Aldrovandi Antonio & Giulia (Porta)

Aldrovandi, Antonio and Giulia Mazzanti, Armando and Rachele Alessandro and Maddalena (Magda) Weisz, originally from Hungary, lived in the town of Fiume in northern Italy (present-day Croatia) with their two children, Piero (b. 1935) and Liana (b. 1938). Alessandro was a manufacturer of ceramics and porcelain and owned a small shop; Maddalena was a homemaker. In 1941, with the German occupation of neighboring Yugoslavia, citizens of the bustling port town of Fiume were ordered to evacuate. The Weisz family, along with other Jewish and non-Jewish families, left their home within 24 hours. A month later they were able to return, but they were now convinced that their lives would be much safer away from the border and deeper into Italy. The Weisz family settled in Florence in 1943, and Alessandro found work in the city as a junior partner in a printing house. There he became acquainted with Antonio Aldrovandi, an accountant, and Armando Mazzanti, a technical director at the printing house. But the Weiszes did not find peace in Florence: in September 1943 Italy capitulated and was immediately occupied by Germany, and soon the roundups of Jews began. The massacre of the Jews in the Meina Hotel that same month left Alessandro and Maddalena with no doubts as to the Germans’ intentions. Fortunately, however, Antonio Aldrovandi came to their aid. He offered to take his Jewish colleague and family to his vacation home, a secluded house on the shore of Lake Orta. But the Weiszes refused to leave. In early December Alessandro stayed home from work and thus avoided the Gestapo, who had been tipped off and came to pick him up at the printing house. It was then that the Weiszes knew the time had come to flee. Alessandro and Maddalena were most concerned about the safety of their children, so they decided to take Aldrovandi up on his offer. They contacted Aldrovandi, who arranged to have his colleague Armando Mazzanti collect the children. Mazzanti and his wife, Rachele, picked up Piero and Liana and boarded a train to Milan. From there they traveled to the small village of Casario, to the Aldrovandis’ secluded house. With the children relatively safe and out of harm’s way, the Weisz couple made arrangements to steal across the Swiss border. The decision to part with their children was heartbreaking, but they could not risk making the perilous journey into Switzerland together with them. Piero and Liana stayed in Casario with Antonio and Giulia Aldrovandi for a year. They were presented as Giulia’s brother’s children, who had been sent to the country to get away from the bombarded city. In December 1944 arrangements were made for the children to join their parents in Switzerland. Aldrovandi traveled with Piero and Liana to the town of Como, where he entrusted them to the hands of smugglers. After making the perilous journey across the border, the children were taken by the Swiss border police to the station in Lugano, where their father waited for them. The Weiszes were now reunited, and they stayed in Lugano until the liberation of Italy. As the war ended, the Weisz family returned to Italy. Once again Antonio and Giulia Aldrovandi showed great kindness and hospitality by inviting the Jewish family to stay with them in their Milan home, until they could get back on their feet. It was not until October 1945 that the family returned to Florence to begin rebuilding their lives. The Weiszes remained good friends with the Aldrovandis for the rest of their lives, and were forever grateful for their selfless and humane acts. On February 17, 2013, Yad Vashem recognized Antonio and Giulia Aldrovandi and Armando and Rachele Mazzanti as Righteous Among the Nations.