Piero Sarti-Fantoni, a member of our Scientific Committee, passed away on April 21, 2020, after a struggle with Covid19.

After his graduation in Chemistry, in the mid 60's he moved to London and had a chance to meet Christopher Ingold, at UCL. Then he became Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Florence, and studied the synthesis and reactivity of isoxazole derivatives [1].

He was born in Vaglia on July 7, 1937 as Piero Sarti. Vaglia was a tiny village 15 km north of Florence, in the beautiful and narrow Mugello valley up in the Apennines.

He was only 7 y.o. when his father and uncle were massacred by the Nazi soldiers, together with 5 more people. At that time simple citizens, English and American former prisoners, and especially Jews sought refuge in the countryside or in the Apennine mountains, not far from Florence, protected by the local people. It was certainly a betrayal that led the Nazis to the houses of Morlione, near Vaglia, at dawn on April 10, 1944. It was Easter Monday. There some defenseless families, the Sarti and the Biancalani, were slaughtered together with other guests of that house, unaware and blameless of the tragedy.

So, Piero Sarti remained orphan and was adopted by Renato Fantoni and his wife Beatrice. Renato was an antifascist intellectual, partisan and liberal militant. This is the reason why Piero had a double last name, in fact he decided to associate his surname with that of his adoptive parents as a sign of gratitude. Today, that slaughter is commemorated by a bronze monument near the Church of St. Andrew in Cerreto Maggio [2].

About 20 years ago, Piero found in his house a remarkable document, that shed light on something he did not know about his adoptive family. Renato and Beatrice Fantoni in 1944 hosted and hid in their house Eugenio Artom, his wife Giuliana Treves, and their butler Amedeo, Florentine Jews, and saved them from the Nazi-fascist criminals. Right after WWII, on May 10, 1945 Eugenio Artom mentioned Fantoni's great commitment before the Jewish community, and on February 26, 1951, Giuliana wrote to the Fantoni family these words [3]:

 

Caro Fantoni,

nella tremenda affannosa estate del '44 vi prodigavate tutti, cara famiglia Fantoni, per le tante imprese avventate ed eroiche, per le tante stringenti necessità quotidiane, per dar soccorso aiuto e incoraggiamento a tanti, che non se se vi siete resi conto, nel generoso calore della vostra umanità, che alla moglie del vostro amico Eugenio che conoscevate appena e che gli eventi degli ultimi anni avevano immerso in uno scoramento totale e senza luce, la vostra accoglienza così immediata affettuosa e senza riserva, oltre alla salvezza materiale ha ridato, col vostro esempio, anche la fede nella fratellanza umana.

Per questo m'è rimasto e sempre mi rimarrà nel cuore l'immagine soave del dolce viso pallido dal sorriso luminoso della Signora Bice, e questo ricordo commosso e grato in eterno le voglio ripetere oggi.

Sua, Giuliana Artom

 

Renato Fantoni and Beatrice Bartolini were proclaimed Righteous Among the Nations for Italy in 2016 [4].

But the story is not over yet.

Across the years Piero Sarti Fantoni utterly strived to keep the memory of the Morlione's slaughter and to bring to justice the Nazy army officers responsible of that criminal act. Eventually, in 2011, the trial against Erich Koeppe, Helmut Odenwald and Karl Friedrich Mess was celebrated in Verona. Koeppe and Odenwald were sentenced to life imprisonment. The judgement was upheld by the Rome Court of Appeal in 2014.

In that occasion Piero confided that he had finally made peace with his past, honoring the memory of the victims.

 

2020-02-02

 

[1] Tetrahedron Lett. 2010, 51 (48), 6310-6312.

[2] https://www.pietredellamemoria.it/pietre/monumento-in-memoria-dei-caduti-di-morlione/

[3] Dear Fantoni, in the terrible summer of '44 you all did your best, for the many rash and heroic enterprises, for the many pressing daily needs, to give help and encouragement to so many, that you did not realize, in the generous warmth of your humanity, that to the wife of your friend Eugenio that you hardly knew and that the events of the last years had plunged in a total discouragement and without light, your immediate welcome so affectionate and without reserve, besides the material salvation has given back, with your example, also the faith in the human brotherhood.

       For this reason, the sweet image of Mrs. Bice's sweet pale face with its luminous smile has remained and will always remain in my heart, and I want to repeat this moving and eternally grateful memory to her today.

       Yours, Giuliana Artom

[4] https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/pdf-drupal/italy.pdf