Rebel Yell
07-19-2007, 05:02 AM
Twenty Angels Above Rome - 19th July 1943
"San (Saint) Lorenzo" is one of the quarters more lively and famous of Rome. It is near to the main city University (one of the biggest in the whole Europe) and there are several pubs, restaurants which have transformed this old zone very deeply: almost all the original inhabitants have left and they have been replaced by students and young people.
In spite of its hectic night (and day) life, San Lorenzo keeps something dismal; the primary city cemetary (the "Verano") is just located on one of the quarter edges, but this not the cause for such sad feeling... we have to go backward more than sixty years.
It is 11.02AM, 19th July 1943, when U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Owen Gibson gave the green light for the very first aerial bomb strafing attack above the city of Rome. That day, hundeds of bombs will rain from the sky above Rome... and they are going to fall on San Lorenzo.
1943: it is three years since the Italian country is in war, but the WWII conflict did not touched the city, apart from the negative effects on the financial market, black outs and rationings. The 19th of July is one of the warmest day of the year and without wind. Romans are ready to leave the city and go to the sea. Mussolini is in Feltre (Veneto region), in order to meet Hitler. The 10th of the month Allies had disembarked in Sicily and those were also hot days for the regimen. The bomb attack against Rome will be decisive for the fall of the government: just six days later, on 25th July, Mussolini was dismissed from the Great Council of Fascismo and then arrested.
But on the books of history and in the same memory of the Roman people, the tragedy of 19th July 1943 seems to have been forgotten. Romans speak and remember it as the "bombing of Saint Lorenzo", not as "bombing of Rome", as like as an external part of the city had been hit. Perhaps they are just trying to remove that nightmare from their memories, because during the WWII, many Romans were still convinced of being safe because of the presence of the Vatican.
"Twenty Angels Above Rome" (original: "Venti Angeli Sopra Roma") is the title of a book written by Cesare De Simone (a famous Italian journalist and historian). "One Angel" was equivalent to one thousand feet of height (around 300mt). This means, "Twenty Angels" equal to 6000mt. The book has been written from a collection of witnesses and archive documents, and it helps to understand what happened and what has not been told by history books.
Plans for the bomb attack agains Rome were done on 24th of June. In the military bases and airports from where the bombers and airplanes were planned to take off, pilots and Air Force servicemen of Catholic faith were allowed to ask for an exoneration from the mission, and the officials ordered to exonerate by order protestants because they were clearly anti-Roman and against the Vatican.
On 15th July, around 120000 leaflets were launched above Rome: the Allies warned the Roman people and announced the imminent bomb attack. Much many were lauched during the night between the 18th and the 19th. They stated: "ROMANS, LEAVE YOUR HOMES IN PROXIMITY OF RAILWAY STATIONS, AIRPORTS AND MILITARY BARRACKS. TAKE REFUGE FAR FROM ANY MILITARY OR STRATEGIC TARGET WHICH THE ALLIES AIR FORCES MAY ATTACK. ROMANS, THIS IS A TOP PRIORITY WARNING, DO NOT BELIEVE IN MUSSOLINI STATEMENTS." The major of Rome gave no importance to those warnings and commented "it is just the usual psychological trial, and I have already ordered to remove the leaflets as I do not want the Romans to get scared".
Approximately 7000 men were ready to board and fly from the Northern Africa and Middle East airports and Allies bases. A briefing said "The today attack against Rome is one of those events which will be remembered for the next one hundred years"; a military chaplain was motivating a bomber crew "soldiers, unleash hell above them!".
The bombers of the 12th and 9th U.S. Air Force groups rallied at the "Cross-One" point on the Tirenno sea (40" latitude and 12" East longitude), nearly half way between the Sardinia island and the gulf of Naples. General Lewis was the commander in charge for the mission, while in one of the B-17s of the 8th group there was a machine-gunner who two years before became a worldwide famous actor: his name was Clack Gable, 42yrs.
Rome, 10.52AM
From the Italian Aerial Defence Ministry a dispatch said "Large formations of four-motor American planes are enterint into the Italian sky from the sea and they are coming towards Rome! We repeat, the bombers come straight to Rome!".
