A terrible forgotten misfortune

The Northern Rome Railway line, more similar to a tramway line, then with slow speed, certainly don't leaves imagine that  the November 15 1943 was the subject of a rail disaster of unbelievable proportions: more one hundred deaths. After  the September 8 1943, began the collapse of the Italian army, the September 10, Rome became occupied city, everything was missing, electricity, gas, groceries. Bombing and strafing night, curfews, raids, seizures of food and things, violence and retaliation. Jews fleeing the fierce hunt of the SS, military disbanded trying to return home, suppression of many train rides. The historical context, the climate with which the staff of the railway had to live, has definitely contributed to the occurrence of this terrible tragedy. Here is what told the Gazzetta della Flaminia (Official of the Flaminia) in December 1988. The convoy started from Viterbo at 18 and headed to Rome, consisting of five cars and two locomotives, was full of travelers, stopped at the Sant'Oreste station. Many of them had traveled to the province to buy directly from the farmers, l food stuffs, since evrything was scarce in the city . To human error, the driver went in the direction of the capital. A locomotive and four coaches from Rome, stopped at the Rignano Flaminio station, instead of waiting for the connecting, perhaps due to a telephone misunderstanding, started again. In cuve, near the cemetery of Rignano Flaminio, precisely at the level crossing, the two trains collided. A roar like an aerial bomb, did run a peasant woman who was taking care of the hen house, located nearby. The poor woman at the sight of that incredible spectacle, ran to call for help in Rignano, running along via Flaminia for about a mile. When first aid reached, a German military column, aimed at Cassino, was already providing aid to the injured with some volunteers. Two locomotives were located to V on the Flaminia, some coaches were stuck into each other. The scene was terrible, screams of the wounded trapped in carriages, dead, blood dripping from the doors of the carriages. The relentless rain that fell ( 14-15-16 days of November 1943  ) had formed a red river that flowed the wayside. Cars heading north, carried the wounded to the hospital in Civita Castellana, those heading south, carried wounded in hospitals in the capital. The dead, were placed by the german military, in the churchyard of the Church of St. Theodora. At first they were 84. Then rearranging some human limbs it came to count over 100, the next day, the smell in the air was nauseating. The individual episodes were so many, it is said of the disappearance of a prisoner who was being taken to Rome. At the end of the war an officer of the police station in Viterbo, questioning the caretaker of the cemetery in Rignano heard that one of the passengers had the handcuffs, so it was easy to identify the prisoner and the escort guards. Moving the family history Lo Russo. Riccardo Lo Russo, 42, father of seven children, was traveling on the train. Since not returning home, the next day the child with his mother learned of the death of a spouse, going to the direction of the  Northern Rome Railway. Once in Rignano Flaminio the next day, his son Giuseppe Lo Russo says that the churchyard of S.Teodora was full of corpses decapitated, dismembered. The father's body was recovered and the funeral took place in Rome. In the midst of this drama, the human looting had no limits. Insurance companies sent their "business brokers" to settle for just pennies the unfortunate relatives, often not having the money for the funeral, they were content to reimbursement ridiculous. Another episode disconcerting, as was said, was the presence of a young man at the scene who struggled to help rescuers to reconstruct the bodies of the victims. Noticed by the Germans was searched and found in possession of several portfolios, was loaded onto a truck to Rome with injuries. Certainly not made a happy end. Giuseppe Lo Russo, as he told himself, to feed her six brothers, had to go to work at the age of 14 years. Just a simple plaque at the entrance of the cemetery in Rignano Flaminio, around the year 2000, remember all those poor dead. Sergio Maestri (former workshop in Catalan) has pointed out that on-site there is also a stele erected by the staff of the railway, in memory of the messenger post (which at the time was traveling in the boot of the locomotive) and the staff in the train.

 

Sources:

Russo Giuseppe The  "forgot" disaster to Rignano Flaminio La Gazzetta della Flaminia 12.98

 

List of dead people in Rignano Flaminio November 15, 1943 at 20 (approximately) of the Northern Rome Nord railway incident (names provided by the Municipality)

1          Acciaccarelli                Giuseppina

2          Appedisano                 Ilario

3          Badamo                       Mariano

4          Banci                           Aldo

5          Bonelli                          Natalina

6          Bordoni                       Giuseppe

7          Bronchi                        Giuseppe

8          Bucciarelli                    Filippo

9          Campana                     Quirino

10        Carpegna                     Corrado

11        Casadei Santucci         Bruna Sara

12        Catandella                    Roberto

13        Caporelli                      Annunziata

14        Cencioni                      Francesco

15        Celi                              Salvatore

16        Corrazzini                    Bruno

17        Del Pelo                       Angelo

18        Di Franco                    Francesco

19        Di Giovanni                  Natale

20        Fabbri                          Ida

21        Ferretti                         Libero

22        Forti                            Mario

23        Galadini                       Giuseppe

24        Gavazzi                        Orlando

25        Guarniera                     Domenico

26        Guerra                         Eugenio

27        La Cava                       Antonio

28        Lo Russo                     Riccardo

29        Lucantoni                     Pietro

30        Magliozzi                     Dante

31        Mancini                        Americo

32        Marzi                           Mario

33        Marzi                           Sergio

34        Moccia                        Aniello

35        Pagliari                         Alcide

36        Pedica                         Emilio

37        Perilli                           Aldo

38        Perilli                           Mario

39        Penna                          America

40        Perugini                        Renato

41        Pulcini                          Oliviero

42        Pompili                        Girolamo

43        Ranieni                         Rosario

44        Rocchegiani                 Tripolina

45        Rodighiero                   Irido Angelo

46        Romagnoli                    Giovanni

47        Roberti                        Urbano

48        Salvatori                      Gastone

49        Sagripanti                     Torquato

50        Scandurra                    Antonio

51        Servucci                      Giancarlo

52        Trequattrini                  Roberto

53        Urbani                         Celso

54        Volpi                           Antonio

Thank you for your kind cooperation the 'Registry Office of the Municipality of Rignano Flaminio
 

 From a story by Arnaldo Ricci, published in "Campo de 'Fiori", a monthly Civita Castellana

IN MEMORY OF VINCENZO FERRETTI