Don Eugenio Grigoletti

Don Eugenio’s parish covered a vast mountainous territory that contained nine small villages. From 8 September 1943, the area was a safe haven for many escaped PoWs, thanks to the aid provided by the population. At the same time, several partisan bands were active in the same area, including the “International Battalion” led by an escaped prisoner, Major Gordon Lett.

After the Armistice, Don Eugenio, thanks to the encouragement of Monsignor Giovanni Sismondo, the bishop of Massa Carrara and a firm anti-fascist, who was interested in the well-being of escaped prisoners, became a valuable helper for many escapees and partisans, providing them with food, shelter, and clothing.

Gordon Lett and his companions stayed at his house for two nights, between 2 and 3 August 1944:

He showed me into the little kitchen, and we sat talking until late night about the progress of the war. I was surprised to find that he had an accurate knowledge of the general situation of the battle front, for he listened regularly to the BBC broadcasts in Italian. […] He told me too about the Bishop of Pontremoli [Monsignor Sismondo], and how successfully he was holding his own against the German commander in Pontremoli, basing his action on the laws [of the Vatican State].

On 24 July 1944, a mission of the A-Force landed between Bonassola and Forte dei Marmi to get to Zeri. Their objective was to establish a link with the escaped PoWs in the area and safely bring them back behind Allied lines. However, on 3 August, the Germans, who were well-informed about what was going on, launched a vast offensive in the area, combing through the valley. The hamlet of Chiesa, where Gordon Lett trained his partisans and received airdropped supplies from the Allies, was burned to the ground. Many isolated houses were searched. On 4 August, the Germans arrived in Adelano after they received a tip-off from a local Fascist. They knew that Lett and some of his men had recently been at Don Eugenio’s home. Lett himself recounted that terrible moments:

Half the village was destroyed, some of the houses were blown up with dynamite. Two German patrols passed by. Then came a third, composed of Fascist militia. They entered the church where Don Grigoletti had remained with the aged and infirm of his parish [who could not escape in the wood], and dragged the old man outside to watch them while ransacking his house and setting fire to the room in which I had slept the night previously. The patrol leader turned to the priest: “Do you want to say your prayers before you die?” he asked brusquely. Don Grigoletti knelt in the dust in the shadow of his house and prayed. There was a volley of rifle fire. They dragged his body to the door and threw it down the cellar steps.[1]

Note:

[1] Besides Don Eugenio, Don Angelo Quiligiotti, of the Pontremoli seminary, was also killed during the same operation on Mount Gottero. Don Angelo had provided shelter and aid to Lett when he had first reached the hamlet of Zeri.