While the majority of Italian citizens remained unaffected and uninterested in the war, their attitude changed on November 5th and 6th 1943, when the German SS raided all the convents in the area. It became known as the “Santa Anna di Stazzoma” massacre. Over 500 religious clergy were killed and hundreds more deported. Now citizens were outraged and united in their firm belief that the murderous designs of Nazi – Fascists needed to be resisted.
The Camorra, one of the five major crime organizations in Italy, had its headquarters in the Tuscany region. It was a way of life in Tuscany and had existed well before the Fascists came to power. It consisted of more than 100 self-directed clans, 10,000+ associates and an even larger group of dependents, clients and friends. They dwarfed any of the other organized crime gangs in both their numbers and ruthless violence. They had established a laissez-faire arrangement with the Fascists, but this latest incident had crossed the line and now they directed all of the resources to the resistance.
This gave birth to the “Tuscan Committee of National Resistance “, which included former soldiers cut off from home many of whom were still in possession of their weapons. They were young men fleeing Mussolini‘s attempt to conscript them, something that Adalio even at his young age would not have been exempt from. Through acts of guerilla warfare, using hit-and-run tactics, sabotaging of war production, organizing strikes in factories and espionage by gathering vital intelligence for the Allies, they succeeded in tying down, thousands of Italian troops and helped swing the war in the Allies' favor. They also provided information, shelter and supplies to escaped prisoners of war, allowing many to stay at the vineyards on their way back to Britain. In all, approximately 200,000 partisans took part in the resistance and German Fascist forces killed about 70,000 of them. In no small part, this also contributed to the disastrous defeats suffered by Italian forces in both Greece and North Africa and by the 1940s, the Italian army was becoming obsolete due to diminished resources, and in July 1943, the Allies had taken Sicily and begun to march through Italy. This, despite the Gothic line constructed by the German army in an attempt to block the allies advance.
When retreating, the Nazis were determined to leave nothing of value behind, particularly wine and the vineyards. They would indiscriminately shoot at barrels of wine, and laugh while watching it seep into the ground. With the exception of the most expensive red wines made entirely of Merlot, which they confiscated. This occurred at the Manetti vineyard in Tuscany, among other places. Then they set about destroying crops by setting them on fire and killing lines livestock. What they never realized was that many Italian wines were fermented and aged underground, buried in large clay vessels called queuris, which were in massive multilevel cellars, such as the one the Mennetti’s had. They were not difficult to camouflage from the invaders. Those who may have been tempted to reveal the locations were strongly discouraged to do so by the Cammora.
