Piero Folli
Encyclopedia
Don Piero Folli was an Italian antifascist parish priest.
In open reaction against any abuse of power and injustice , declared antifascist, since 1923 he suffers every type of harassment, including the fascist punishment of castor oil
.
In 1923 he arrives in Voldomino near Luino, where he often denounces in his sermons the abuses of power and wrongs of fascist dictatorship.
After 8 September 1943 many allied prisoners escaped from concentration camps arrive in the village, young Italian soldiers who failed to report for military service in Italian Social Republic
, victims of political persecution (Mauro Scoccimarro, Guido Miglioli, Piero Malvestiti
), Jewish sought-after. His house, the sacristy, the oratory, the old nursery school of Santa Liberata are literally invaded by hundreds of escaped people who are welcomed, given hospitality, fed, helped to expatriate until his arrest on 3 December 1943.
After three months of hard prison in San Vittore, thanks to the intervention of Card. Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster
he is freed and confined first in Cesano Boscone, then in Vittuone. After the war he is permitted to return to Voldomino and start again his life as parish priest, dying after three. He is buried in Voldomino cemetery, on his tomb stone it is written that he was given the treasures of «faith science altruism» that made him «dear to God and his people».
A memorial tablet was put on 3 December 1983 on the vault of Piazza Piave in Voldomino.
.
A nazi-fascist breaks punishment expedition breaks in the rectory and arrests don Piero Folli together with a group of 14 Jewish people sent from Genova
archbishop Pietro Boetto
, who had been just rejected form the Swiss at the border. Thirty other Jewish people, coming from Saint-Martin-Vésubie
near Besançon
, had already been saved in three or four trips, accompanied by Don Rotondi, but their names have not been found..
Don Piero, tied to the grate, in spite of the undergone tortures to make him talk, still has the strength to react strongly when he sees Jewish women and children hit and loaded on a truck. To make him silent they turn his head backwards against the grate, seizing him by his hair and pulling out a lock. Only one girl named Myriam Pirani succeeds in hiding and returning to Genova to give the alarm to Massimo Teglio of DELASEM
, who organized the escape of the Jews to Switzerland. We don’t know where the girl ended to.
1943-44. San Vittore. Don Folli succeeds in keeping silent and doesn’t reveal the names of the people who helped him in his activity, he is beaten and tortured but he doesn’t talk. One day, during the hour of air he sees a line of prisoners who is being deported to Germany. As he is unable to send his word of support he doesn’t hesitate to bless them. The fascist guard who sees him hits him hard with the butt of his gun and throws him to the ground.
Biography
Since the years in seminary he shows his opening and sensitivity to social and political problems, sympathizing with workers fights of 1898.In open reaction against any abuse of power and injustice , declared antifascist, since 1923 he suffers every type of harassment, including the fascist punishment of castor oil
Castor oil
Castor oil is a vegetable oil obtained from the castor bean . Castor oil is a colorless to very pale yellow liquid with mild or no odor or taste. Its boiling point is and its density is 961 kg/m3...
.
In 1923 he arrives in Voldomino near Luino, where he often denounces in his sermons the abuses of power and wrongs of fascist dictatorship.
After 8 September 1943 many allied prisoners escaped from concentration camps arrive in the village, young Italian soldiers who failed to report for military service in Italian Social Republic
Italian Social Republic
The Italian Social Republic was a puppet state of Nazi Germany led by the "Duce of the Nation" and "Minister of Foreign Affairs" Benito Mussolini and his Republican Fascist Party. The RSI exercised nominal sovereignty in northern Italy but was largely dependent on the Wehrmacht to maintain control...
, victims of political persecution (Mauro Scoccimarro, Guido Miglioli, Piero Malvestiti
Piero Malvestiti
Piero Malvestiti was an Italian politician who was a minister in successive governments in the 1940s and 1950s, a European Commissioner and President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community....
), Jewish sought-after. His house, the sacristy, the oratory, the old nursery school of Santa Liberata are literally invaded by hundreds of escaped people who are welcomed, given hospitality, fed, helped to expatriate until his arrest on 3 December 1943.
After three months of hard prison in San Vittore, thanks to the intervention of Card. Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster
Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster
Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster, O.S.B. was a Benedictine monk and Cardinal Archbishop of Milan during World War II...
he is freed and confined first in Cesano Boscone, then in Vittuone. After the war he is permitted to return to Voldomino and start again his life as parish priest, dying after three. He is buried in Voldomino cemetery, on his tomb stone it is written that he was given the treasures of «faith science altruism» that made him «dear to God and his people».
A memorial tablet was put on 3 December 1983 on the vault of Piazza Piave in Voldomino.
The arrest
3 December 1943. Voldomino near LuinoLuino
Luino is a small town and comune near the border with Switzerland on the eastern shore of Lake Maggiore, in the Province of Varese ....
.
A nazi-fascist breaks punishment expedition breaks in the rectory and arrests don Piero Folli together with a group of 14 Jewish people sent from Genova
Génova
Génova may refer to:* Spanish spelling of the city of Genoa, Italy* Génova, Quindío, a municipality in the department of Quindío, Colombia* Génova, Quetzaltenango, a municipality in the department of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala...
archbishop Pietro Boetto
Pietro Boetto
Pietro Boetto, SJ was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Genoa from 1938 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1935.-Biography:...
, who had been just rejected form the Swiss at the border. Thirty other Jewish people, coming from Saint-Martin-Vésubie
Saint-Martin-Vésubie
Saint-Martin-Vésubie is a commune of the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.-History:San Martin first appears in recorded history in the 12th century, although there are archaeological remnants of a Romanized indigenous population dating back to the 1st century.The medieval castrum,...
near Besançon
Besançon
Besançon , is the capital and principal city of the Franche-Comté region in eastern France. It had a population of about 237,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2008...
, had already been saved in three or four trips, accompanied by Don Rotondi, but their names have not been found..
Don Piero, tied to the grate, in spite of the undergone tortures to make him talk, still has the strength to react strongly when he sees Jewish women and children hit and loaded on a truck. To make him silent they turn his head backwards against the grate, seizing him by his hair and pulling out a lock. Only one girl named Myriam Pirani succeeds in hiding and returning to Genova to give the alarm to Massimo Teglio of DELASEM
DELASEM
Delegation for the Assistance of Jewish Emigrants or DELASEM, was a Jewish resistance organization that worked in Italy between 1939 and 1947...
, who organized the escape of the Jews to Switzerland. We don’t know where the girl ended to.
1943-44. San Vittore. Don Folli succeeds in keeping silent and doesn’t reveal the names of the people who helped him in his activity, he is beaten and tortured but he doesn’t talk. One day, during the hour of air he sees a line of prisoners who is being deported to Germany. As he is unable to send his word of support he doesn’t hesitate to bless them. The fascist guard who sees him hits him hard with the butt of his gun and throws him to the ground.