My Italian Secret: The Forgotten Heroes

Would you risk your life to save a stranger and never talk about it?

My Italian Secret tells the story of sports idol Gino Bartali and other courageous Italians who carried out ingenious schemes to rescue Jews, partisans and refugees from Nazi-occupied Italy.  Gino Bartali is a sports legend; but his most daring triumph came when he risked his life over and over to save Jews threatened by Nazi extermination.

The story of Bartali and the secret network he worked with stands in for the stories of thousands of Italians who risked their lives to save others from capture and death. As an entire continent was engulfed in a genocide which took the lives of most Jews in Nazi occupied Europe (nearly 6 million people), more than 80 percent of Italy's Jews survived. Bartali, like most of the rescuers, never sought recognition or reward. Few of those he helped knew his name or what role he played in their rescue.