Rome, 11.03AM
The first volley of bombs hit the railways, two wagons and a one-store warehouse of the San Lorenzo station (this station was used for goods only, not for passengers). The triangle located from Sisto V square to Porta Maggiore square and San Lorenzo square took the most part of damage during the bomb attack. Some buildings, depots and trains started to burn and the bombers targeters were unable to center properly the bombs on the station, due to smoke and dust. Several volleys missed the station and hit the nearby civilian buildings... the Romans took their first casualties.
In less than two hours, 1060 tons of explosives were dropped on San Lorenzo (a total number ranging around 4000 between fragmentation and incendiary bombs) and more than 2800 people were killed during the attack (11000 wounded).
Pope Pio XII came in San Lorenzo late in the day in order to support the population and to visit the bombed buildings and roads... there is a picture of him, opening his arms in front of the crowd like the "wings of an angel" (the quote comes from a song written from a famous Italian singer, 30yrs later). The people is angry vs. the politicians who did not give importance to the Allies' warnings. None from the regimen personnel came there... frightened from the anger of the survivors.
It took a few hours before the news of the bomb attack spreaded out, and then the whole population of Rome gave its help to relief the survivors and support the Carabinieri, Red Cross personnel and firemen (and among them, 24 more died while helping people trapped into destroyed buildings). The regimen censored any news regarding these brave men, who gave their life to help, because Mussolini did not want to enfeeble the "Roman Warrior Spirit". A writing "it is better to have the Americans above the head, than Mussolini on the balls" appeared on a wall near the firemen barracks.
Rome was then bombed again on 13rd of August (around 1000 civilians killed), and much many times on the follow (for a grand total of 51 times). The last one was on 3rd June 1944, just one day before the Final Liberation.
Detail of the bombed zone on Yahoo.Maps:
LINK (http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband#mvt=h&q2=sabelli&q1=rome&trf=0&lon=12.513846&lat=41.89509&mag=2)
Here it is where the Scalo San Lorenzo was before being destroyed
LINK (http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband#mvt=h&q2=sabelli&q1=rome&trf=0&lon=12.515847&lat=41.893006&mag=1)
And now, few pics (I am sorry if some of them are so tiny, but I did not find any better)... the first one is an aerial view of target, here you can see the railways, the sation and, on the right side: SAN LORENZO.
http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/718/vedutazenitaledelquartioa4.jpg
The attack:
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/1971/sanlorenzoar0.jpg
Bombs falling on Rome. Picture taken from one of the U.S. Air Force Liberator bombers during the attack.
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/3913/san20lorenzo201944202bf1.jpg
Explosions, dirt and smoke in San Lorenzo. Picture taken from one of the U.S. Air Force Liberator bombers during the attack.
http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/8689/bombardamentiasanlorenzre4.jpg
Smoke and fire in San Lorenzo.
Pictures taken after the attack:
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/9003/slorenzokw1.jpg
Destroyed civilian buildings in Via Tiburtina. On the bottom, it is possible to see the sign board "SBARIGIA". That was the pharmacy owned by the brother of my grandfather (mother-side). My grandfather worked as a medic/surgeon in a nearby private clinic (locaded in Piazza dei Siculi)... but he was not there during attack: he was in Africa, where the UK troops captured him and kept as prisoner of war near London till 1946. During the years he spent in UK, he saved the lives of several prisoners of war and UK people.
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/156/pioxiitralafolla2fo2.jpg
Pope Pio XII open his arms "like an angel" in front of the San Lorenzo survivors after the attack.
http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/5098/pioxiitralafollaasanqq8.jpg
Pope Pio XII walking in the crowd of San Lorenzo.
http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/2263/san20lorenzo201944206tj8.jpg
Pope Pio XII walking in the crowd of San Lorenzo.
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/8256/veranosanlorenzosq9.jpg
Bomb craters opened by bomb explosions at the Verano cemetery. Several monumental graves were destroyed, corpses were also scattered everywhere.
