – pp. 61–62.
  3. ↑ Origo, p. 20, also p. 64.
  4. ↑ Origo, pp. 50–52.
  5. ↑ Origo, p. 59.
  6. ↑ Origo, pp. 54, 57–58 etc.
  7. ↑ Origo, p. 31 ff.
  8. ↑ Origo, p. 41.
  9. ↑ E. g. Origo, p. 110. Cases she meets in December: Origo, pp. 126 and 127–28. A case of Catholic opposition to this: Origo, p. 132.
  10. ↑ Origo, p. 43.
  11. ↑ Tightening up: Origo, pp. 77–80.
  12. ↑ Origo, p. 84.
  13. ↑ Origo, p. 95.
  14. ↑ Origo, p. 96.
  15. ↑ Origo, p. 113.
  16. ↑ Origo, p. 142.
  17. ↑ Origo, p. 149.
  18. ↑ Origo, p. 103.
  19. ↑ Origo, p. 123–24.
  20. ↑ Origo, pp. 228 ff.
  21. ↑ Origo, pp. 244 ff.
  22. ↑ Origo, p. 253.
  23. ↑ Mitgang, Herbert (29 May 1984), "BOOKS OF THE TIMES", The New York Times
  24. ↑ Experience Plus Retrieved 11 October 2015
  25. ↑ David R. Godine. Retrieved 11 October 2015
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.