Professor Ben Lawton, and Editor of H-ITAM, (and a Military Reservist, recently called to Active Duty) sent the following regarding my recent Messages regarding Compassionate Italians during WW II. [Professor Lawton spent the first 16 years of his life in Piedmont].

"I have been reading Eric Newby's Love and War in the Apennines. (See the press release below). Newby states explicitly that the book is dedicated to what he describes as the incredible selfless courage of the Italians who protected him and other allied military personnel from the Nazi-fascists. The book is funny, heart warming, and very well-written." 

"It's also the best tribute to genuine Italian culture I have read in years--perhaps since the 'Libro Cuore'. What makes it so remarkable is that it was written by a Sandhurst-educated British officer who was a member of SBS!"

"The book has been made into a made-for-TV movie (see below for more)."
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LOVE AND WAR IN THE APENNINES

Part adventure and part romance, reminiscent of The English Patient, Eric Newby's classic tale Love & War in the Apennines recounts one man's search for freedom and salvation during the Second World War. 

The book begins with Newby's capture as a POW off the coast of Italy, in August 1942. One year later in September 1943 - and on the very day before Italy's surrender - Newby is transferred to a prison hospital with a broken ankle. There he finds a young nurse who meets with him every afternoon and teaches him Italian. As his language lessons progress, so does his feelings for her. But as German troops invade northern Italy, Newby realizes that his only method of survival is to leave hospital - and his new love. Newby escapes from the hospital window and into the Italian countryside - alone. 

In his memoir Newby pays an unforgettable tribute to the Italian country folk who risked their own lives to shelter and protect him during his three-month journey to freedom. Whether their reasons for helping him stemmed from a hatred of fascism or from generous goodwill, one young woman - who would later become his wife when the war was over - risked all because she loved him. Love and War in the Apennines is an intimate account of the horrors and surrealism of war, and of the heroism and selflessness of those caught up in its madness. Newby creates an unforgettable record of the resilience of human nature in the face of despair, and forcefully reminds us of the pointlessness of war.

Hallmark Hall of Fame has created a made for CBS television movie 
In Love and War, based on Love and War in the Apennines. (See Below) 

About the Author:
Eric Newby was born in London in 1919 and was educated at St. Paul's School. During the Second World War he served in the Black Watch and Special Boat Section, and was a prisoner-of-war from 1942 to 1945. After the war, his world expanded still further - into the fashion business and book publishing. Whatever else he was dong, he always traveled on a grand scale, either on his own or as Travel Editor of the London Observer.

by Eric Newby
272 pages 
ISBN 0 86442 765 4
US$12.95, available in the US only
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Also available by Eric Newby: A Small Place in Italy.

With wry humor and sharp eye for quirks of human nature, Newby paints an unforgettable picture of rural Italy and its people. The rhythm and rituals of country life - harvesting olives, hunting for wild mushrooms, buying food and wine and village markets - are lovingly evoked, along with the storybook landscapes and changing seasons. 

In 1967 Eric and Wanda Newby fulfilled a long-cherished dream when they bought a rundown farmhouse in northern Tuscany, in the foothills of the Italian Alps. From its unpromising beginnings - tileless roof, long-abandoned septic tank and an attic full of wire - I Castagni was gradually restored with the help of the local villagers and their neighbors, chief among them Attilio, the Newbys' own aged tenant. 
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In Love and War

Hallmark Hall of Fame created a made for television movie based on Lonely Planet's Journeys' title, Love and War in the Apennines, aired the fall of 2001 on CBS. 

In Love and War, tells the true story about a relationship that develops during WWII between a British soldier caught behind enemy lines and a courageous Italian woman who risks her own life to save his. Eric Newby is a POW on the run in Italy in 1943. Mussolini's brownshirts have been relatively lax, but far more menacing German troops are moving in from the North. Wanda, a young Italian woman, offers to secretly teach Newby Italian so that he can attempt to hide his identity from Nazi occupiers. Newby is grateful for her help, and falls in love with her. With the Germans giving chase, Wanda, her father, and several local farmers and villagers selflessly and bravely help Newby flee to the mountains. Eventually, though, Newby surrenders and is taken to prison once more. His greatest fear is that he will never see Wanda again. Filmed in the beautiful Italian countryside, In Love and War stars British actor Callum Blue and Czech actress Barbora Bobulova, who both turn in powerful performances as Eric and Wanda Newby. The Newby's, now in their 80's, journeyed from their home in England to witness the filming of this exciting chapter in their dramatic life story.