Do you know that I am the last of the Roman Gappisti [members of Gruppi di Azione Patriottica, Groups of Patriotic Resistance] still alive? We were 48, now it's just me.

I associated with writers and poets such as Pratolini and Penna, painters of the calibre of Vedova, Turcato and Guttuso, directors such as Visconti, Petri and Lizzani, who was a friend of my family. We were discussing political and social issues. If culturally Francoism and Hitlerism were two ignoble stories, Italian culture has not been neglected by fascism.

a theatre company that set out to bring the theatre of engagement to environments where it was not known. Usually we went to Argentina, to the Valle Argentina, we went to the suburbs. Once we broke into the Fascist trade union of professionals and artists which was based in via Sicilia. I read a proclamation 'in the name of revolutionary theatre' because we wanted to bring innovation to the stage, we were against the fact that theatre was the realm of the leading actors such as Benassi, Zacconi, Musco or Ricci. I also claim to have put into orbit as a professional actor Vittorio Gassman who at the Mazzini cinema, with our company, was the protagonist of a wonderful interpretation of Pirandello's 'Man with the Flower in his Mouth'.

My resistance, my anti-fascist commitment began in 1938, when, with the promulgation of the racial laws, the infernal machine of anti-Jewish persecutions was triggered. My father was Jewish but did not observe Jewish practices, he was a free thinker like me. My parents decide to leave the religious choice to me and neither circumcised nor baptised me. I, being a bit quixotic, when I heard about the persecutions against the Jews I went to the chief rabbi of Roman Priests and asked to become a Jew. The rabbi told me that I had to be circumcised first and makes me desist, saving me from deportations. Later my elderly parents are captured by the SS but manage to escape.

They wrote that the Germans were noisy when they entered Rome. It's not true. The tanks paraded and the Germans advanced in silence, it looked like a theatre show. Lucia was Alsatian, she came from France and had seen Hitler's entry there. We were in via Zucchelli, dismayed, I take her by the hand and say: 'Nous sommes dans un cul de lampe'. Leonardo Sinisgalli beautifully described our helplessness. I take Lucia and run up to Piazzale Flaminio. We understand that our goal is to find weapons. There was a catastrophe, the army had disbanded. At the time the barracks were quiet with the weapons inside, we are lucky enough to recover a case of German switchblade bombs (Fiorentini laughs), they were perfect, they were not like the Italian ones that made a bit of a bang and could injure a person, these were more powerful. We hide the weapons in our houses, this was our first armament.

I was the deputy commander of the GAPs of Zone IV - the historic centre, Lucia acted with me. In mid-October, after a meeting with Nicli, Salinari and Cortini, we decide to found the central GAPs: particularly daring elements, who had already distinguished themselves in action, had to isolate themselves, detaching themselves from the areas to carry out the most risky and difficult actions. I take over the direction of Antonio Gramsci training. Trombadori, who had the military command, after seeing Lucia and me in action understands that the Gappisti must act in man-woman couples and so three other couples will be formed: Calamandrei and Regard, Bentivegna and Capponi, Borghesi and Musu.

We were the first in Italy to organise urban guerrilla warfare, initially we attacked from above by throwing bombs, instructed by Professor Gesmundo. We hit Colle Oppio and Muro Torto for example. Our goal was to prevent the Germans from feeling themselves masters of Rome, from taking over. I have had more contact with the Red Flag than others because I did not have a narrow vision of the Resistance but I considered it a spontaneous and profound fact. At the level of Gappism, we represented the most historically relevant and also the most enlightening episode. My story is completely different from Pesce's. He saw the war from a revolutionary point of view, as a clash between communism and fascism, it had an anti-capitalist and class struggle component, for us the enemies were above all the Nazis.

The Roman Gappists have neutralised three battalions, the Onore e Combattimento battalion, the Barbarico battalion and the Bozen battalion. The first we attacked in via Tomacelli, with Brixia mortar bombs modified to be thrown by hand. In 'Il Messaggero' there was an article in which it was said that whoever handed over the perpetrators of the attack would receive a reward of 500 thousand lire. Nobody denounced us.

My plan was very clever and shrewd. However, the command decides that the attack should have taken place in via Rasella. I was upset because that was an area I frequented, there I had even had meetings with elements of the Christian left and of the Red Flag. A cell of communist workers was there. Besides, I did not want others to decide our actions. It was never understood exactly where the decision to change the attack mode came from, I suspect there was a mole in the city command. I prepare a new plan with boxes of explosives but the party wanted to strike on 23 March because it was the anniversary of the establishment of the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento. However, the Spezzoni bombs were not ready yet, at which point it was decided to use a cart with explosives.

The Allies had sent us signals, they told us 'hit hard' because we are in serious difficulty on the Anzio front. The action with the cart had more devastating effects than the plan I had devised. When Kappler is informed by the commissioner that the action was carried out by boys and girls, who had attacked with hand grenades and not mortars, he is shocked. He did not think about women, there are no women in the Fosse Ardeatine.

From that moment on, the German troops no longer paraded inside the city and for this reason they could be attacked more easily on the provincial roads.

They didn't want to let people know that there was armed resistance. The Germans have often carried out massacres on defenceless people, not because the partisans attacked.

Lucia will make her wedding dress with the silk of my parachute.

In 1943 we found ourselves in a restaurant in Rome. We sang the French partisan songs with Bentivegna, celebrating the Soviet 7 November as a nation at war against the Germans. It was a great night. In 1944 I was at the San Gottardo, in command of the 52nd Garibaldi Brigade, the one that arrested and shot Mussolini. We had a big party and I sang a partisan song in Russian. There were also Gianna [Giuseppina Tuissi] and Neri [Luigi Canali], the most unhappy and unfortunate partisan couple in Italy, killed by the communist partisans because they were involved in the events in Dongo. In 1945, however, I celebrated in Rome. The Communist Party organised a big party in via Gaeta where I was invited along with all the politicians.

In 1971, without the support of the powerful university figures, I obtained the chair of full professor of higher geometry at the University of Ferrara.

You ask me if happiness is part of my present life. In the relationship with the partner of my life I can say that happiness was achieved; 70 years of a love marriage with Lucia Ottobrini, we held hands until the last day. If I look around, if I reflect on the wars caused by men, on the greed of the rulers of opulent countries, on the disasters caused by a suicidal environmental policy, on what has happened in Asia and especially in Africa in recent decades, then I feel pervaded by a great and fleeting misery. I am not happy but I am serene because I have realised myself as a scholar far above my expectations and also because Lucia and I have always rowed so that the boat of our life and of others would advance. As far as we could, we always helped our neighbour. On this point Lucia and I have nothing to reproach ourselves with, we have won everything we had with the attitude of those who believe that nothing was due to us. Lucia and I approach the end with great serenity.