​​

Between the autumn of 1943 and 1944, dozens of displaced persons from different corners of Italy and Europe reached the town of Assisi. The serious situation prompted Bishop Giuseppe Placido Nicolini and other priests to set up an underground relief organisation. There, they hid 300 Jews in cloistered convents, monasteries, and homes, saving them from deportation. The story, which for decades remained little known in Italy, is however very well known in the American Jewish community thanks to Alexander Ramati’s novel, Assisi Underground (1978), which was adapted into a film in 1985.

The inauguration of the Museum of Memory on the first floor of the Palazzo Vallemani art gallery took place on 24^th April 2011. Divided into five rooms, the museum displays documents, photos, awards, essays, and objects about those who worked personally to protect the Jews, in particular Don Aldo Brunacci, Monsignor Niccolini and Father Rufino Niccacci. Over the years, the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem has recognised seven citizens of Assisi as ‘Righteous among the Nations’, while in 2004 the city received the Gold Medal for Civil Valour from Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.

Photo gallery

Consigli alla visione o alla lettura