In the News: Gino Bartali quietly used fame to save Jews in Fascist Italy

From the article:
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In the worst years of the Second World War, it was not uncommon to see
the great Gino Bartali cycling the roads between Florence and Assisi
on a training run.

The Italian was one of the most recognized sports figures in the
country and throughout Europe. He won the Tour de France in 1938 and
became a sporting hero to millions in Europe and North America.

To the Fascist government that had ruled in Italy since the early
1920s, he was a slightly less appealing figure. When he won the Tour
he refused to acknowledge dictator Benito Mussolini in his victory
speech. He was also a devout Roman Catholic, something the Fascists
detested.

Three years after the war ended, Bartali entered the 1948 tour and did
what was considered impossible — winning a second time after a 10-year
gap and emerging at age 34 as one of the oldest men to come in first
at one of the world’s most storied sporting events.

For Aili and Andres McConnon, a brother and sister who grew up in
Toronto, the story of what Bartali did on his bike and during the war
became an obsession that led to a new book, Road To Valour: A True
Story of World War II Italy, The Nazis, And The Cyclist Who Inspired A
Nation.
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Read it at
http://life.nationalpost.com/2012/06...fascist-italy/
or http://tinyurl.com/7gkksw3




J. Spaceman