PG 38 - Villa Ascensione

Sheet by: Costantino Di Sante

General data

Town: Poppi

Province: Arezzo

Region: Toscana

Location/Address: Villa Ascensione - Poppi

Type of camp: Prisoner of War camp

Number: 38

Italian military mail service number: 3200

Intended to: officers

Local jurisdiction: Difesa Territoriale di Firenze

Railroad station: Arezzo - Poppi

Accommodation: military quarters

Capacity: 94

Operating: from 01/1942 to 09/1943

Commanding Officer: Captain Brunetto Nannetti (January – March 1942); Captain Luigi Zanzucchi (April 1942 – March); Captain Emilio Sinigardi (April – July 1943); Lt. Col. Mario Gezza (August – September 1943)

Brief chronology:
January 1942: the camp was opened.
April 1942: only New Zealander PoWs were admitted to the camp.
November 1942: almost all the New Zealander officers were transferred and British PoWs arrived in their place.
June 1943: the British PoWs were transferred and the camp was earmarked for Greek officers only.

Allied prisoners in the Poppi camp

Date Generals Officers NCOs Troops TOT
1.3.1942   81 1 25 107
1.4.1942   83 2 25 209
1.5.1942   94 1 24 119
1.6.1942   94 1 23 118
1.7.1942   93 1 22 116
1.8.1942   92 1 22 115
1.9.1942   87 1 22 110
31.10.1942   86 1 23 110
30.11.1942   27 1 23 51
31.12.1942   58 1 24 83
31.1.1943   59 1 24 84
28.2.1943   68 1 25 94
31.3.1943   88[1] 1 25 114
30.4.1943   90[2] 2 24 116
31.5.1943   92[3] 1 24 112
[1] Including 2 US officers. [2] Including 2 US officers. [3] Including 2 US officers.

Camp’s overview

PG 38 Villa Ascensione was established in January 1943 in a former Capuchin monastery (dating back to the 1500s) near the town of Poppi. The building was also a summer residence for Jesuits and orphans and was well equipped to house those PoWs who, according to the Geneva conventions, were entitled to a treatment adequate to their rank. After the arrival of the first Allied PoWs, mostly New Zealanders, numbering 40, from nearby PG 85 Tuturano (Brindisi) on 28 April 1942, the Italian Chief of Staff decided to house exclusively New Zealanders in PG 38. This meant that the officers of other nationalities had to be transferred to other camps:
• On 6 May, eight South African officers were sent to PG 17 Vincigliata (Florence).
• On 10 May, six English officers were sent to PG 35 Padula (Salerno).
On 8 May, five New Zealander officers arrived from PG 41 Montablo (Piacenza), and two more arrived from PG 75 Torre Tresca (Bari).
However, the restriction on the PoWs’ nationality was applied only for a short time. In the following months, after the Nazi-Fascist counter-offensive in North Africa, many British officers were captured, and some were sent to PG 38. As a result, in October 1942, besides the 87 New Zealander PoWs (6 senior officers, 75 officers, and six privates), there were also two English and one South African officers in the camp. During the following month, as some New Zealanders were transferred to PG 47 Modena, the number of PoWs in Villa Ascensione went down to 51, including 23 English and 3 South Africans. Their number, however, increased soon, and, in April 1943, the PoWs totalled 116 (82 British senior officers, two Canadian privates, two Australian NCOs, one Canadian officer and one NCO, seven New Zealander NCOs, two South African officers and 15 NCOs, one Indian officer, and two American officers).
Among the PoW camps in Italy, PG 38 was one of the best with regard to living conditions. As one New Zealander officer recalled:

The villa, surrounded by barbed wire, had been equipped with showers and a modern kitchen. The beds were comfortable, and we had carpets and night tables. The commander greeted us as if we were his guests. In the mess hall, the tables were set with white tablecloths and brand-new cutlery.


The officers and their adjutants felt almost as if they were on vacation. They were allowed to leave the camp to go to mass, play croquet outside, and bathe in the nearby river during the summer. There were also courses in Italian, French, German and Arabic. The classes were taught by a military priest who was also a PoW. Minor inconveniences were caused by the scarcity of clothing and the bad lighting of some rooms.
In June 1943, the British and the Americans were transferred to other camps, and Villa Ascensione held exclusively Greek prisoners, who were considered civilian internees. After 8 September 1943, the prisoners escaped, and some joined the local Resistance.
In December 1943, the Italian Social Republic used the building as the headquarters of the Arezzo Military District. After the war, it housed some refugee families and, for a short time, it became a detachment of the Poppi hospital. In 1946, it was given back to the Conservatorio della Divina Provvidenza of Rome and turned into a retirement house.

Archival sources

Bibliography

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