PROMISES TO KEEP

An irresistible mix of military history and the embellished anecdotes of villagers in Pico, Italy, as they adapt to World War II.

The narrative centers on life on the farm of Domenico Forte, just two kilometers from Pico. The book provides ample historical and geographical information on Pico, explaining why it was such a strategic location for the German army. It also recounts a droll, partially embellished account of Domenico and wife Maria Civita’s life on the farm. Maps, family photos and a list of suggested readings augment a colorful text that showcases the Forte family. Maria is a teenage bride in 1913 and an eventual mother of five–the first of whom is born in 1914, soon after Domenico leaves to seek work in the United States. He returns periodically but is again in America when war comes to Pico. The descriptions of Maria’s spirited defense of her home, and her chickens, against the German army unit camped on her farm form the high points of the memoir. The brutality of a band of rapacious Moroccan soldiers who swarm over Pico and the abandoned farm–as well as the family’s three days of hiding without provisions or dry clothes in a cave slimy with rainwater–comprise the low emotional points. Yet even in the misery of the cave, the youngest child attempts to cheer her mother by noting that at least when it rains "they don’t drop bombs on us." Despite hardships and danger, the entire family survives the war and settles in Massachusetts in 1947. The book is dedicated to Maria, who passed away in 2006. She epitomized the vitality and ingenuity that she ably passed on to her children.

An engaging, lasting monument to a courageous woman.