[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]”\u2026 Yet once again fate confronted us with events we neither expected nor ever wished to imagine.<\/p>\n
Within a span of just ten years, both my father and mother left us, victims of that then-considered invincible disease\u2014cancer. I suddenly found myself forced to become the head of the family.<\/p>\n
I immediately felt the responsibility to inform the Pirelli brothers of the great loss the company would soon have to endure; a certain affectionate gratitude had long bound the two brothers to their general director.<\/p>\n
I tried every possible avenue, but, as I mentioned, no one at that time knew how to face cancer. My father was attended by two professors who, in my opinion, knew as little about the disease as I did. The illness had been diagnosed a few months earlier by our family doctor as nervous exhaustion. I sought the expertise of [Mario] Donati, the greatest Italian surgeon then alive. Donati gently ruled out any possibility of intervention\u2014at least with regard to my father. At that time, the liver was considered inoperable. (\u2026)<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, my father died in excruciating pain, reduced to a mere shadow of himself yet always valiantly present as if to show us that he was not afraid, but trusted in us. (\u2026)<\/p>\n
That morning, after a visit from Father Zucca [Enrico Zucca, a Franciscan friar who maintained close ties with the most influential and affluent families of Milan\u2019s aristocracy and business circles\u2014and who, in \u201946, would gain some notoriety for having helped conceal Mussolini\u2019s body, editor\u2019s note] at the urging of Tommaso Gallarati Scotti, I found myself in the small garden of the building [the Columbus Clinic in via Buonarroti, Milan, editor\u2019s note] with my friend Lele Pesenti when Colonel Bettoni\u2014who had been my superior in Savoia [the Savoia Cavalleria Regiment, where Guido had served, editor\u2019s note]\u2014rode by on horseback, accompanied by his attendant. Bettoni stopped and, upon hearing the news, was visibly shocked. Meanwhile, his horse, with its long, graceful neck, quietly nibbled at the hedge that separated us.<\/p>\n
This remains, for me, the final memory of that unspeakable tragedy.<\/p>\n
In a room nearby lay the lifeless simulacrum of the person I had loved most. A final farewell forever to pleasant conversations, to an unparalleled example of tolerance and generosity\u2014always with the respect due to a man regarded not as an adversary, but as someone to be respected, taught, and assisted.<\/p>\n
I believed that everything was over, yet the years that followed taught me that one can continue to love a departed soul with the same passion as when they were alive. And so I did, and everything seemed to go on as before. (\u2026)<\/p>\n
As was customary at the time, the solemn funeral of Giuseppe Venosta\u2014complete with a brass band\u2014was immortalized in a photographic album. We have images of the departure of the funeral hearse, preceded and followed by an exceedingly long cortege that, starting from the \u201cColumbus\u201d clinic, wound its way along the entire route leading to the church of San Pietro in Sala, in Piazza Wagner, where the funeral rites were celebrated. Behind the casket were the family members: the widow, Argia, and the three children\u2014Guido, at the center in civilian clothes, and Luigi and Giorgio, both in military uniform; immediately behind Guido, prominently featured, was Luisa Quintavalle, who soon became his fianc\u00e9e and wife. Pirelli sent a substantial delegation which, parading behind its banner and serving as an honor guard in the church during the rites, offered a fitting final salute.<\/p>\n
In war, Guido\u2019s two brothers also went: Luigi, known as Gigi\u2014a professional player and national ice hockey athlete in the 1920s\u2014and Giorgio, who became the godfather of Guido\u2019s eldest daughter, Giorgina.<\/p>\n
“My brother Giorgio, after spending time in Yugoslavia, was assigned with his entire regiment to the Russian front, accompanying the Terzo Bersaglieri. (\u2026) I went to Lazise to see my brother off. Giorgio completed the entire retreat from Russia; I believe that someone looked after him from above.<\/p>\n
My pilot brother [Luigi] fought as the crew chief of an S73 bomber. After an action over Alexandria, Egypt, and against the English fleet at La Fonda, his squadron was attacked on the return journey by a formation of Spitfires. One of them, in particular, targeted my brother\u2019s aircraft. (\u2026) The combat was extremely fierce. (\u2026) The second pilot fell. The tail gunner, clinging to his machine gun, fell. To his right, my brother saw two S73 aircraft in flames. From one of them, Milo Mussi\u2014who had been a fine ice hockey player and was one of our own [Camillo \u201cMilo\u201d Mussi was a hockey player and companion of Luigi Venosta, editor\u2019s note]\u2014parachuted into the sea. We never saw him again, and our parents searched for years, hoping he might have survived. A fortunate twist allowed my brother to evade pursuit. He managed to bring his aircraft back to Italian territory, albeit with casualties and injuries; he earned a silver medal on the field. This episode was recounted in full detail on the English radio the very evening of the clash. (\u2026)”<\/p>\n
At this point, my grandfather\u2019s memoirs become somewhat confused, having largely remained as scattered notes. What can be pieced together is that the house on via Vivaio, where the Venosta family had lived for many years, was set on fire during the Allied bombings after September 8, and only the timely intervention of a friend who managed to summon the fire brigade limited the damage, allowing for its post-war reconstruction. Fortuitously, my grandfather, having returned from Cervinia to tend to my mother and the family affairs, managed to reach Liberation alongside his brothers, who had returned from the front. And so, life began anew for all.”[\/vc_column_text][vc_media_grid element_width=”6″ gap=”15″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1743197292561-2caa1413-ffd4-9″ include=”67944,67939,67941,67942,67940,67943″][vc_column_text]Sources:<\/b>
\nAlbiate, Villa San Valerio Archives, Guido Venosta Archive, G. VENOSTA, Unpublished Memoirs (1996-97), pp. 27\u201334.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Declared at war in June 1940, Guido Venosta was recalled to service, and due to his impeccable English, he was assigned to the Military Intelligence Service (SIM) based in Rome. When fascism collapsed, Venosta fortuitously returned to Milan and from there managed to reach Cervinia on the Swiss border, where his wife, Luisa, had been relocated with their very young children, Giorgina and Beppe. Meanwhile, his mother, Argia, spent the war years in Gornate Olona, in the house that had been his father’s last purchase before his death. Guido’s two brothers\u2014Luigi, known as Gigi, a professional player and national ice hockey player in the 1920s, and Giorgio, who was also the godfather of Giorgina, Guido’s firstborn\u2014also served in the war, and both miraculously managed to return.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":67938,"template":"","tags":[57],"class_list":["post-67409","protagonista","type-protagonista","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-airc"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazioneguidovenosta.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/protagonista\/67409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazioneguidovenosta.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/protagonista"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazioneguidovenosta.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/protagonista"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazioneguidovenosta.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/protagonista\/67409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67987,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazioneguidovenosta.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/protagonista\/67409\/revisions\/67987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazioneguidovenosta.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazioneguidovenosta.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazioneguidovenosta.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}