Antonino's Niche By Letizia De Rosa

Antonino's Niche
by Letizia De Rosa

Letizia De Rosa's first book Antonino's Niche is about the early years of her father's life before and during the Second World War and what led him to settle in Australia. These formative years had a great effect on his pyschological and spiritual well-being and finding his niche in his new motherland.

Back cover blurb

His intelligence and streetwise skills made an excellent mix. He hated teachers so disliked school. He thought they were for people who could not teach themselves, therefore he undertook his own education.

Antonino was nobody's fool – on the streets of Sorrento and Naples he learnt how to fit in, how to be as unobtrusive as possible as – uno scugnizzo. He had learnt the art of stealing, and with stealth had made many a lira, but that was before the war...¦

Chapter 19: Fearless Young Man and Fessi

Because of the illegal nature of smuggling, there were always many close shaves with the law. The town police had become increasingly suspicious of the strange and increased comings and goings at the Don's house.

Someone had graciously tipped off Antonino that a visit by the police at the Don's house was imminent. Without a moment's delay, Antonino went to warn the family of the police's possible arrival. The police did arrive alright, Antonino answered the door, and to detract their attention from the goods hidden in the house he took flight. The police pursued him believing that the knapsack he was carrying had evidence of contraband. Once at the police station the police realized that they had been fooled. Not taking kindly to this they gave Antonino his first taste of Italian law and his first real flogging. He had fooled them with a bag full of rocks.

Italians, and especially anyone in authority in Italy, do not like being taken for fools - fessi.

To show their disapproval they dragged Antonino outside the police quarters to a well where everyone could see what was happening, and used him as an example by humiliating him. They put him head first into the well, and kept him there immersed in the water until he struggled or until someone looking down from an open window or walking past would shout out to them that they were Fascist bastards and to leave the kid alone.

"He's hungry, you foolish pigs" - "Porci tutti quanto," they shouted, "he has a family to feed." What no-one realised was that Antonino was showing his depth of loyalty, and under no circumstance would he divulge anything which could ruin the Don. Confronted with Antonino's continued silence and strength to endure the torture and humiliation, they stopped the pointless bullying. But their suspicion remained. The Don and Antonino knew that, with the police hot on their trail, they would have to do something.

His life had been in danger many times because of the nature of work which he did for the Don, but Antonino would tell you that he was young and the need to survive was too great. The family owed Don Peppino everything - had it not been for him, they would surely not have survived the first years of the war. From the moment, that Antonino was known to be definitely associated with the Don, everything changed.

"C'era fame, e non c'era piú lavoro!"

They were hungry again, but, Antonino had no choice. He had to leave the Don, in the knowledge that he might be caught. He could not risk being taken away and imprisoned. His family would not survive without him, they needed him to fend for them and so the Don and Antonino parted company.

In the years Antonino had spent with the Don, he had grown from an inexperienced boy of fifteen into a fearless, strong young man of seventeen who had learnt to overcome self-doubt, to rise above fear and to put aside his own personal needs.

Chapter 20: The First Assault

By 1943 the war had progressed. The British and American armies were well and truly making plans to invade Italy. The Allied land, naval and air forces had been planning an invasion on southern Italy.

Their aim was twofold: once they had established themselves on the Italian mainland, naval and aerial domination of the Mediterranean strategic ports and airfields could be secured easily and Italy could be knocked out of the war. This would force the Germans to retreat north to the Alps, and Italian soldiers who might be fighting at the Russian front could be used. This invasion would take place in the region of Campania with the intention of overtaking Naples and then, the rest of Italy.

In July and August, the political climate in Italy showed that the Italian people, including soldiers and civilians, were tired of the war and the Allies took advantage of this. After the fall of Mussolini from power on 25 July, the Fascist Party had lost control of Italy. Dispirited and tired, Mussolini pleaded with his henchmen who demanded that he turn over the command of the Italian armed forces.

Mussolini asked them, pleading: "Fra qualche giorno compio sessant anni, lasciatimi in pace". He was turning sixty in a few days and had hoped that they would consider his age; nothing mattered now for his party and country, but peace.

The De Rosa family was neither happy nor sad for the man. Italians always love heroes. At that moment in history Mussolini, in the opinion of some, was no longer the hero of before. Nobody seemed to care, or at least in the De Rosa household, there was no time to care. They, like millions of other Italians, were concerned only with survival. Political discourse did not put bread on the table and changed nothing for them.

