{"id":5918,"date":"2014-05-20T08:05:06","date_gmt":"2014-05-20T08:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=5918"},"modified":"2014-05-21T15:02:13","modified_gmt":"2014-05-21T15:02:13","slug":"the-italian-monuments-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/the-italian-monuments-men\/","title":{"rendered":"The Italian Monuments Men"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reading about the work of the Monuments Men during WWII left me with a strange sense of unease. It\u2019s not so much the thought of what could have been lost. What really disturbs me is the idea that the same sick brutes who engineered the \u2018Final Solution\u2019 could have put so much time, effort and resources into stealing some of the world\u2019s most wonderful works of art. Could these evil psychos actually have been capable of appreciating beautiful painting and sculpture?<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

William Auge\u2019s recent article \u2018Saving Italy\u2019s Artistic Heritage\u2019<\/font><\/strong><\/a>  got me thinking about the courageous efforts of the Italian Monuments Men<\/strong>, who worked throughout the war risking everything to save Italy\u2019s art treasures. The following is an adapted excerpt from an article on the subject, with my translation.<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n\n\n\n
–<\/font>Save the national art heritage!<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Il primo dei \u2018Monuments Men\u2019 italiani, <\/strong>Pasquale Rotondi<\/font><\/em><\/strong><\/a>, aveva 31 anni quando l\u2019allora ministro all\u2019Educazione Giuseppe Bottai lo chiam\u00f2 alla vigilia della guerra per un\u2019impresa da far tremare i polsi anche al pi\u00f9 determinato degli Indiana Jones: mettere al sicuro il patrimonio artistico nazionale!<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first of the Italian \u2018Monuments Men\u2019, Pasquale Rotondi<\/font><\/em><\/strong><\/a>, was 31 years old when the Minister of Education at the time, Giuseppe Bottai, called him up on the eve of the war with a task which would make even the toughest Indian Jones shake in his boots: Save the national art heritage!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"pasquale_rotondi-002\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
It\u2019s surprising difficult to find photos of Pasquale Rotondi.
<\/font>–<\/font><\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
–<\/font>Where to keep the masterpieces?<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Dove custodire i capolavori? Dopo una lunga ricerca Rotondi individu\u00f2 la Rocca di Sassocorvaro nelle Marche, risalente al XV secolo. La localit\u00e0 sembrava tranquilla. Il professore pens\u00f2 che quella zona fosse al riparo dal rombo della guerra. C\u2019erano anche grandi stanze asciutte sotterranee e spesse mura fortificate che potevano garantire protezione alle opere in arrivo da tutta Italia.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Where to keep the masterpieces? After an extensive search, Rotondi identified the XV century Rocca di Sassocorvaro in the Marche region. The location seemed out of the way. The professor thought that the area would be far from the rumblings of war. There were also large dry underground rooms and thick fortified walls that could guarantee protection for the works that would arrive there from all over Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
–<\/font>Masterpieces arrived at the Rocca in absolute secrecy <\/strong><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Ben presto Rotondi s\u2019accorse che soldi e mezzi non c\u2019erano, tutti destinati allo sforzo bellico. Ma in qualche modo la macchina organizzativa si mosse lo stesso. Capolavori giunsero da tutta Italia alla Rocca nella pi\u00f9 assoluta segretezza. Sebbene attorno al castello vi fosse quel continuo viavai di casse di legno in arrivo giorno e notte, nessuno tra spie tedesche e fascisti si insospett\u00ec. E il piano riusc\u00ec perfettamente.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rotondi soon realised that the money and equipment weren\u2019t there as they were all being put into the war effort. But somehow the organisational machinery got moving anyway. Masterpieces arrived at the Rocca in absolute secrecy from all over Italy. Even if around the castle there was a continual movement of wooden boxes arriving day and night, no one amongst the German and fascist spies suspected anything. The plan worked perfectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"storia2_MGzoom\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
One of the lorries used to transport the works of art.
<\/font>–<\/font><\/em><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
–<\/font>A treasure of immense value<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Mentre il conflitto divampava sempre pi\u00f9 e le citt\u00e0 venivano bombardate da Sud a Nord, l\u2019arrivo dei capolavori cresceva senza sosta. In totale le casse furono 7 mila: Giotto, Raffaello, Tintoretto, Bernini. Un tesoro dal valore immenso. \u00abLe assicurazioni si sarebbero rifiutate di offrire una polizza\u00bb scrisse Rotondi nelle sue memorie. A un certo punto, la Rocca non bast\u00f2 pi\u00f9 costringendo Rotondi a cercare nuovi luoghi sicuri che trov\u00f2 nel castello di Urbino e nei sotterranei del Palazzo dei Principi di Carpegna.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whilst the conflict blazed ever fiercer, and cities from the South to the North were bombarded, the arrival of masterpieces continued to grow. In total, there were 7 thousand boxes: Giotto, Raphael, Tintoretto, Bernini. A treasure of immense value. \u201cThe insurance companies would refuse to offer a policy\u201d wrote Rotondi in his memoirs. There reached a point when the Rocca wasn\u2019t sufficient, forcing Rotondi to look for other safe places, which he found in the castle of Urbino and the Palazzo dei Principi di Carpegna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"episodiosconosciuto\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Another masterpiece arrives at la Rocca.
<\/font>–<\/font><\/strong><\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
–<\/font>Sometimes you need a bit of luck<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Le SS giungono a Sassocorvaro, controllano il contenuto di alcune casse che – grazie a una provvidenziale intuizione di Rotondi – sono prive di qualunque indicazione che ne chiarisca il contenuto. Certe volte ci vuole fortuna, e qui ce n\u2019\u00e8: i tedeschi aprono una cassa che contiene \u201csolo\u201d spartiti originali di Rossini. Il professore riesce a convincerli che in quei sotterranei \u00e8 custodito unicamente materiale musicale di scarso valore. \u00abAvessero aperto la cassa successiva avrebbero trovato una collezione di Raffaello\u00bb, scriver\u00e0 nelle memorie.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The SS arrived at Sassocorvaro, checking some of the boxes that, thanks to a lucky intuition by Rotondi, didn\u2019t contain any clues that would reveal the contents. Sometimes you need a bit of luck, and here it was: the Germans opened a box that contained \u2018only\u2019 original scores by Rossini. The professor managed to convince them that only musical material of little value was stored in the underground rooms. \u201cIf they had opened the next case they would have found a collection of Raphael\u201d, he would write in his memoirs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"sassocorvaro\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The formidable Rocca di Sassocorvaro
<\/font>–<\/font><\/em><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
–<\/font>The crazy plan was to take everything to Rome<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Ma quando il fronte indietreggia sino alle Marche la situazione precipita, e il rischio che le opere italiane finiscano nelle collezioni di Hitler e Goering \u00e8 fortissimo. A questo punto comincia la seconda parte del salvataggio che si colora ancora di pi\u00f9 di spy story. Il piano folle \u00e8 quello di portare tutto a Roma, al sicuro in Vaticano. Bisogna per\u00f2 farlo sotto il naso dei tedeschi. Funzioner\u00e0. I capolavori vengono stipati nella Rocca. I tedeschi sono sempre pi\u00f9 insospettiti da quei trasporti, e le rassicurazioni di Rotondi paiono non bastare pi\u00f9. Intanto il fascismo \u00e8 crollato, il Re \u00e8 fuggito al Sud, lo Stato non esiste pi\u00f9. Rotondi non si scoraggia, e si rivolge a una suo carissimo amico, Carlo Giulio Argan, funzionario del ministero dell\u2019Educazione. <\/strong><\/p>\n

