Customer Reviews
war diary - By: Montigiani Mario, 22 Oct 2006 
A beautiful heartfelt account of two years of warin my native Tuscany: 1943 & 1944, a page of history probably unknown outside Italy.
A crazy dance of events, a dance macabre, I would define it.
A daily war diary written by Marchesa Iris Origo, an English- American lady married to an Italian & living near Siena.
Marchesa Origo gives us an account of facts which happenedin Val d'Orcia & were directly or indirectly related to her & her family.
Hardships & tragedies suffered by Italian civilians by the hands of a bloodthirsty German army whose only aim seemed to be the slaughter of harmeless people & a more than crazy fascist horde the "repubblichini"; all together they succededin murdering hundreds of Italian civilians & foreign "allies" mostly Americans.
The bombing of Italian cities like Rome, Florence, Naples by the hands of allied armies trying to destroy the German headquarters. This is all toldin the book.
Marchesa Origo shelteredin her "Villa" &in the adjoining farms all the Italian & foreign refugees who were able to escape the maddened German SS or the vile "repubblichini".
The courage of a woman who risked her life to protect children, women, old people & refugees of the allied armies from the fury of the enemy.
Stories told also by our parents or grandparents who happened to go through the crazy tragedy of world war II.
A beautiful read which I would recommend to everyone,in order not to forget.
When war came to the villages and farms of the Val D'Orcia - By: , 18 May 2000 
Most people would tend to think of Italian history as a turbulent period between the fall of Rome & the demise of the Great City States of Florence, Genoa etc; including the Renaissance & the growth of Christianity. This diary of the events during WWII is extremely explicit & you realise that this was another turning pointin their great history. This book is writtenin such a manner that once picked up its readable through to the end without wanting to put down. For those that have visited (or about to) Italy on holiday or business that go any where near the Umbria area of the Val D'Orcia will know that the landscape here hasn't changedin nearly 400 years. The same roads & woods that the German Army searched for partisans & escaped POWs are still there. Its such a beautiful area to move aroundin & to see the farms & villages that are central to this diary is like re-living the experience. I suggest you drive over from Sarteano & take the valley road up to Montepulciano & you can imagine the route the allied liberators took. Take this book with you, read it & visit the area-the two go handin hand.