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/4619/a1943mmdd8.jpg
Bomb craters opened by bomb explosions at the Verano cemetery. Several monumental graves were destroyed, corpses were also scattered everywhere.
http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/1135/cultur3xv2.gif
Destroyed civilian buildings in Via Tiburtina. The railway tower, on the background, has not been hit by the bombs and it is still there today.
http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/904/cultur16bc3.gif
The railways near the Scalo San Lorenzo, destroyed by the bombs... here it is possible to see how close they were to the civilian buildings.
http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/341/cultur43ra5.gif
The skeletons of destroyed wagons and coaches at the Scalo San Lorenzo railway station.
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/6801/loscalomercisanlorenzotg8.jpg
All the platforms for downloading goods and stuff from the wagons were hit and destroyed
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/2496/cultur53vj4.gif
The Scalo San Lorenzo railways.
http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/8819/mortitemporaneamenteallmf0.jpg
Casualties of the attack are aligned on the floor of the Basilica of San Lorenzo, in order to be transported to the nearby hospital "Policlinico".
San Lorenzo today:
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/9913/campanilequ1.jpg
Church of Santa Immacolata, bell-tower.
http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/6071/p1010022dz7.jpg
This glass wall has been placed in the San Lorenzo park (where in early '900 there was a small railway station leading to Tivoli): all the names of died San Lorenzo people have been written on it. The monument has been built and inaugurated in occasion of the sixty-years anniversary of the attack (19th-July-2003); both the President of the Italian Republic and the Major of Rome attended the ceremony.
http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/5473/sanlorenzo4ta2.jpg
A close up of the wall.
http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/2033/sabelli1pq7.jpg
Bombed building #1 in Via dei Sabelli, San Lorenzo.
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/3872/sabelli2ri7.jpg
Bombed building #2 in Via dei Sabelli, San Lorenzo.
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/8301/sabelli3ij2.jpg
Bombed building #3 in Via dei Sabelli, San Lorenzo.
I have taken the following pictures:
http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/4033/pletiburtinoqh5.jpg
Via Tiburtina today. The building on the left was the one which is seen destroyed on a previous picture: it is the same where the pharmacy "SBARIGIA" was.
http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/9845/pletiburtino2ps6.jpg
A detail of the same building. The upper floor has been hit by a bomb and after the reconstruction only a part of the original building was kept in place.
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/2354/ptalabicanavx6.jpg
Bombed building near the ancient Aurelian walls.
http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/5343/equidw6.jpg
Detailed pic of a bombed building in Via dei Sabelli.
http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/4948/equi2mb9.jpg
Again, a detailed pic of a bombed building in Via dei Sabelli.
http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/6595/sabellihe9.jpg
Again, a detailed pic of a bombed building in Via dei Sabelli.
During the reconstruction, only the buildings severely damaged and/or compromised were rebuilt from scrap. San Lorenzo was mostly populated by peasants, small artisans and railway workers... who did not have enough moneys, preffered to leave San Lorenzo. Most of them had lost under the bombs parents, brothers and friends.
Plates to remember the dead ones or to thank God to having protected the buildings from the bombs are frequent to see in San Lorenzo:
http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/3808/targa1mq2.jpg
This plate has been placed in 1993 in the hall of the building where I am currently living, in Via dei Ramni. Here's a quick translation: "That morning of 19th July 1943, shadows descended over my heart, the death came with the bombs and took away the friends of mine, it was like a lightning, the sould of the quarter was broken, but my building was protected by you, my Madonna".
http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/3725/targa2zf5.jpg
Plate placed in 1965 for remembrance of all the dead ones and against the destructions caused by the war.
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/8726/targa3if5.jpg
Plate placed where that person was found dead.
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/8834/palazzotc3.jpg
This is the building, built in 1929 and spared by the bombs, located in Via Dei Sabelli, corner with Via dei Reti, where I have purchased my new flat and where I will move at the end of the summer.
On YouTube, I have found this footage, is in Italian, more pics of the bombs appear from 5.08min and over (the song written by Francesco De Gregori, is in the background):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMQa6yvY-yU
I just hope you all find interesting this post. Feel free to reproduce / distribute at your will.
