Sometimes, things happen in life that makes you think: What the hell? How on earth did that happen? It was such an incident that inspired me to write the book "Lights over Bellano." The "thing that happened" in this instance was the case of Pietro Maso. In 1991, and in order to get what he considered to be his rightful inheritance, Pietro Maso murdered his parents. The fact that the crime occurred in a town I lived in for 8 years made the story all the more fascinating. My opinion of the Veronese always centred around what I considered to be the superficial aspects of life, i.e. money, cars and fashion. Although, while in Italy, I learned to appreciate the importance of beauty in life, I never thought that it might go this far. Below is the link to an article about the case and a pic of Pietro Maso.
"Lights over Bellano" was not only inspired by the Maso case, but also by the little-known bombing of Treviso in April 1944. I only know about it because I lived in Treviso for 3 years. In fact, Treviso was 50% of the model I used for the fictitious Bellano with its its cobbled streets and medieval buildings. The other 50% of the fictitious Bellano was Verona. The description of the fog and the hills above Bellano are taken from my Veronese memory box. The bombing of the town of Bellano is an important part of the novel. It relates to my fascination for history and how history impacts on the present. We may want to draw lines and move on but the past tends to show up in peoples' attitudes, beliefs, prejudices and so on. When I was living in Treviso, several people told me the story of what happened in 1944. A message came through that the German army was retreating through Tarvisio. The military people heard "Treviso" and decided to bomb it. Here are some interviews with witnesses. It's fascinating, even if you don't understand Italian.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxmFBhDo9A0
The bombers dropped flares over the target to guide the pilots. These flares have been likened to Christmas trees lighting up the town and gave rise to the title of the book, "Lights over Bellano."
I,m always quite disturbed by stories of the bombing of civilians. There's a certain military cast of mind which says that it's OK to massacre civilians provided it's dome from the air.
Posted by: Ranald Barnicot | 01/14/2021 at 12:09 PM
It is probably the distance between killer and killed. You don't see it - it hasn't happened. Have a listen to the link below - a British POW in Dresden during the bombing raid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suOBgOk1SgY
Posted by: Robert Goddard | 01/14/2021 at 12:34 PM