George Custodi

“THREE WITNESSES: A Painter, A Prisoner, A Peasant.” by George Custodi Newly translated Italian war diaries and memoirs; word-for-word accounts presented to the reader in two languages – English and Italian. This is not a history book presentation. It is real life at war - in all its daily horrors and struggles and tragedies. No screenplay could create the drama that was lived by these three men. They were, after all, eyewitnesses. Three witnesses; three perspectives: a painter, a prisoner, and a peasant. The Painter, Livio Orazio Valentini, kept the drawings from that time for the rest of his life. In stark black and white pencil sketches he preserved his memories of the Nazi death camps where he was imprisoned, along with the firsthand horrors of frontline combat. In haunting, unforgettable words and images, he carefully documented what he had witnessed as an infantry corporal in the Italian armed forces during World War II. Later, in his memoirs, he relived it all. The Prisoner, Sub-lieutenant Angelo Luigi Custodi of the Italian army, witnessed the betrayal of his country with sickening disillusionment. Yet he endured Nazi capture and deprivation by focusing his culinary talents on his meager and pitiful food rations. Bartering, scavenging, even selling bits of clothing and treasured possessions, he created artful meals from mere scraps, and planned for the day when he would once again eat abundantly and well with his young bride and their infant son. Before his small, battered, diary came to a sudden, unexplained stop, he carefully documented all of his recipes, woven within his daily agony and observations. The Peasant, farmer Attilio Cerchecci, barely thirty years old, witnessed destruction all around him – every hour, every day, every night. He protected the animals in his care by hiding them in the surrounding fields. He took provisions to the rest of his family and neighbors as they hid in the nearby caves. He felt the impact of the bombs and wept for the devastation and knew the anger of innocence lost. Helplessly, he could only stand and witness as friends and neighbors were murdered without pity or reason. He carefully recorded every name, every horror, for posterity. The Translator, George Custodi, son of one of the witnesses, has lovingly and painstakingly made these three accounts available to the English-speaking world. Beginning with his father’s found diary, some 15 years after his death, this devoted son carefully culled forth the words written a generation earlier. To this, he added a similar documentation written by his friend, the renowned artist, Livio Orazio Valentini of his own personal experiences. When a third such treasure was released to him by a local lifelong resident of Orvieto, Italy, a complete and remarkable story took shape. A story that needed to be shared. These three independent yet intertwined diaries and memoirs illuminate a part of a national betrayal the magnitude of which most of us have little awareness. An epilogue to the book by Dr. Donald M. McKale, professor emeritus at Clemson University, however, gives it scale and meaning through a clearly presented and well-documented historical perspective. Presented simultaneously in English and Italian, this book creates a unique packaging of disparate experiences of the same moment in time. George Custodi, along with his wife Sandi, has been a resident of Aiken since 1987. Through his personal friendship with Livio Valentini, these two men were instrumental in the creation of the “sister city” relationship between Aiken and Orvieto, Italy. Valentini was also a valued and popular lecturer and visiting professor at USCA Aiken prior to his death in 2008. Custodi has dedicated the net proceeds from the sale of this book, to the Valentini scholarship program at USCA Aiken. He will be available at book-signings throughout the coming months. Books may be ordered through: www.ThreeWitnessesBook.com or Amazon.com. Book Price: $19.95 US; €15.00, plus shipping and handling. Published by: The Design Group Press ISBN 978-0-9791277-9-3