# Book 1: Italia’s Bubble Burst

- Link: https://italiajoe.com/when-italias-bubble-burst/
- Published: 2024-05-17T03:30:16+00:00
- Author: Joseph Simonetti

![](https://italiajoe.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1942_MIchele_WWII-20YO-e1790989199977-
236x300.jpg)

1942 Michele Simonetti 21 Years Old

_Our roots for survival run deep through layers of genetics-driven ambition; what
a thrill to peek backstage and discover who pulls the strings behind headlining 
events connecting generational handovers._

Leading up to WWII, which Italia joins to fulfil the misguided ambitions of the 
fledgling nation, Simonetti and Attisani families live through the abysmal functions
of Bolshevism, Zionism, Fascism and Communism overseen by influencer Winston Churchill.
Post-war immigration entangles Giuseppe in his father’s POW stories. To ward off
complaints about the cold in the shacks they live in at Cobram, his father infuses
conversations with _quando io ero prigioniero di Guerra_…. Anecdotes morph into 
a compendium of memories, later niggling with arousal, as he seeks closure over 
his father becoming one of the thousands of _Internati Militari Italiani_ (IMIs)
in Germany. Disastrous events ensue for Italians who willingly embraced the Fascist
promise of glory. The North Africa and Greek campaigns bring the Simonetti brothers
and Aussie Charlie Gilbert into the same theatre of war. Austro-German Vogels in
Yugoslavia are part of Greater Europe’s troubled past, wherein ethnicity, Catholicism,
Orthodoxy, and Islam bring out the worst of human behaviour. Diaries written by 
fellow travellers provide lucid accounts of the horrid fate of Italian soldiers 
post-Armistice. A massacre of Italians occurs at Cephalonia due to _Divisione Acqui_
resisting German demands. Montgomery’s forces land near Pizzo and camp briefly near
the Attisani _Pontana_ farm.