The itinerary follows the Trail of Memory, inaugurated in 2011, among the woods on the border between the towns of Invorio and Paruzzaro, in honor of those fallen for freedom during the event that went down in history as the Massacre of San Marcello - March 28th, 1945.
The trail, wrapped in the silence of the woods, commemorates one by one the young partisans who gave their lives in these hills to free Italy from the nazifascist oppression. Along the itinerary there are precious witnesses of those who saw and lived these days of horror and managed to avoid death, bringing us their memories of those atmospheres of fear but also a great sense of duty towards their homeland and their compatriots.
For a few days rumors came from the side of Cusio that there were roundups by the fascist troops and the partisans overseeing the areas of Invorio and its surroundings knew they were coming for them as well, it was just a matter of time. And so it was! The thunder of a gunshot coming from the detachment of Rosso at Moredo (a farmstead located in Sereia of Invorio) warned the Battalion Emilio, who took shelter in the area of San Marcello. It was the morning of March 28th, 1945 and the fascists carried out the last great roundup in the area of Borgomanero, Gozzano and Arona.
On that day the fascist attack was particularly savage in their manner and killed 9 young partisans, who were later “picked up and compassionately recomposed by the inhabitants of that place, some at the Paruzzaro’s graveyard, some at the church of Invorio”, as stated by the testimony of Antonella Braga in “La storia siamo noi”.
Nine plaques were later set where the nine bodies were found: Ugo Ballerini, 19, Mario Bertona “Vento”, 22, Filippo Leggeri “Memo”, 24, Carlo Garzonio “Nuvola”, 19, Giacomo Godio “Tom”, 20, Amleto Livi “Matteotti”, 15, Edomondo Negri “Generale”, 23, Angelo Piantanida “Brighin”, 18 and Piero Quirini “Qujri”, 18.
“The Germans called the partisans ‘bandits’, because they didn’t have a uniform and they didn’t consider them protected by the Geneva Conventions, they had no hesitation in killing them without any trial after being captured. But the population of our towns showed to consider them as liberators and the history today confirms that they were as such. The history of our brigades tells us something more, [...] the fight for resistance was also a fight for civilization and culture against the roughness, the barbarity, the killing of the defenseless, the celebration of violence and war, the racism.” Words by Guido Petter, partisan in Val d’Ossola.
The itinerary, slightly detouring from the “Trail of Memory”, reaches the “cup and ring” stone of Barquedo.
Traveled on: Jan 31st, 2023
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