Morganti Guido

Morganti, Guido On September 19, 1943, 13 members of the Finzi, Rimini, Cantoni and Rocca families left Ravenna, where they had spent the night with Gino and Pina Muratori*, on their way south, fleeing the Germans. Enzo Finzi (b. 1895), Nella Finzi née Rimini (b. 1904), Cesare Finzi (b. 1930, today a professor of cardiology and former president of the Ferrara Jewish community), Manlio Finzi (b. 1934), Giuseppe Rimini (b. 1907), Lina Rimini née Arenghi (b. 1907), Cesare Rimini (b. 1932), Mariella Rebecchi née Rimini (b.1934), Silvana Rimini (b. 1937), Graziana Rimini Vedova Delfini (b. 1938), Maria Cantoni Vedova D’Angeli (b. 1878), Ada Rocca Vedova Finzi (b. 1872) and Guido Vivanti (birthdate unknown) all stopped for a few nights at a hotel in the Adriatic coastal town of Gabicce, where they discovered that the secretary of the local council, Loris Sgarbi, could procure them false identities. The name Finzi was changed to Franzi, while Rimini became Ruini. After changing their names, they made preparations to depart Gabicce. Before leaving they sought out Guido Morganti, a tailor in the neighboring town of Cattolica, to make them warm coats for the winter. When Morganti met Giuseppe, he enquired if there was any relationship between Giuseppe and a certain Leone Rimini. Giuseppe informed Morganti that Leone Rimini was, in fact, his grandfather. "May God bless you!" Morganti exclaimed, telling Giuseppe that Leone, a merchant from Mantova, had once cancelled a debt owed to him by Morganti’s father. His father had a large family, explained Morganti, and the pardoning of the debt had helped him avoid bankruptcy. Giuseppe told Morganti about the problems they were currently facing because they were Jewish, and Morganti promised to help. Within days, he and his wife Ada had put together an escape plan. He travelled to the hotel in Gabicce where the Jewish families were staying, and loaded all 13 members, together with their possessions, onto a wagon.Morganti transported them in the wagon, pulled along by two oxen, until they reached a convent in Morciano, where Cesare Finzi’s grandmother, Ada Rocca Vedova Finzi, and aunt, Maria Cantoni Vedova D’Angeli, were dropped off. The two women stayed there for a few days before being taken to an apartment in Morciano that was owned by the convent, where they remained until the town was liberated. Morganti then continued on his harrowing 20-kilometer journey, made more perilous due to the presence of many German soldiers along the route, specifically in S. Giovonui in Marignane, where a military airport was in the midst of construction. They finally reached Mondaino, Morganti's hometown in the southeast of the province of Rimini, where he was well-known. He took them to the Poor Clare Convent, where Ada Morganti’s aunt, Teresa Lombardi, was the Mother Superior. Lombardi offered the Jewish fugitives shelter in two of the convent's apartments. She also told them that in case of any danger, the gates of the convent would be open for them. Morganti escorted the families to their new apartments, and bade them farewell. This was the last time their paths crossed, although the Mother Superior kept him informed of their fate throughout the war. On January 14, 2007, Yad Vashem recognized Guido Morganti as Righteous Among the Nations.