Adriano Tardelli

Adriano Tardelli, aka "the bayonet", (Capanne di Careggine, Italy 1896 - Piazza al Serchio, 1st of February 1945) was one of the heroes of the Italian resistance movement. During the Second World War he led dozens of people to safety (Jews, Poles, Slavs, Roma, homosexuals, deserters, partisans, members of resistance groups) crossing with a small group at a time over the Gothic Line. While roped together in the darkness, they crossed the well-known Apennine Mountains, where he had been born and later lived with his wife and their nine children.

On the 1st of February 1945, Tardelli was executed in reprisal by the Fascist Army in Cogna, in the county of Piazza al Serchio, Tuscany. He was being held in the jail of Camporgiano when he was singled out for retaliation with five other people, also held for political reasons, under the order of General Carloni. Bruno Nobili Spinetti, the priest who was with the prisoners to support them and hear their last confessions, has said that Tardelli, just before being killed, said to him «I forgive them» and that «Being executed is the right thing: we are for freedom». It has also been said that Tardelli took his shoes off, asking that they be given to the poor.

Bibliography

* Gabrielli Rosi Carlo, Mariani Sergio (a cura di), "Cuore 1944. 100 episodi della resistenza europea", Edizioni Il Centro di Educazione Democratica, Lucca 1975, 422 pp.
* "La Resistenza in Lucchesia: racconti e cronache della lotta antifascista e partigiana", La Nuova Italia, Firenze 1965, 225 pp.
* Bertolini Renzo, "La Resistenza in Garfagnana", Eurograf, Lucca 1975, 135 pp.
* Zerbini Bruno, "Un partigiano isolato", Lalli, Poggibonsi 1984, 187 pp.
* Pinagli Palmiro, "La guerra in Garfagnana. Diario: 30 aprile 1944-22 aprile 1945", Edizioni della Rocca, Castelnuovo Garfagnana 1987, 118 pp.
* Guidi Oscar, (a cura di) "Con la guerra negli occhi. Donne e uomini di Garfagnana raccontano 1943-45", Pacini Fazzi Editore, Lucca 2005, 191 pp.
* Guidi Oscar, "Documenti di guerra. Garfagnana 1943-1945", Pacini Fazzi Editore, Lucca 1995, 198 pp.
* Federigi Fabrizio, "Soldato Hans! A Sant'Anna! Dramma in due tempi e quattro quadri". n. 2, Mauro Baroni editore, Lucca 2000, pp. n.n.