Viterbo – The director of the Nevio Boscariol nursing home and Sister Mariella Giannina of the hospital nuns tell how they transformed a difficult day into a day of celebration – A reportage inside the Villanova reception center intended for fragile people
by Daniele Camilli
Villa Rosa patients in the Villanova reception center
Viterbo – “We evacuated Villa Rosa in an hour.” Nevio Boscariol is the director of the historic nursing home that overlooks the Teverina. A stone’s throw from Porta Fiorentina station and Piazzale Gramsci. Viterbo. In the middle of the red zone, on 7 May, during the clearance operations of the Second World War bomb found in via De Gasperi on 20 March.
“We transformed a difficult day – points out Boscariol – into a trip, into a day of celebration”.
Viterbo – Nevio Boscariol and sister Mariella Giannina
A blockbuster bomb with 1300 kilos of explosives and two thousand kilos of weight. A bomb which, 80 years ago, did not explode by pure chance. 190 patients in total, evacuated in less than an hour. Many, almost all, taken to the reception center organized by the parish of Saints Ilario and Valentino. In Villanova, a neighborhood north of the city of the popes. Parish priest, Don Emanuele Germani, spokesperson for the diocese and director of communications. Also last Tuesday, and again in the parish reception center of Villanova, Bishop Orazio Francesco Piazza wanted to organize a mass for the people who had left their homes to allow the bomb squad to defuse and take away the bomb. And to do it in complete safety for the city and for those who live there every day.
Viterbo – The vehicles used to evacuate Villa Rosa
Also at the mass were the director Boscariol and the mother superior, Sister Mariella Giannina of the hospital nuns. “We evacuated the Villa Rosa nursing home in less than an hour – says Boscariol at the end of the mass -. Thanks to all the operators who made themselves available. At 6.40 in the morning it was already over. All in great tranquility and joy. A day that has to teach us a lot. A teaching, collaboration and solidarity, which we must carry with us every day.” Out of five reception centres, one of which was in the air force spaces, 4 were from the diocese. Specifically, the parishes of Santa Maria della Grotticella alla Mazzetta, Sacro Cuore al Carmine, Santa Barbara and Villanova. The suburbs surrounding the historic center. And that on Tuesday 7 May they hugged him. In the name of values that have to do with humanity.
Viterbo – Nevio Boscariol
“At Villa Rosa – says Sister Mariella – we have three large units. The first is dedicated to psychiatry. A unit divided in turn into two nuclei: rehabilitation and post-acute care, 30 people each. Then there is the RSA, which is also predominantly psychiatric. In this case, the nuclei are 4 nuclei, low and high assistance. Each of them with 20 beds available. Finally, the Hospice, with terminal patients, has 10 places. Finally, we assist 40 patients at home, from the gates of Rome to southern Tuscany.”
Viterbo – Sister Mariella Giannina
“A community of nuns also lives in Villa Rosa – adds Sister Mariella –. Those who are active and a small group of sisters between 80 and 90 years old”. The people evacuated on May 7, with the coordination managed by the prefecture and municipality, were 36 thousand. About half of the city’s population. Almost 500 were welcomed in the centers operated by the parishes. Mainly fragile people and immigrant families. “The patients of Villa Rosa – explains Sister Mariella – were distributed according to pathologies on May 7th. 10 patients went to Belcolle, 10, bedridden, to the military field hospital, with a doctor and 5 nurses, 90 to Villanova, the others to their homes”.
Viterbo – A volunteer from the Villa Rosa nursing home
“In Villanova – underlines Sister Mariella – the people were divided into two rooms: RSA and psychiatry. Here we socialized, played, had lunch. And they all did well.”
Viterbo – The poster that advertised the evacuation of Villa Rosa
Finally, the operators in the field. In Villanova there were 108, plus 13 volunteers from the Villa Rosa Solis association, solidarity and service, and about ten volunteers from the parish of Saints Ilario and Valentino.
