War in Val D'Orcia: An Italian War Diary, 1943-1944 | 
 enlarge | Author: Iris Origo
Publisher: David R Godine
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $2.98
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New (21) Used (43) from $2.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 113328
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 239
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.7
ISBN: 0879234768
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.5345
EAN: 9780879234768
ASIN: 0879234768
Publication Date: February 1, 1984
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Paperback, former library book with usual stamps/markings. Ships promptly w/notification emailed after shipping.
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Product Description
A classic of World War II, here in its first American edition. War in Val d'Orcia is Iris Origo's elegantly simple chronicle of daily life at La Foce, a manor in a Tuscan no-man's land bracketed by foreign invasion and civil war.
With the immediacy only a diary can have, the book tells how the Marchesa Origo, an Anglo-American married to an Italian landowner, kept La Foce and its farms functioning while war threatened to overrun it and its people. She and her husband managed to protect their peasants, succor refugee children from Genoa and Turrin, hide escaped Allied prisoners of war-and somehow stand up to the Germans, who in dread due course occupied La Foce in 1944 and forced the Marchesa to retreat under a hot June sun.
Fleeing eight impossible miles on foot, along a mined road under shell fire, with sixty children in tow, she sheltered her flock in the dubious safety of a nearby village. A few days later, official Fascism disappeared, and La Foce was ransacked by the retreating Wehrmacht. Here, as the restoration of La Foce begins, her book ends.
Beyond praise and above mere documentary value, War in Val d'Orcia belongs to the literature of humanity.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 a fabulous read May 12, 2008
This is an exceptional book which bears precious witness to the way WWII brought out both the good and bad--but mostly good--in people living or passing through a region of Tuscany. The author's factual, restrained account of the extraordinary events of the time and her part in them is beautiful and effective. Highly recommended. Here is an excerpt to whet your appetite:
"The rounding-up of the Jews appears now to be completed--though no doubt many unfortunate women and children are still hidden. The Archbishop of Florence, Cardinal della Costa, has taken a courageous stand. When some of his nuns were arrested in consequence of having given shelter to some Jewish women in their convent, the Cardinal, putting on his full panoply, went straight to the German Command. 'I have come to you,' he said, 'because I believe you, as soldiers, to be people who recognize authority and hierarchy--and who do not make subordinates responsible for merely carrying out orders. The order to give shelter to those unfortunate Jewish women was given by me: therefore I request you to free the nuns, who have merely carried out orders, and to arrest me in their stead.'
The German immediately gave orders for the nuns to be freed, but permitted himself to state his surprise that a man like the Cardinal should take under his protection such people as the Jews, the scum of Europe, responsible for all the evils of the present day. The Cardinal did not enter upon the controversy. 'I look upon them,' he said, 'merely as persecuted human beings; as such it is my Christian duty to help and defend them. One day,' he gave himself the pleasure of adding, 'perhaps not far off, *you* will be persecuted: and then I shall defend you!'"
 A totally amazing story December 19, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This amazing book reveals the feelings of real people who did so much to help others in need, during a ruthless, senseless war. It is a story you will remember forever.
A different view of Tuscany August 20, 2006
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
"War in Val D'Orcia" is a rather terse diary of events throughout Italy in 1943-1944 written by the English-born wife of a wealthy landowner in Tuscany. As an account of life under Nazi rule it's not nearly as profound or fascinating as Victor Klemperer's "I Will Bear Witness" but after the first 100 pages (or so) which are somewhat strangely detached and impersonal ("In Rome to have the baby"), and mostly an account of Italian national politics at that time, I literally couldn't put it down.
Until I read this book I had often wondered why there are so many abandoned farm buildings in Tuscany: I now understand that until relatively recently there was a feudal system in place, where farmers did not actually own their land but instead worked it for the landowner in exchange for half of their production. "War in Val D'Orcia" exposed me to aspects of Italian culture that I had never even really thought about before. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the history and culture of Italy and Tuscany in particular.
This is the first book by or about Iris Origo that I have read but it won't be the last.
Unforgettable May 25, 2004
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
"Greater than the sum of its parts" accurately describes this remarkable diary set in Southern Tuscany during World War II.
Written as a daily record during the tumult of war,Origo does not dwell on emotional reactions to the horror around them. What comes through is the generosity, compassion, and nobility of Spirit that we all are capable of during wretched times. This diary has had a greater impact on me since after reading it.A book which had lingered with me and one in which I may never forget,I haved been moved to visit La Foce and the region in which this book takes place this Fall.
Highly Recommended.
Restore your faith in humanity ... April 1, 2003
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
The enthralling story of life on the Origo's estate "La Foce" (just South of Montepulciano in South Tuscany and on the main route of the advancing Allied 8th Army) during the years 1943 and 1944. The contadini farmers and workers on the estate, living in conditions closer to the Middle Ages than the mid Twentieth Century, had no interest in or involvement with the forces of war but equally had no option but to suffer its consequences. They, led by Iris Origo and her Marchese husband, juggled simultaneously playing host to refugee Italian children, escaping British airmen and prisoners of war, partisan fighters, and a German officers' mess, not to mention day to day dealings with facist officialdom. All this in the knowledge that the penalty for a "mistake" was summary execution. An easily readable "must read" not just for those who love Italy and a good story, but for anyone who would like to reaffirm their faith in humanity in the context of a greater understanding of the reality of occupation and war.
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