The Ossola Republic was a partisan republic that was established in northern Italy on September 10, 1944 and recaptured by the fascists on October 23, 1944. Unlike other partisan republics, the Ossola Republic was able, in little more than a month of existence, to cope not only with the contingencies imposed by the state of war, but also to give itself an articulate organization, with the establishment of the Provisional Government Council of Domodossola and the liberated zone (G.P.G.). During its brief Forty Days of Freedom,Forty Days of Freedom, directed by Leandro Castellani, RAI, 1974 illustrious figures such as Umberto Terracini, Piero Malvestiti and Gianfranco Contini collaborated on the drafting of democratically oriented reforms, which would later inspire the drafting of the Italian Constitution.

The history of the Ossola Republic was told in Leandro Castellani's screenplay Forty Days of Freedom and Giorgio Bocca's book A Partisan Republic (1964). A very detailed narrative is also found in Eugenio Corti's novel The Red Horse.

Historical and political value

In the course of the Resistance, there were many areas liberated from the Nazi-Fascists, which organized themselves into Partisan Republics (among the first were the Republic of Maschito, the Republic of Corniolo and the Republic of Montefiorino). According to Roberto Battaglia, however, the largest and most significant were the Ossola Republic and the Carnia Republic.R.Battaglia, Storia della Resistenza italiana, pp. 378-384. Giorgio Bocca, to these two major republics, also adds the Republic of Alto Monferrato..

In the assessment of most scholars, the Ossola experience occupies a prominent place for multiple reasons. First and foremost because of the vastness of the territory over which the government was able to extend: the territory conquered by the partisans included an area of 1600 km², six valleys, 32 municipalities and more than 80000 inhabitants. Moreover, while there is no doubt that the various Ossola partisan formations, through multiple valiant military actions, were the architects of the birth of the Ossola Republic, this event cannot be confined to a mere fact of arms. Aldo Moro wrote on the occasion of the 15th anniversary:

The political and administrative experience operated with an broad perspective, aiming to be a new type of national community and state. The Provisional Council was successful in organizing the essential supplies for the population, assistance, military defense, police, order of employment, finances, schooling, welfare, and justice. While in its brief existence, the G.P.G. had no way, except for the school program, to draw up programmatic documents or Charters of Principles (similar to attempts at constitutional charters) from reading the minutes and documents occasionally issued by the Council. From this, one can discern the principles of true legality and freedom by which the future Italian Republic would be inspired and on which it would settle. There are examples of this in many spheres:

The uniqueness of the Ossola experience is thus to be found in its ability to respond not only to military needs, but above all in its willingness to believe in an alternative political order to the Nazi-Fascist one, effectively foreshadowing the establishment of a democratic regime in Italy.

History

Partisan formations in the Ossola Valley in the summer of 1944

Numerous partisan formations were active in the mountainous areas west of Lake Maggiore. In Valsesia, some partisan groups had established the Valsesia Partisan Republic as early as June. Among the groups active in Val d'Ossola were Dionigi Superti's Valdossola, Armando Calzavara's Cesare Battisti (Arca), Nino Chiovini's Giovane Italia (Peppo) and Guido il Monco, and Mario Flaim's 10th Garibaldi Brigade.

From June 11 to July 1, 1944, the SS command in Monza coordinated a military operation aimed at annihilating partisan formations established particularly in the Val Grande wilderness: for some 20 days several thousand Nazi-Fascists hunted down 500 partisans. Despite the presence, among the partisans, of nurse Maria Peron who saved many lives,. at the end of the roundup there were about 300 dead partisans, 208 huts and stables burned in Val Grande and Val Pogallo, 50 houses damaged or destroyed by shelling in Cicogna. There were numerous shootings of captured partisans in those days, the most substantial on June 20 with 42 victims in Fondotoce, at the site where the Memorial and Peace Park was later erected. After the action ended, commander Mario Muneghina formed the Garibaldian brigade Valgrande Martire. Victims of the roundup were also civilians, shepherds and herdsmen, who paid with their lives or with the burning of their stables for their support given to the Resistance.

Liberation

The liberation of the region was due to the partisans of the Val Toce Division, who, under the command of Captain Alfredo Di Dio, attacked the fascist troops stationed in Domodossola on September 8, 1944, defeating them and, after driving them out, called the area "liberated territory." Only later, following the example of areas such as the Corniolo Republic, the first partisan republic in northern Italy, did the expression "republic" of Ossola begin to be used. All Fascist laws and military bodies were dissolved in just 2 days. The export of currency was banned and the toponymy of the valley was renewed. Salò reacted by cutting off supplies to the entire valley, but, after some uncertainty, the small republic obtained the support of Switzerland.

Fall On October 10, Social Republic troops attacked with 5,000 men and, after bitter fighting, recaptured the entire territory on October 23. Most of the population abandoned the Ossola Valley to take refuge in Switzerland, leaving the territory almost deserted, effectively preventing the strong reprisals that were threatened by the fascists and the head of the province in particular. In this regard, the very head of the province Enrico Vezzalini wrote the famous communiqué to Mussolini that read, "We have reconquered the Ossola, we must reconquer the Ossolans."

