CHAPTER 1

fn1 sgnór avucàt: Ferrarese dialect for signor avvocato, the respectful title given to a lawyer.

fn2 Alcide De Gasperi (1881–1953) was the founder of the Christian Democracy Party and prime minister of Italy from 1945 to 1953.

CHAPTER 2

fn1 tupìn: Ferrarese dialect for ‘mouse’, but here, because of the colour of the uniforms they wore, referring to a member of the local Fascist squads.

CHAPTER 4

fn1 I.N.A.: The Istituto Nazionale delle Assicurazioni, a large Italian insurance company.

CHAPTER 2

fn1 A.R.A.R. camp: This was the Azienda rilievo alienazione residuati, an organization set up at the end of the Second World War for the sale of goods that had been confiscated from the enemy or abandoned by the Allies.