“Don Nino Rolleri, born on August 17, 1916 in Varsi, in the province of Parma, was a partisan priest from the Parma mountains. He was part of the Parma Single Command from April 4, 1944 to April 25, 1945 and was chaplain of the 31st Garibaldi Brigade, Val Ceno Division.” – Provincial Committee of the A.N.P.I. of Parma (https://anpiparma.it/pietre-della-memoria/canonica-di-specchio/)
The entry posted by the Provincial Committee of the A.N.P.I. of Parma goes on to report on the “violence perpetrated by Nazi-Fascist troops around the town of Specchio” and that “the parish priest of Specchio was Don Giovanni Caramatti, who made the premises of the rectory a refuge…“
https://www.memorieincammino.it/persone/don-nino-rolleri/
Later in the A.N.P.I. post it is reported that “In the immediate post-war period, the Specchio rectory was demolished and then rebuilt at the behest of Don Nino Rolleri, another leading figure in the Parma Resistance. Since September 1943, as parish priest of Villora di Varsi, Don Rolleri had, in fact, actively participated in operations among the ranks of the partisans: in addition to offering asylum to fugitives, including about 50 English soldiers from the Fontanellato camp, he had operated first with the 12th Garibaldi Brigade and then with the 31st Garibaldi Brigade, until he took on the role of chaplain of the Parma Single Operational Command.“
And one day I hope to establish that the man standing in the middle at the back of this faded B&W family photograph (which certainly looks as though it might have been from the 1940’s), is the very same Don Nino Rolleri.
In an earlier Post I was able to decipher the writing on the back identifying the men as being.
- Ballantyne, Lt. J.A.
- Houghton, Capt. H.
- Goldingham, Lt. M.J.D.
- Lewis-Heath, Lt. F.R.
- Rolleri, Don Nino? (Back Middle)
- Willis, Lt. A.G.R. (Bottom Right)
Letter from Don Nino pleading the case for the family of Don Giuseppe BEOTTI
Translation – “Today Monsignor Nino Rolleri would have turned one hundred years old. He celebrates his birthday with his partisan friends whom he loved so much and who have gone on with him. The memory of Don Nino is always present in our hearts.
Thank you for everything you have done.
We remind you that he was decorated with a silver medal for military valor. Chaplain of Honor of St. John Paul II; Chaplain of the National Association of Christian Partisans and Chaplain of the Association of Mutilated War Invalids.
But above all he was the beloved parish priest of Specchio. The photo, a rarity that one of our members provided us for publication, shows him at a ceremony with many partisan friends in Valmozzola (it is in the center below). Official speaker Sergio Passera, who passed away recently. It is May 4, 1985.“
https://www.memorieincammino.it/luoghi/varano-de-melegari-pr/
PG 49 at Fontanellato in Italy - The Story of allied servicemen who were held prisoner of war in this town in Italy in World War II 