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WW1: Inspired by the incredible true stories of two women in wartime Italy.
WW1: Inspired by the incredible true stories of two women in wartime Italy.
Each morning Livia Moretti makes her way from an apartment overlooking Florence’s famous Duomo to a nearby café, where she drinks espresso and reads the newspaper. To the crowds of tourists who pass by, snapping selfies, nothing about Livia will be memorable. She is simply an old lady. They walk on without knowing the part she played in ensuring the future of this beautiful city. And to Livia now, those dark days feel very far away too.
But today, when she opens the paper, she sees a name she has not heard for a long time. A name that will bring memories flooding back of Nazi troops marching through the city and the dangers she faced as a young woman, carrying out secret missions for the resistance.
Isabella Bellucci – A siren of the silver screen, Isabella cultivated all the right connections to ensure her rise to stardom. But when Rome falls to the Nazis, Isabella is suddenly faced with the choice between protecting herself, and all she has worked for, or sacrificing everything to save the man she loves.
As the war rages across Europe, a terrible misunderstanding causes the fates of Isabella and Livia to become forever intertwined. And each woman must decide what they’re willing to risk, to protect the ones they hold dear from a brutal enemy.
The author says in her author note that the character of Isabelle Belluci is based largely on Italian actress Maria Denis. She was a famous white telephone actress who worked for Cinecitta before the war and was known as Italy’s little sweetheart.
She had made around five or six films a year and fell in love with the gifted director Luchino Visconti. He had many female fans but Maria was the most devoted to him. When he was arrested for being in the Resistance in Rome, she was prepared to risk her life for him. She was hounded by the Italian press and was called a traitor and much worse.
Many events in the novel were inspired by the book Ii Gioco della Verita -Maria’s memoir.
Destination/location: Florence, Rome Author/guide: Debbie Rix Departure Time: WW2
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