It was a hot end of April yesterday. Too hot to spend much time in Lucca after a medical check-up (at Le Barbantine clinic, this time). So we headed up toward the Pizzorne plateau, a favourite area for Lucchesi to cool off during the summer. The views over the Lucca plain and beyond are superb there although already some heat haze was making the panorama a little less distinct.

We stopped at the sweet little town of Villa Basilica with its gorgeous Romanesque Pieve, one of the finest religious buildings in the whole Lucchesia. It always amazes me how a small mountain settlement could have been the seat for such a superb church with its barley-twist columns on the facade and its superb Berlinghieri crucifix in the interior.

I have already written on the Pieve so I won’t dwell on its beauties here but simply refer to my post on the church at https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/noble-villa-basilica/

Sadly, in the square in front of the Pieve I came across this plaque commemorating a horrific massacre of ten locals as a result of a load of iron pieces dropped purposefully (?) by a warplane flying over the village in 1944.

Despite the Second World War, Villa Basilica continued to lead a normal sort of life. It was getting dark and about 9 pm the town’s inhabitants were having their customary end of day ‘passeggiata’ (walk) in search of some cooler air during the very hot summer of 1944.  The town had to be darkened due to the blackout regulations which were carried out either by simply closing the window shutters or by affixing special sheets of black-coloured paper produced in a local factory onto the glass. Suddenly, the roar of an airplane flying over the town was heard. It was not the first time that a plane made that flight since on previous nights this sound had been heard when British or American planes were carrying out reconnaissance trips in the area.

That evening, however, the aircraft did not turn away but launched its load of death over the country. They weren’t bombs but large pieces of iron built purposefully to kill… Several lumps fell in the corner of the square, where a large number of people had gathered that evening: a religious service had recently ended in the church. The metal massacred a horse pulling a fruit and vegetable cart and parked for unloading on one side of the square. This horse became the unwitting hero of the tragedy because its body served as a shield protecting other potential victims. But a massacre had nevertheless been accomplished. At first panic prevailed and there was a general stampede to find shelter. Some fled to safer places, outside the town centre, but others ran to the square, imagining that something very serious had happened. Indeed, a heart-rending scene presented itself to their eyes. People never forgot what they saw and heard. On the ground, in the corner of the square next to the church, lay a dozen horribly mutilated bodies. A combined funeral could not be carried out so as to avoid public assemblies which could be mistaken for troops on the move so the bodies were brought to the cemetery on two separate journeys accompanied only by the parish priest and some family members. These are the names and ages of the victims:

– BERNARDI OGARITA, 30, and her daughter PERINI MARIA JOSE’, 5
– CALAMARI TEODORA, 48
– CIUCCI ROMOLO, 67
– LANFRI TECLA, 18
– MAZZOLINI ATTILIA, 14
– PASQUINI FRANCESCA, 18
– RENIERI ILIANA, 14
– SCARDIGLIA PIERO, 8
– TISMETTI LILIAN 18.

The account by Don Francesco Martini, parish priest of Villa Basilica, describes the massacre of 1 July and the period immediately preceding it:

“The war is at the gates of our town. The news that the retreating Germans would resist on the Gothic line, not far from Villa Basilica, and that, therefore, our country too would become the theatre of operations caused consternation in everyone. “What will happen to my church and parishioners? ” I thought, and was so sad! We increased our prayers and sincerely trusted in the Lord. From time to time the wind carried the roar of the cannons from afar. The country was full of displaced (sfollati) people from Livorno, Florence and Lucca,poor dejected, tired refugee without homes or any possessions. They had lost everything. They joined us in prayer and crowded our Church. I organized a pilgrimage to the Madonna delle Grazie, in the Oratory of the Cathedral. Everyone went there! We were more than one thousand. It was a moving demonstration of faith and pain. We all prayed wholeheartedly and with great devotion. The days went by and planes passed continuously above us with their deadly cargo destined to cause misfortunes everywhere. But the horrible and terrible device of death was not prevented! It was July 1, 1944 around 10 pm when the tragedy happened. Ten innocent victims! What agony! It was Saturday; I was still in the church to confess. People outside did not foresee what happened at all. Nobody expected it! Nobody! It was so sudden. An engine roar and more deafening crashes. The Confessional trembled, tossing me, the windows of the Church all shattered and some women fainted. There were no deaths in the church. I ran out. The most terrifying sight presented itself before my eyes. A large piece of iron had fallen onto the corner of the square. Eight dead, one next to the other, some of them completely mangled. We composed the bodies as best we could and took them to their homes. The agony of family members was unbearable. There were also some wounded, three very seriously. Fortunately, Mr. Cantoni’s funeral director’s car was at Villa Basilica, as he too was displaced here. They were immediately taken to the hospital. Two died and one recovered. In all ten dead. A terrible toll! An 8-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl, four girls from 15 to 18 years old, one of 12, a wife, mother of the dead child, 30 years old, one of 45 and an old man.

Here are the Earth’s great ones! Here are their accomplishments! Here is War! Here is barbarism! The following evening (Sunday) we had the funerals to the cemetery in two lots and without a procession to avoid having assemblies visible from overhead planes”.

I have not been able to find out the reason for a plane to drop large iron fragments onto a small defenceless town without any reason whatsoever. I do know that the Germans and Axis forces had no air force aiding them in the area so the aircraft clearly belonged to the Allied forces. The nearby oratory, a little outside the centre of Villa Basilica, has a placidly beautiful interior with a plaque commemorating the incident. It describes a ‘velivolo misterioso’ (mysterious aircraft) as having been the bearer of the destruction. (Was it really that mysterious to those in the know?) More factually the later plaque in the town square firmly places the blame on an allied aircraft.

But why? Such is the absurdity, the folly, the tragedy and the pity of war. And now we, as humans and as Europeans, have to witness this horrible irrationality again in our continent just when we thought we would never have to experience anything like this again because (presumably) the lesson had apparently been learnt…..