Giovanni Dalla Riva

The Della Riva family sheltered, from September 1943 to November 1944, an English escaped prisoner named Lyon Williams at their house, providing for his needs.

On 12 November 1944, probably after a spy’s tip-off, five armed Fascists reached the house and, at the door, shouted: «bring out the blonde boy!» Since no one answered, they broke in, finding Williams and Giovanni (who was sixteen at the time). They brought them to Verona, and both were later executed by firing squad in the hamlet of Grezzano.

His father Angelo, his mother and his 13-year-old sister were forced to hide in the nearby hills, as they could not return to their home. 

As testified to the Allied Commission by the town’s priest, the Della Riva family was extremely poor. Angelo, the family head, was blind and could not work. They relied entirely on Giovanni, who worked as a farmer.