Blessed don Giovanni Fornasini Martyr

The Angel on a Bicycle

Giovanni Fornasini was a true child of the Bolognese Apennines, a region in which hard work in the woods and a modest yet dignified way of life are deeply ingrained. Despite not finding school particularly easy, it was in Porretta Terme that his vocation grew stronger because of his commitment to parish activities.

In 1931, he began his journey in the seminary, marked by fragile health but also by the determination and stubbornness that his companions would always recall. After his ordination on 28 June 1942, Don Giovanni was entrusted with the parish of Sperticano in Marzabotto. There, during the difficult years of the war, he worked tirelessly to ensure that prayer and charity remained at the very heart of community life.

The hardships of those years only strengthened his care for others, and between 1942 and 1944, Don Giovanni became a beacon of light amidst the darkness of suffering endured by the civilian population under Nazi-Fascist violence. Alongside his fellow priests, Don Ferdinando Casagrande and Don Ubaldo Marchioni, and other religious figures working in the area (Father Elia Comini, Father Martino Capelli, Sister Maria Fiori, and Sister Antonietta Benni), he stood tall as a symbol of hope.

On 13 October 1944, he was martyred, as his work as a priest close to the people in his care had become too “inconvenient”. His beatification ceremony took place on 26 September 2021 at the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna, attended by Don Giovanni’s family, including his niece Caterina, who, as a child, had survived the massacre.

Letters of Iron – Educating for Peace and Beauty 

A collective project dedicated to the victims of the Monte Sole massacres

This installation was created to honour the courage and compassion of a young man, Don Giovanni Fornasini, the parish priest of Sperticano, who dedicated his life to helping the men and women of the Marzabotto community and the surrounding villages, which suffered so much during the Second World War. On his faithful bicycle, he tirelessly travelled the roads and paths of this corner of the world.

“The Angel on a Bicycle”. Young and old people from the area worked together to bring this work to life. Using the tools of traditional trades – the carpenter, the blacksmith, the stonemason, and the farmer – older generations, true masters of their crafts, have passed down the rich heritage of popular culture and the enduring value of farming and artisan traditions.

Faithfulness

Just a few metres from here lies a small clearing where a little dog, who actually lived in these parts before and during the massacres, keeps watch over the fallen. Next to this stands a flowerpot containing a broom plant and a cross, in symbolic remembrance of the first mass graves.
When spring rolls around, the butterflies of Monte Sole dance among the flowers; each autumn, the wind gently caresses these lands, and the rain and snow forever nourish our soil.

*1 photo no. 61 p. 81 *2 photo no. 25 p. 68-69 – pictures taken from Luigi Arbizzani’s book “PRIMA degli “unni” a Marzabotto, Monzuno, Grizzana” – Grafis Edizioni