Salvo D'Acquisto

Salvo D'Aquisto (Naples, 15 [cite web
url=http://www.carabinieri.it/Internet/Cittadino/Informazioni/Eventi/2005/Febbraio/20050214.htm
title= Convegno su "La figura del Servo di Dio Salvo D'Acquisto, Vice Brigadiere dei Carabinieri"
accessdate: = 2008-04-14
publisher= Arma dei Carabinieri
language=Italian] or 17 October [cite web
url= http://www.carabinieri.it/Internet/Arma/Curiosita/Non+tutti+sanno+che/D/1+D.htm
title= Salvo D'Acquisto
accessdate = 2008-04-14
publisher= Arma dei Carabinieri
language=Italian] 1920 - Torre di Palidoro, Rome, 23 September 1943) was a member of the Italian Carabinieri, awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valor in memory of his heroism.

Life

Salvo D'Acquisto went to school near the Vomero quarter of Naples.

He enlisted in the Carabinieri as a volunteer in 1939 and left for Libya the next year, a few months before the start of the second world war, after being wounded in the leg, he remained with his division in the zone of operations until he contracted malaria and returned to Italy in 1942 to attend officer school. He graduated as a vice brigadier and was assigned to an outpost in Torrimpietra, a little rural center on Aurelia street not too far from Rome.

Around the 8th of September, 1943, a division of German SS troops camped near some old military installation previously in use by the Guardia di Finanza, in the vicinity of Torre di Palidoro, which fell to the territorial jurisdiction of the Torimpietra station. Here, on September 22, German soldiers inspecting boxes of abandoned munitions were killed by a bomb, probably set-off by themselves. One of the soldiers died and the other was wounded.

The commander of the German division blamed the murder on "unnamed locals" and demanded the cooperation of the Carabinieri, at the moment under D'Acquisto's command. The next morning D'Acquisto, having gathered some information, tried in vain to answer that the murder should be considered an accidental occurrence, one without any instigator, but the Germans insisted on their version of events and demanded reprisals, according to the order of Feldmarschall Kesselring a few days before.

elf-sacrifice

On the 23rd of September, the Germans conducted searches and arrested 22 persons from among innocent farmers in the military zone. An armed squad of Germans removed D'Acquisto from the station by force, and led him to Torre di Palidoro, where the hostages were gathered. An interrogation was held during which all the hostages said that they were innocent.

When the Germans again demanded to know the names of the responsible persons, D'Acquisto replied that there could not be any - the explosion was accidental, and the hostages or the other locals were utterly innocent. The Germans ridiculed, insulted, and beat him and tore his uniform. Suddenly, the hostages were handed shovels and forced to dig a mass grave for their own burial after execution.

The digging went on for some time; when they were finished it was obvious the Germans would really carry out their threat.

D'Acquisto then confessed to the alleged crime, declared that he alone was responsible for the murder and that the hostages were innocent, and demanded that they should be released right away. The 22 prisoners at once ran away, leaving the officer before the execution squad.

Salvo D'Acquisto was killed when he was twenty three years old. His remains are preserved in the first chapel on the left, near the entrance, at the Church of St. Clara in Naples.

Legacy

There was a film made about his sacrifice in 1974, directed by Romula Guerrieri and starring Massimo Ranieri and a TV mini-series in 2003, directed by Alberto Sironi and starring Beppe Fiorello.

An Italian postage stamp was issued in 1975 to commemorate him. The portrait was painted by the Italian artist, Silvano Campeggi. [ [http://www.carabinieri.it/Internet/Editoria/Pubblicazioni/Francobolli/Salvo+dAcquisto/ Arma dei Carabinieri - Home - L'Editoria - Pubblicazioni - Francobolli - V. Brig. Salvo d'Acquisto ] ]

He is considered to be a Roman Catholic martyr and has been proposed for beatification by the Holy See. On February 26, 2001, Pope John Paul II in his Address to the Italian Carabinieri stated, “The history of the Italian Carabinieri shows that the heights of holiness can be reached in the faithful and generous fulfillment of the duties of one's state. I am thinking here of your colleague, Sergeant Salvo D'Acquisto, awarded a gold medal for military valor, whose cause of beatification is under way.” [ [http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/2001/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20010226_carabinieri-roma_en.html Address to the Italian Carabinieri who serve in the Lazio Region ] ]

Quote

“We have to conform ourselves to God’s will whatever the cost in suffering or sacrifice.”

References

External links

*cite web
url=http://www.carabinieri.it/Internet/Cittadino/Informazioni/Eventi/2005/Febbraio/20050214.htm
title= Convegno su "La figura del Servo di Dio Salvo D'Acquisto, Vice Brigadiere dei Carabinieri"
accessdate = 2008-04-14
publisher= Arma dei Carabinieri
language=Italian
*cite web
url= http://www.carabinieri.it/Internet/Arma/Curiosita/Non+tutti+sanno+che/D/1+D.htm
title= Salvo D'Acquisto
accessdate = 2008-04-14
publisher= Arma dei Carabinieri
language=Italian
*cite web
url= http://www.pagineculturali.it/dacquisto/
title= Salvo D'Acquisto
accessdate = 2008-04-14
publisher= Pagine Culturali.it
language=Italian
*cite web
url= http://www.anpi.it/uomini/dacquisto.htm
title= Salvo D'Acquisto
accessdate = 2008-04-14
publisher= Associazione Nazionale Partigiani d'Italia
language=Italian
*cite web
url= http://www.romacivica.net/ANPIROMA/Resistenza/resistenza20.html
title= Salvo D'Acquisto
accessdate = 2008-04-14
publisher= Centro studi della Resistenza
language=Italian
*cite web
url= http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140529/
title= Salvo D'Acquisto (1974)
publisher= Internet Movie Database
*cite web
url= http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0978189/
title= Salvo D'Acquisto (2003)
publisher= Internet Movie Database