Massacro di Concetta Biondi 14 gosto
CONCETTA BIONDI 14 Agosto:
I soldati,slanciatisi per le scale del paese,e nelle case,abusando dell’ora presta,della nudità,del sonno,dello spavento dei cittadini,si abbandonarono “a fatti orrendi,a saccheggi sozzi,arsioni infami”.(G.De Sivo-op.cit.-vol.II).
Uccisero una graziosa fanciulla-Concetta Biondi-la quale,per non essere preda di quegli assalitori inumani,andò a nascondersi in cantina,dietro alcuni botti di vino. Sorpresa,svenne,e la mano assassina colpì a morte il delicato fiore,mentre il vino usciva dalle botti spillato confondendosi col sangue. Fucilarono Nicola Biondi ed uccisero giuseppe Santopietro,dopo avergli strappato dalle robuste braccia il caro bambino.A nulla valsero le sue preghiere,le sue suppliche:voleva vivere pel caro angioletto.
Ad una donna che non voleva cedere ad impuri desideri,vennero strappati gli orecchini. il marito affettuoso,venuto in suo aiuto,fu codardamente ucciso. Quali orrori!….A dare maggiore spavento agli animi dei miseri cittadini,si unì l’incendio del paese e della chiesa.Alcuni manigoldi,entrata nella chiesuola in fiamme,gettarono le ostie consacrate,rubarono i doni e la corona della Madonna,e fuggirono per timore,quasi prevedendo che il tempio crollasse per la loro profanazione.
CONCETTA BIONDI:
Soldiers, raced up the town’s stairs, burst into homes, abusing the sleeping inhabitants. The citizen’s fear was justified. “The conduct was horrible and immoral. The looting and arson is infamous.” (Historian G.De Sivo, The Story of the Two Sicilies, Vol.II).
The story of Concetta Biondi has come to represent the disdain the mercenaries in the Italian army had for all that was good and pure. Women were treated like chattel and passed from man to man. Children were tossed aside like garbage. Husbands and fathers were held by laughing plunderers and forced to watch the mayhem.
As the mauraders plundered the city, Concetta Biondi, fearing the inhuman assailants, hid behand some barrels of wine in her basement. When the young maiden was discovered by the mercenaries, she fainted. Like cats with a mouse they toyed with her. Her father, Nicholas Biondi charged down the steps to save her. He was quickly tied to a chair and forced to watch the debauchery. Finally, with a murderous hand, a soldier killed this delicate flower and tossed her aside. Wine poured out of the barrels mingling with Concetta’s blood. Nicholas Biondi was executed by a firing squad.
Another father, Joseph Santopietro, tried to escape with his baby. He raced from corner to corner trying to avoid the madness. But, he could not escape it. The soldiers tore his dear child from his strong arms. Santopietro begged and prayed that they spare his child. Those prayers were not answered. Both he and his child were killed.
Woman after woman was forced on her back to provide pleasure for a maurader or two. As one woman repeled the soldier’s unclean desires, her earrings were yanked from her ears. As her loving husband came to her aid the charlatans killed him. What horrors!
These stories help us understand the horrors that occurred on August 14, 1861 in Pontelandolfo (BN).