Taking full advantage of the military and political climate, the situation allowed for the landing of Allied forces farther up the west coast north of the toe. Naples and Rome were obvious targets, but a landing near Rome would be too far from air support based in Sicily. Naples, moreover, had an excellent harbour along the western coast, as well as excellent airfields which could be used strategically.

On 17 August 1943, the last of the German troops fled across the Strait of Messina to the mainland, and the invasion of Italy, through Sicily, had begun. The people in Sicily rejoiced, the people in Naples and Sorrento did not know what was about to happen. The beautiful region of Campania was going to experience devastation like it had never seen before and its coastline would be smeared with the blood of thousand, upon tens of thousands of young men. "Chi ne sapeva niente? Ma chi, … chi ne sapeva niente?" Antonino, like the other Sorrentines, was totally oblivious to what was being meticulously and strategically prepared by the Allies.

Chapter 21: Need

The terror of war and the chilling fear that comes with it was already being experienced by the Neapolitans, well before the main invasion. Little did they know that the fiercest moments and memories of the Second World War were about to begin for them. The terrorizing sounds in the distance were enough. Little did they know that what was about to happen would change their lives forever and would begin the mission of Italy's invasion - one of the most significant moments in history of the war, and for the region of Campania. Air-attacks had been happening since the 3 September, in an attempt to destroy significant arterial passes, roads and bridges to block the enemy.

9 September 1943, however, the war was no longer something in the distance and became the first of many days which Sorrentines and Neaopolitans alike remember all too clearly. The meticulous military mission with its co-ordinated landings was the climax which brought with it the official invasion of the mainland, but for the people of this region it brought fighting, it brought bombardments and warfare like they had never experienced.

Salerno's beaches, mountains and plains became a battleground for the soldiers of the Fifth Army in which they made good their invasion of western Italy in a battle which lasted twenty-eight days. Tens of thousands of lives were lost, but the Allied forces succeeded in their invasion of Italy, driving the German forces north and bringing down Italy's position in the war.

The Allied troops arrived in all their well-planned glory. But there is no glory for anyone in war, neither for the soldiers, nor for the people at ground level, the civilians. Maybe, there is glory in the strategic planning and the successful execution of military plans, but for most there is no glory.

Strong national sentiments were stirred, leaving some Italians anxious for their country's future at the hands of its victors. The invasion brought a mixture of hope on the one hand and for some, shame. It brought uncertainty and the fear of losing the old and the possibility of losing something of one's identity and history. Italians suffered as any nation would. Many became confused, bewildered and without a leader they knew not what would become of them. Like my father, who had no strong admiration for Mussolini, what he stood for, and what he had become; there were other Italians in whose opinion this invasion, and the end to Fascist power, had not come quickly enough. They welcomed the victors with open arms in the usual Italian way.

The invasion of Italy had not brought the end of the war for Europe. The invasion brought, for what was believed to be, a war-weary nation - a degree of elation, but the war was definitely not over. For Italy, in many ways, it had just begun. For this region, and the rest of Italy north of Naples, it brought only its very beginning.

Naples was bombarded. The fighter planes would go overhead again and again, terrorizing the people of Sorrento who could only listen as the bombs were dropped on their capital. Sorrentines listened on as their paesani, countrymen, and their own family members in Naples, were being killed in their beds. Their lives and city destroyed. This invasion had meant the worst of the war, much worse than any of them had ever imagined possible. Thousands of Neapolitans were killed in one strike alone. They had innocently sought refuge in a bomb shelter and there they had found their death.

Twenty-eight days of fighting, in the thick of the conflict and in the direct danger zone, left the families of Sorrento and Naples in complete and utter shock. Their lives were constantly at risk, day and night, and from one moment to the next there was no certainty of survival.

The devastating effects were felt by all, including those on the beautiful Sorrentine Peninsula. Those who survived the first raids on Naples, ventured to Sorrento. Swarms of refugees flocked to the Peninsula, in hope of shelter and food.

September, the month the British and American allied forces invaded Italy and Naples, was the month Antonino turned eighteen. Birthdays came and went, no-one ever remembered. He had never celebrated one in his life - this one would be no different.

Antonino was too preoccupied with his own responsibilities to care about meticulous military manouvres in the landing at Salerno. All he knew was that the invasion had brought devastation, fear and hunger like he and his family had never experienced before.

Antonino had found a Jewish woman at their doorstep in Via Margherita. The family took her in but had nothing to offer her, nothing except shelter. All they had was the attic and there she stayed until some people came for her, her own people they said, and took her away.

