(Quest’articolo è stato disponibile anche in italiano – vedi sopra)

A young Romolo Dorinzi is at the centre of this picture, with his family.

He lived to the south-west of Rome, close to the road that connects the city to the coast.

In those days, the road was Via Imperiale, now it is called Via Cristoforo Columbo.

If, today, you drive from the centre of Rome to the beach at Ostia, it will take about twenty minutes along this road.

On 8 September 1943, the 2nd German Parachute Division was south of Rome, near to the coast. The Division comprised approximately ten thousand men.

That evening, they were ordered to advance on Rome.

In the early hours of 9 September, the German troops began their assault. The initial fighting was around Ponte Magliana to the south-west, a key bridge that would allow access for armoured vehicles. The Italians fought fiercely but were outnumbered, and the Germans advanced towards the centre of Rome.

Romolo Dorinzi remebered the day well:

I was fourteen years old. I lived in via delle Statue 10 with my mother, Assunta, and my sixteen-year-old sister, Luciana. My father had died and my three brothers were fighting in the war.

It was the morning of 9 September, approaching midday, and Luciana had gone out. A bombardment began and I was afraid that the roof would fall in on us.

My mother said: ‘We’ll go to the church; the Lord will help us.’

I went with her, intending to return home afterwards and wait for my sister.

On the way to the church, we saw wounded men and overturned carts. The German soldiers were positioning a howitzer towards the fort on the other side of Via Cristoforo Columbo. Our soldiers, grenadiers, were over there, and I knew a lot of