Maria Bergamas (; 23 January 1867 – 22 December 1953) was an Italian woman who was chosen to represent all Italian mothers who had lost a son during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

not knowing where he was buried.

Life

Maria Bergamas was born on 23 January 1867 in Gradisca d'Isonzo and lived in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

, where she had moved in her youth, and where she resided at the outbreak of

. At the time, both Gradisca d'Isonzo and Trieste were an integral part of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

, so her son Antonio was drafted into the Austrian army. In 1916 Antonio defected, fled to Italy, and volunteered in the 137th Infantry Regiment of the Barletta Brigade under the name of Antonio Bontempelli, a false identity used by the

Royal Italian Army The Royal Italian Army () (RE) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfredo Fanti signed a decree c ...

to accommodate

irredentists Irredentism () is one State (polity), state's desire to Annexation, annex the territory of another state. This desire can be motivated by Ethnicity, ethnic reasons because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to or the same as the ...

among its ranks. While leading an attack of his platoon, during a fight at the foot of Monte Cimone di Tonezza, on 16 June 1916, Antonio was killed by a barrage from a machine gun. After the battle, a note was found in his pocket in which he begged to inform the mayor of

San Giovanni al Natisone San Giovanni al Natisone () is a (municipality) in the Regional decentralization entity of Udine in the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about southeast of Udine. San Giovanni al Natisone borders ...

, the only person aware of his real identity, of his passing. Antonio Bergamas was therefore recognized and buried, along with others who fell in battle, in the wartime cemetery of Marcesina, on the Sette Comuni plateau. However, following intense bombing, the burial site was destroyed, with Bergamas and the others who had been buried alongside him officially declared missing. After the war, Antonio’s mother Maria was asked to choose the body of a soldier from eleven corpses of unidentified fallen servicemen, gathered from different areas of the front. On October 28, 1921, in the

Basilica of Aquileia In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

, the woman was placed in front of the eleven lined-up coffins: after examining some of the corpses, Bergamas was unable to continue and collapsed on the ground in front of the tenth corpse, lamenting the loss of her own son. The body she fell in front of was therefore chosen to be the Unknown Soldier. The unidentified body was placed inside the Monument to the Unknown Soldier at

Altare della Patria The Victor Emmanuel II National Monument (), also known as the Vittoriano or for synecdoche Altare della Patria ("Altar of the Fatherland"), is a large national monument built between 1885 and 1935 to honour Victor Emmanuel II, the first king ...

, in memory of the War’s victims. The ceremony took place on 4 November 1921. According to the testimony of Bergamas’ daughter Anna, the woman was previously determined to choose the eighth or ninth corpses, since those were the numbers that recalled the birth and death of her son Antonio; but when she came before the coffins she felt a sense of shame, and since nothing reminded her son, she chose the tenth so that the corpse that would go to Rome could truly be a completely unknown soldier. Bergamas died in Trieste on 22 December 1953. The following year, on 3 November 1954, her body was exhumed and buried in the

war cemetery A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations. Definition The term "war grave" does not only apply to graves: ships sunk during wartime are often considered to b ...

of Aquileia behind the basilica, near the bodies of the other 10 unknown soldiers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bergamas, Maria 1867 births 1952 deaths People from the Province of Gorizia 20th-century Italian women People from Austria-Hungary

Life

See also

References