RIP to all the Romans who died.
"San (Saint) Lorenzo" is one of the quarters more lively and famous of Rome. It is near to the main city University (one of the biggest in the whole Europe) and there are several pubs, restaurants which have transformed this old zone very deeply: almost all the original inhabitants have left and they have been replaced by students and young people.
In spite of its hectic night (and day) life, San Lorenzo keeps something dismal; the primary city cemetary (the "Verano") is just located on one of the quarter edges, but this not the cause for such sad feeling... we have to go backward more than sixty years.
It is 11.02AM, 19th July 1943, when U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Owen Gibson gave the green light for the very first aerial bomb strafing attack above the city of Rome. That day, hundeds of bombs will rain from the sky above Rome... and they are going to fall on San Lorenzo.
1943: it is three years since the Italian country is in war, but the WWII conflict did not touched the city, apart from the negative effects on the financial market, black outs and rationings. The 19th of July is one of the warmest day of the year and without wind. Romans are ready to leave the city and go to the sea. Mussolini is in Feltre (Veneto region), in order to meet Hitler. The 10th of the month Allies had disembarked in Sicily and those were also hot days for the regimen. The bomb attack against Rome will be decisive for the fall of the government: just six days later, on 25th July, Mussolini was dismissed from the Great Council of Fascismo and then arrested.
But on the books of history and in the same memory of the Roman people, the tragedy of 19th July 1943 seems to have been forgotten. Romans speak and remember it as the "bombing of Saint Lorenzo", not as "bombing of Rome", as like as an external part of the city had been hit. Perhaps they are just trying to remove that nightmare from their memories, because during the WWII, many Romans were still convinced of being safe because of the presence of the Vatican.
"Twenty Angels Above Rome" (original: "Venti Angeli Sopra Roma") is the title of a book written by Cesare De Simone (a famous Italian journalist and historian). "One Angel" was equivalent to one thousand feet of height (around 300mt). This means, "Twenty Angels" equal to 6000mt. The book has been written from a collection of witnesses and archive documents, and it helps to understand what happened and what has not been told by history books.
Plans for the bomb attack agains Rome were done on 24th of June. In the military bases and airports from where the bombers and airplanes were planned to take off, pilots and Air Force servicemen of Catholic faith were allowed to ask for an exoneration from the mission, and the officials ordered to exonerate by order protestants because they were clearly anti-Roman and against the Vatican.
On 15th July, around 120000 leaflets were launched above Rome: the Allies warned the Roman people and announced the imminent bomb attack. Much many were lauched during the night between the 18th and the 19th. They stated: "ROMANS, LEAVE YOUR HOMES IN PROXIMITY OF RAILWAY STATIONS, AIRPORTS AND MILITARY BARRACKS. TAKE REFUGE FAR FROM ANY MILITARY OR STRATEGIC TARGET WHICH THE ALLIES AIR FORCES MAY ATTACK. ROMANS, THIS IS A TOP PRIORITY WARNING, DO NOT BELIEVE IN MUSSOLINI STATEMENTS." The major of Rome gave no importance to those warnings and commented "it is just the usual psychological trial, and I have already ordered to remove the leaflets as I do not want the Romans to get scared".
Approximately 7000 men were ready to board and fly from the Northern Africa and Middle East airports and Allies bases. A briefing said "The today attack against Rome is one of those events which will be remembered for the next one hundred years"; a military chaplain was motivating a bomber crew "soldiers, unleash hell above them!".
The bombers of the 12th and 9th U.S. Air Force groups rallied at the "Cross-One" point on the Tirenno sea (40" latitude and 12" East longitude), nearly half way between the Sardinia island and the gulf of Naples. General Lewis was the commander in charge for the mission, while in one of the B-17s of the 8th group there was a machine-gunner who two years before became a worldwide famous actor: his name was Clack Gable, 42yrs.
Rome, 10.52AM
From the Italian Aerial Defence Ministry a dispatch said "Large formations of four-motor American planes are enterint into the Italian sky from the sea and they are coming towards Rome! We repeat, the bombers come straight to Rome!".