Daniele Camilli
Media: Captain Luigi Prencipe: Video – The bomb leaves the red zone – The operations for the transfer of the bomb to Monte Romano: Photo – Bomb in via De Gasperi, bomb squad at work: Video – Photo – Bomba day – The overflight of anti-looting drones over the city of Viterbo: Video – Colonel Gianbasilio Profiti: “Courage and training are needed to defuse”: Video
May 10, 2024
Bomb in via De Gasperi … The articles
- Yesterday’s “Bomba day” transformed in Tobia and San Martino al Cimino into an occasion for movement, culture, leisure and conviviality
- “The choice to uncork the sparkling wine was a normal reaction, because we had been under tension for a month”
- “The evacuation brought out a social undergrowth that we often don’t see”
- Captain Luigi Prencipe: “The bomb in via De Gasperi was particularly dangerous…”
- “Bomb in via De Gasperi, thank you for supporting and informing us citizens with accurate, very useful and real-time news”
- Bomb defused, also the air marshals school on the front line for the evacuation
- The Chief Prefect: “Bomb disposal, we finished three hours early”
- “25 ambulances and 184 volunteers, the impressive commitment of the Italian Red Cross in the evacuation due to the bomb”
- Mayor Chiara Frontini toasts for the defusing of the bomb, enraged and indignant citizens
- “Bomb defusing, precious contribution of the local police of Viterbo and 18 other municipalities”
- “Bomb in via De Gasperi, the evacuation was a school of humanity”
- “The bomb in Via De Gasperi is called Lady Rose, in honor of Santa Rosa”
- Gates reopened – The device is in Monte Romano, three hours to empty it of 1300 kilos of explosives
- Bomb in via De Gasperi, today is evacuation day
- I defuse the war bomb, stop the court hearings but a trial will take place
- War ordnance clearance, today’s information points
- Bomb in via De Gasperi, waste out of the house by midnight
- Bomb in via De Gasperi, waste out of the house by midnight
- Ministry of the Interior: “Unexploded bombs, the underground of our country is still at war…”
- Bomb in via De Gasperi, tomorrow 7 May in the red zone citizens will have to leave their homes by 9am
- Rome-Cesano-Viterbo and Orte-Viterbo railway lines, trains suspended for “Bomba day”
- “Bomb in via De Gasperi, the detailed list of streets to be evacuated must be published”
- “Bomb defuse, somewhat strange warning for gas shutoff”
- Bomb clearance, information leaflets on Saturday and Sunday in Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza Crispi
- Bomba day, sirens to indicate the beginning and end of operations and 24 collection points to reach the reception centers – Here’s where they will be
- “Bomb in via De Gasperi: anti-looting drones, reception centers and parking ban 500 meters from the bomb”
- Bomb in via De Gasperi, drones will fly over the red zone
- “Bomb in via De Gasperi, on 7 May in Belcolle outpatient activities and visits to patients suspended”
- Bomb in via De Gasperi: collection points, reception centers and gas and electricity cuts
- Bomb in via De Gasperi, on 7 May all schools inside and outside the red zone closed
- Bomb in via De Gasperi, the red zone map updated
- Bomb in via De Gasperi, the red zone is reduced
- Sergio Saggini: “The bomb in via De Gasperi was for years one and a half meters from the swimming pool of a villa”
- Bomb-proof barriers in via della Pace…
- “Bomb evacuation via De Gasperi, people’s biggest concern is looting”
- Bomba via De Gasperi, the information points for tomorrow 5 April
- Bomba in via De Gasperi, the questionnaire for those who are in the red zone and need assistance with transport
- Blockbuster bombs, discoveries and evacuations from 2001 to today
- War devices, information points open until 7pm
- Bomb evacuation, via Nazario Sauro and via del Tintoretto are also missing from the municipality’s list
- Bomb evacuation May 7th… Via Papini is also missing from the municipality list
- “Blockbuster bombs”, were used in seven British night bombings between 1943 and 1944
- Bomb evacuation May 7th… via del Riccio is missing from the municipality list
- Bomb in via De Gasperi, everything you need to know in terms of procedures and skills
- Bomb in via De Gasperi, all the streets that will have to be evacuated
- “Bomb in via De Gasperi, evacuating on Tuesday is absurd… it just means putting a city on the cross”
- “May 7 is not a random date, but one studied, considered and shared”
- Giancarlo Martinengo: “The evacuation will begin at 6 and will last until the afternoon, the red zone must be free by 9”
- “Bomb in via De Gasperi: over 400 streets involved in the evacuation, from Santa Barbara to the entire historic center”
- “Bomb in via De Gasperi: evacuation on May 7, involving over 30 thousand people”
- Bomb in via De Gasperi, new meeting today in the prefecture in view of the evacuation
- “Bomb in via De Gasperi, a questionnaire to organize the evacuation of people with fragility”
- “Unexploded bombs, 5 dead and several injured in 2023 alone”
- “In 2007, over 20 thousand people were evacuated for a radius of approximately 2 kilometers and water, gas and electricity were cut off”
- Gennaro Capo: “Bomb in via De Gasperi, the evacuation will only concern a part of the city”
- Chiara Frontini: “Bomb in via De Gasperi, possible evacuation of thousands of people”
- “Bomb in via De Gasperi, it is one of the largest ever found in Italy”
- The bomb found is a 2,000 kilo English “Blockbuster”.
- “Bomb in via De Gasperi, the population will be evacuated”
- Bomb in via De Gasperi, heavy vehicle traffic banned within the security perimeter
- “Bomb in via De Gasperi, if the excavator had taken it from the front it would have been a disaster”
- Bomb with 1300 kilos of TNT in via De Gasperi, possible evacuation of the city within a radius of three kilometers
- World War II bomb in via De Gasperi