Provisional Government Council

The Provisional Government Council took office on September 11, 1944. at the Civic Palace in the city of Domodossola, by order of Major Dionigi Superti, commander of the Val d'Ossola Division and representative of the other Patriot formations of the Ossola Valley.. It had jurisdiction over all the liberated territories of the Ossola and Cannobina Valleys with a catchment area of more than 80,000 inhabitants.. The boundaries of the Republic started from Lake Maggiore including, at its limits, Cannero, Oggebbio, Trarego, Ghiffa, Premeno, Aurano, Intragna, Caprezzo, Cambiasca, Miazzina, Cossogno, San Bernardino Verbano, Mergozzo and Ornavasso (Cannobio was excluded).Offices and postal services in the Ossola Partisan Republic - Ossola Philatelic Exhibition 1979

Members of the Council The G.P.G. met twelve times in the Historic Hall of the Domodossola City Hall and once in the Antigorio Valley (when Domodossola had already been evacuated). and was composed as follows:

Prof. Ettore Tibaldi (socialist): Presidency-Commissioner for liaison with the National Liberation Committee, for Foreign Relations, Justice and Hygiene Eng. Giorgio Ballarini (independent anti-fascist): Commissioner for Public Services, Transportation, Labor. Dr. Mario Bandini (Bonfantini on registry, socialist): Commissioner for liaison with the Military Authority, Press

Eng. Severino Cristofoli (Action Party): Commissioner for the Administrative Organization of the Zone and for the Control of Industrial Production. Dr. Alberto Nobili (Liberal): Commissioner for Finance, Economy and Food Giacomo Roberti (Communist): Commissioner for Police and Personnel Services Prof., priest Luigi Zoppetti: Commissioner for Education, Worship and Public Assistance

They were successively succeeded by: Don Gaudenzio Cabalà (Christian Democrat): Commissioner for Education, Worship and Public Assistance (replacing Luigi Zoppetti since September 16). Oreste Filopanti (born Emilio Colombo, Communist): Commissioner of Police and Personnel Services (replacing Giacomo Roberti since September 22). Luigi Mari (born Natale Menotti, Christian Democrat): Commissioner for Tax and Financial Affairs Amelia Valli (born Gisella Floreanini in Della Porta, Communist): Commissioner for Assistance and Relations with Popular Organizations (installed Oct. 7)..

The president of the council, Ettore Tibaldi, was a physician, a professor of medical pathology at the University of Pavia, who, because of his socialist ideas, had lost his university professorship and had self-confined in Domodossola. On Nov. 7, 1943, he had organized a workers' insurrection in Villadossola, which was bloodily repressed by the Nazi-Fascists. He had fled to Switzerland and then returned to the Ossola capital after the surrender of the German command on the evening of Sept. 9, 1944. After the Liberation, he would become Vice President of the Senate in the Fourth Legislature.

Gisella Floreanini was the first woman to hold a government position in Italy: the first female minister of the Italian Republic would later be Tina Anselmi in the Third Andreotti government.

Members of the Zone National Liberation Committee The Zone National Liberation Committee stood alongside the Council, with the task of political and administrative control. It turned out to be composed of: Tito Chiovenda (liberal), lawyer, diplomat and brother of jurist Giuseppe Ugo Claudio (Porzio-Giovanola, socialist) Gianfranco Contini (Action Party), celebrated historian, philologist and literary critic, gold medalist for meritorious contributions to the school of culture and artMedaglia d'oro - Prof. Gianfranco Contini Giuseppe Marchioni (communist) Luigi Zoppetti (Christian Democrat) Ermenegildo Sacco (socialist), representative of the Novara CLN

Distinguished contributors

The Council, during its tenure, secured the help of various collaborators and advisers, some of whom would become prominent men of the early republic, also remembered in history for participating in the drafting of the Italian Constitution. Among them were: Umberto Terracini, as Secretary General, future president of the Constituent Assembly. Ezio Vigorelli, as Legal Counsel and Extraordinary Judge, also future member of the Constituent Assembly, Undersecretary of the Treasury in the Fifth De Gasperi Government (I legislature) and Minister of Labor and Social Policies in the Segni I Government, Scelba Government (II legislature) and Fanfani II Government (III legislature) Gigino Battisti, as Intendant and Commercial Agent, future Mayor of Trento and member of the Constituent Assembly Piero Malvestiti, as Financial Adviser, future Undersecretary to the Ministry of Finance in the De Gasperi IV Government, Undersecretary to the Ministry of Treasury in the De Gasperi V and De Gasperi VI Governments, Minister of Transport in the De Gasperi VII Government, Minister of Industry and Trade in the Pella Government, European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Vice-President of the European Economic Community, President of the ECSC Corrado Bonfantini, as representative of the CLNAI mission in Domodossola and later of the Provisional Government Council at the CLNAI itself in Milan; future member of the Constituent Assembly and deputy in the I, II and III legislatures Carlo Calcaterra, as a member of the Consultative Didactic Commission for school reform with democratic imprint; would teach at the Catholic University of Milan and the University of Bologna, becoming a celebrated critic and historian of Italian literature