Rome, 11.03AM
The first volley of bombs hit the railways, two wagons and a one-store warehouse of the San Lorenzo station (this station was used for goods only, not for passengers). The triangle located from Sisto V square to Porta Maggiore square and San Lorenzo square took the most part of damage during the bomb attack. Some buildings, depots and trains started to burn and the bombers targeters were unable to center properly the bombs on the station, due to smoke and dust. Several volleys missed the station and hit the nearby civilian buildings... the Romans took their first casualties.
In less than two hours, 1060 tons of explosives were dropped on San Lorenzo (a total number ranging around 4000 between fragmentation and incendiary bombs) and more than 2800 people were killed during the attack (11000 wounded).
Pope Pio XII came in San Lorenzo late in the day in order to support the population and to visit the bombed buildings and roads... there is a picture of him, opening his arms in front of the crowd like the "wings of an angel" (the quote comes from a song written from a famous Italian singer, 30yrs later). The people is angry vs. the politicians who did not give importance to the Allies' warnings. None from the regimen personnel came there... frightened from the anger of the survivors.
It took a few hours before the news of the bomb attack spreaded out, and then the whole population of Rome gave its help to relief the survivors and support the Carabinieri, Red Cross personnel and firemen (and among them, 24 more died while helping people trapped into destroyed buildings). The regimen censored any news regarding these brave men, who gave their life to help, because Mussolini did not want to enfeeble the "Roman Warrior Spirit". A writing "it is better to have the Americans above the head, than Mussolini on the balls" appeared on a wall near the firemen barracks.
Rome was then bombed again on 13rd of August (around 1000 civilians killed), and much many times on the follow (for a grand total of 51 times). The last one was on 3rd June 1944, just one day before the Final Liberation.
Detail of the bombed zone on Yahoo.Maps:
LINK (http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband#mvt=h&q2=sabelli&q1=rome&trf=0&lon=12.513846&lat=41.89509&mag=2)
Here it is where the Scalo San Lorenzo was before being destroyed
LINK (http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband#mvt=h&q2=sabelli&q1=rome&trf=0&lon=12.515847&lat=41.893006&mag=1)
And now, few pics (I am sorry if some of them are so tiny, but I did not find any better)... the first one is an aerial view of target, here you can see the railways, the sation and, on the right side: SAN LORENZO.
http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/718/vedutazenitaledelquartioa4.jpg
The attack:
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/1971/sanlorenzoar0.jpg
Bombs falling on Rome. Picture taken from one of the U.S. Air Force Liberator bombers during the attack.
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/3913/san20lorenzo201944202bf1.jpg
Explosions, dirt and smoke in San Lorenzo. Picture taken from one of the U.S. Air Force Liberator bombers during the attack.
http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/8689/bombardamentiasanlorenzre4.jpg
Smoke and fire in San Lorenzo.
Pictures taken after the attack:
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/9003/slorenzokw1.jpg
Destroyed civilian buildings in Via Tiburtina. On the bottom, it is possible to see the sign board "SBARIGIA". That was the pharmacy owned by the brother of my grandfather (mother-side). My grandfather worked as a medic/surgeon in a nearby private clinic (locaded in Piazza dei Siculi)... but he was not there during attack: he was in Africa, where the UK troops captured him and kept as prisoner of war near London till 1946. During the years he spent in UK, he saved the lives of several prisoners of war and UK people.
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/156/pioxiitralafolla2fo2.jpg
Pope Pio XII open his arms "like an angel" in front of the San Lorenzo survivors after the attack.
http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/5098/pioxiitralafollaasanqq8.jpg
Pope Pio XII walking in the crowd of San Lorenzo.
http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/2263/san20lorenzo201944206tj8.jpg
Pope Pio XII walking in the crowd of San Lorenzo.
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/8256/veranosanlorenzosq9.jpg
Bomb craters opened by bomb explosions at the Verano cemetery. Several monumental graves were destroyed, corpses were also scattered everywhere.
