Bomb craters across the street

As I mentioned earlier, our very block here in Varese was bombed by B17s flying from Foggia in Southern Italy, on April 30, 1944. Something about the fighter plane factory down the street.

Our apartment faces a pretty hill, which has a fancy, old-fashioned hotel on the top. One day we discovered to our dismay that many of the large trees, some with trunks a meter in diameter or more, were being chopped down.

We learned from Signore Brunella, the 80-year-old gentleman who was wounded in the bombing, that the trees are locusts (Robinia pseudoacacia, Cal) and that they have a disease. He also told us that the obvious heaving we can see with the trees gone is in fact bomb craters from that day 60 years ago.

By the way, replanting is well under way.