The month of direct warfare had blocked Sorrento. No-one was allowed to move or leave. The region was under siege. The German tanks had rolled their way to the region and blocked all access. Bridges, highways and important road accesses had been destroyed either by the Allies in preparation for the invasion or by the partisans in helping the Allies and, of course, by the Germans in their strategic defence. It was impossible and dangerous to go anywhere.

There were no roads, which meant no food. There was no food coming into the Peninsula and no means of getting any anywhere. People were starving. There was famine. It was the blackest moment of the war when fear of being killed seemed nothing when faced with the reality of sheer hunger, and the possibility of a slow and painful death because of it.

"C'era fame, lo capisci? Che significa fame? Fame…" There was no food, no food anywhere.

Not knowing what to do and too dangerous to go out, Antonino watched over his family for the first week. Hoping that the fighting would stop but instead, the situation worsened. It was maddening. With no food in the house, and not having eaten in days, his younger brothers and sisters too weak to play, became bedridden.

Antonino remembers watching them … listening to their breathing was like listening to a time bomb. It was maddening, he had to do something. The fear pounding in his heart and temples took him close to the brink of insanity. He remembers the white, cold and numbing feeling of watching someone you love in what could be a slow death and not knowing what to do.

The lives of these joyous and fun-loving people seemed to be over, stopped completely, with no hope left for any of them. For near to forty days during the worst of the warfare and then the aftermath, Sorrento came to a complete stop waiting for food to get through. The people of Sorrento were prisoners in their own homes. Thin and deprived from years of going without food, most found it difficult to survive. Some found it difficult to want to survive this next phase of the war. Not knowing how long it would take, the old and infirmed gave up and died. The continual stress of years of heightened levels of adrenalin brought most to breaking point, either physically or mentally.

The sounds, the sights, the shock and the continual stress imprinted in minds already fragile with hunger and grief. Memories buried deep under the rumble of the war's emotional aftermath. Emotions and memories scorched in the subconscious to resurface later much later, most at another time, in another life, like a dormant Vesuvius waiting to erupt.

Antonino's fear for the lives of his brothers, sisters and mother was unimaginable, indescribable and became deep-seated - for more than half a century.

His fear for them was greater than the fear for his own life. He took to the streets and the countryside like the others brave and fit enough to venture out in search of food. People swarmed like packs of famished hyenas roaming the countryside killing farmers to steal their food, and raiding factories, cargo trains and government stores. One night, Antonino followed a crowd of about 200 people on the rampage. The first point of call was the government factory, Cirio, which manufactured tinned sauces, jams and meat. The guards were thrown in large vats of jam and then, the crowd went ahead pillaging and taking whatever their arms could carry.

People did anything; they were hungry and did not think twice to kill someone for food. Farmers whose farms were raided in the middle of the night were often killed, along with any family member who got in the way. Antonino carried a pistol, and after working for the Don, and out of necessity, knew how to use it. Everyone was hungry and needed to bring something home to their families and would not think twice on turning on a neighbour to do so.

Antonino and his 'scugnizzi' moved around together, knowing that it was safest in a trusted group, where they could look out for one another.

The partisans had blown up the bridge at Seiano to stop the Germans, so the only way to Castellamare was over a long and laborious mountain made more difficult without food. But adrenalin and fear kept the boys going and kept them alert.

They would go over the mountains crossing Monte Faito over to Castellamare di Stabia where there were farms they could raid. It was safer to go over these mountains. The Germans did not seem to stay long in these parts for they knew they would more readily encounter partisans in the mountainous areas of this region.

Fenizia would throw up her hands in gratitude and praise God every time her Totò returned home. She would say 'the wolf has had to leave his den', meaning that hunger makes one risk everything, not only death but being captured by the enemy. Hundreds of young men went missing. Antonino would often return home to be told that one of his friends had been captured by the Germans, believed to be taken to the front to fight.

The reality of death or capture was tangible for everyone, especially young men. Fenizia feared for her son's life, but the family was starving and there was absolutely no choice but to let Antonino go out in search of food, any food. Even a few potatoes or some corn or even some long wild grass from the roadside would find its way home, but he would never return home empty handed.

Fenizia told him that she was lucky to have a son who never complained and who spared the little ones any horrific stories of how he came by the food. She was particularly appreciative to have one son old enough and brave enough to risk his life for his family, when many other families and women had no-one.