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/4619/a1943mmdd8.jpg
Bomb craters opened by bomb explosions at the Verano cemetery. Several monumental graves were destroyed, corpses were also scattered everywhere.
http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/1135/cultur3xv2.gif
Destroyed civilian buildings in Via Tiburtina. The railway tower, on the background, has not been hit by the bombs and it is still there today.
http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/904/cultur16bc3.gif
The railways near the Scalo San Lorenzo, destroyed by the bombs... here it is possible to see how close they were to the civilian buildings.
http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/341/cultur43ra5.gif
The skeletons of destroyed wagons and coaches at the Scalo San Lorenzo railway station.
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/6801/loscalomercisanlorenzotg8.jpg
All the platforms for downloading goods and stuff from the wagons were hit and destroyed
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/2496/cultur53vj4.gif
The Scalo San Lorenzo railways.
http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/8819/mortitemporaneamenteallmf0.jpg
Casualties of the attack are aligned on the floor of the Basilica of San Lorenzo, in order to be transported to the nearby hospital "Policlinico".
San Lorenzo today:
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/9913/campanilequ1.jpg
Church of Santa Immacolata, bell-tower.
http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/6071/p1010022dz7.jpg
This glass wall has been placed in the San Lorenzo park (where in early '900 there was a small railway station leading to Tivoli): all the names of died San Lorenzo people have been written on it. The monument has been built and inaugurated in occasion of the sixty-years anniversary of the attack (19th-July-2003); both the President of the Italian Republic and the Major of Rome attended the ceremony.
http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/5473/sanlorenzo4ta2.jpg
A close up of the wall.
http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/2033/sabelli1pq7.jpg
Bombed building #1 in Via dei Sabelli, San Lorenzo.
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/3872/sabelli2ri7.jpg
Bombed building #2 in Via dei Sabelli, San Lorenzo.
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/8301/sabelli3ij2.jpg
Bombed building #3 in Via dei Sabelli, San Lorenzo.
I have taken the following pictures:
http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/4033/pletiburtinoqh5.jpg
Via Tiburtina today. The building on the left was the one which is seen destroyed on a previous picture: it is the same where the pharmacy "SBARIGIA" was.
http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/9845/pletiburtino2ps6.jpg
A detail of the same building. The upper floor has been hit by a bomb and after the reconstruction only a part of the original building was kept in place.
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/2354/ptalabicanavx6.jpg
Bombed building near the ancient Aurelian walls.
http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/5343/equidw6.jpg
Detailed pic of a bombed building in Via dei Sabelli.
http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/4948/equi2mb9.jpg
Again, a detailed pic of a bombed building in Via dei Sabelli.
http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/6595/sabellihe9.jpg
Again, a detailed pic of a bombed building in Via dei Sabelli.
During the reconstruction, only the buildings severely damaged and/or compromised were rebuilt from scrap. San Lorenzo was mostly populated by peasants, small artisans and railway workers... who did not have enough moneys, preffered to leave San Lorenzo. Most of them had lost under the bombs parents, brothers and friends.
Plates to remember the dead ones or to thank God to having protected the buildings from the bombs are frequent to see in San Lorenzo:
http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/3808/targa1mq2.jpg
This plate has been placed in 1993 in the hall of the building where I am currently living, in Via dei Ramni. Here's a quick translation: "That morning of 19th July 1943, shadows descended over my heart, the death came with the bombs and took away the friends of mine, it was like a lightning, the sould of the quarter was broken, but my building was protected by you, my Madonna".
http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/3725/targa2zf5.jpg
Plate placed in 1965 for remembrance of all the dead ones and against the destructions caused by the war.
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/8726/targa3if5.jpg
Plate placed where that person was found dead.
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/8834/palazzotc3.jpg
This is the building, built in 1929 and spared by the bombs, located in Via Dei Sabelli, corner with Via dei Reti, where I have purchased my new flat and where I will move at the end of the summer.
On YouTube, I have found this footage, is in Italian, more pics of the bombs appear from 5.08min and over (the song written by Francesco De Gregori, is in the background):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMQa6yvY-yU
I just hope you all find interesting this post. Feel free to reproduce / distribute at your will.
RIP to all the Romans who died.