But when the front line moved back to the Marche region the situation went downhill, and there was a high risk that the Italian works would end up in the collections of Hitler and Goering. At this point the second part of the rescue began, becoming even more of a spy story. The crazy plan was to take everything to Rome, and the safety of the Vatican. It was necessary however to do it under the noses of the Germans. It worked. The masterpieces were crammed into the Rocca. The Germans were increasingly suspicious of the transports, and Rotondi\u2019s reassurances didn\u2019t seem to suffice any more. In the meantime, Fascism collapsed, the King fled to the South, the State didn\u2019t exist anymore. Rotondi wasn\u2019t discouraged, and he turned to one of his dear friends, Carlo Giulio Argan, an official of the Ministry of Education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"1944-opere-vaticano-2\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Works of art arrive at The Vatican
<\/font>–<\/font><\/em><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
–<\/font>\u201cI should have you shot for what you did\u201d<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Argan incontra Montini, futuro Papa Paolo VI, e insieme riescono a trovare camion e operai che raccoglieranno i capolavori da Sassocorvaro per portarli al sicuro Oltretevere. C\u2019\u00e8 anche una scorta di SS alle quali viene raccontato che le casse contengono materiale del Vaticano. Invece \u00e8 quasi tutto dello Stato Italiano. Un ufficiale nazista pi\u00f9 sospettoso viene in qualche modo \u201craggirato\u201d dalla moglie di Rotondi, che la sera prima della partenza della colonna da Sassocorvaro lo fa ubriacare. Al suo risveglio i camion sono tutti lontani, diretti verso Roma. Alla donna, l\u2019ufficiale dice: \u00abPer quello che ha compiuto dovrei farla fucilare. Ma non lo far\u00f2\u00bb. In serata Rotondi riceve un telegramma dal Vaticano: I camion sono arrivati. Tutto a posto. L\u2019incredibile \u201cmissione impossibile\u201d \u00e8 riuscita. I capolavori italiani sono al sicuro.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Argan met with Montini, the future Pope Paul VI, and together they managed to find lorries and workers to collect the masterpieces from Sassocorvaro and take them to the safety of Oltretevere (The Vatican). They even had an SS escort who had been told that the boxes contained materials belonging to the Vatican. But in reality it nearly all belonged to the Italian Sate. A suspicious Nazi officer was somehow duped by Rotondi\u2019s wife, who got him drunk on the evening before the convoy left Sassocorvaro. By the time he woke up the lorries were all far away, on their way to Rome. The officer said to the woman \u201cI should have you shot for what you did. But I won\u2019t\u201d. That evening Rotondi received a telegram from the Vatican: The lorries have arrived. Everything o.k. The incredible \u2018Mission Impossible\u2019 had succeeded. The Italian masterpieces were safe.<\/p>\n

If you like to know more about this exploit, and practice your listening skills, here\u2019s an hour long video produced for Italian television:<\/em><\/font> La Lista di Pasquale Rotondi<\/font><\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Lastly, it\u2019s important to remember that Rotondi was only one of hundreds of virtually unknown brave Italians who risked their lives to save Italy\u2019s Artist Heritage.<\/font><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Reading about the work of the Monuments Men during WWII left me with a strange sense of unease. It\u2019s not so much the thought of what could have been lost. What really disturbs me is the idea that the same sick brutes who engineered the \u2018Final Solution\u2019 could have put so much time, effort and…<\/p>\n

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