Largo Brigata d’urto San Faustino

The San Faustino Brigade was a partisan group formed in September 1943, with origins in the area between Montone and Pietralunga, thanks to the efforts of Bonuccio Bonucci. The San Faustino group included several former Italian army officers who tended to be more liberal and moderate, and young men in hiding who had refused to enlist in the Republican National Guard. They came from rural, anti-fascist circles where socialist ideas were widespread, and all of them wanted to rebel against and fight the Nazi-Fascists. Thanks to the work of Stelio Pierangeli and Venanzio Gabriotti, all the groups from the Apennines that had spontaneously formed between Montone, Pietralunga and Città di Castello, joined the Brigade. There were many challenges due to the endemic shortage of weapons, food and clothing, and infiltration by spies, but with the support of both the local people and Consul Walter William Orebaugh, the San Faustino Shock Brigade liberated Pietralunga on 28 April 1944. On the night of 5-6 May 1944, the Brigade attempted to liberate Montone. While the majority of the fighters were trying to enter Montone, the five men in the rearguard came across two trucks carrying German soldiers on leave. Lieutenant Aldo Bologni was killed in the exchange of fire.