Mario Fiorentini, Italy's most decorated resistance fighter, died at age 103 this week, and his mourners want his legacy to live on.
Gift NYT article here
Mr. Fiorentini in April
Gift NYT article here
Many of the mourners at the wake and funeral of Mario Fiorentini — Italy's most decorated resistance fighter, who died on Tuesday at age 103 — had stories to tell.
They included the gracefully aging 102-year-old partisan, as World War II freedom fighters are known in Italy, who met "Mario" in 1944, when they helped liberate Rome from the Nazi occupiers and never lost touch. And the math teacher in awe of Mr. Fiorentini, who became a math whiz and a professor after the war, for being able to make mathematics fun even for the youngest minds.
And the postal worker who casually befriended Mr. Fiorentini and ended up writing a biography that coincided with his 100th birthday. "He was a teacher of life who changed mine," said the author, Mirko Bettozzi, who still marveled that they had become friends. "I was no one," he said — they had nothing in common, but that was Mario. "Open to meeting all people," and an inspiration to many....
...they spoke of his two great passions: mathematics, "which he studied in a maniacal manner," his son Giancarlo said at Mr. Fiorentini's funeral on Thursday, and his love for his wife, Lucia Ottobrini, who fought alongside him to liberate Rome. They shared 70 years of marriage until her death in 2015.
"He was able to do what he did because of Lucia," their grandson, Suriel Capodacqua, said at the public viewing.
They included the gracefully aging 102-year-old partisan, as World War II freedom fighters are known in Italy, who met "Mario" in 1944, when they helped liberate Rome from the Nazi occupiers and never lost touch. And the math teacher in awe of Mr. Fiorentini, who became a math whiz and a professor after the war, for being able to make mathematics fun even for the youngest minds.
And the postal worker who casually befriended Mr. Fiorentini and ended up writing a biography that coincided with his 100th birthday. "He was a teacher of life who changed mine," said the author, Mirko Bettozzi, who still marveled that they had become friends. "I was no one," he said — they had nothing in common, but that was Mario. "Open to meeting all people," and an inspiration to many....
...they spoke of his two great passions: mathematics, "which he studied in a maniacal manner," his son Giancarlo said at Mr. Fiorentini's funeral on Thursday, and his love for his wife, Lucia Ottobrini, who fought alongside him to liberate Rome. They shared 70 years of marriage until her death in 2015.
"He was able to do what he did because of Lucia," their grandson, Suriel Capodacqua, said at the public viewing.
Mr. Fiorentini in April
