Introduction
Amidst the upheaval and suffering faced by many populations during the Second World War and in its immediate aftermath, the experience of military occupation also created extraordinarily favourable circumstances for new interpersonal relationships and encounters. Often for the first time, many women across Europe, who for the most part had never left the town in which they were born and had grown up, had the opportunity to meet the ‘other’, which was often perceived as foreign and exotic. This was particularly so in the case of Allied-occupied Italy, which brought Italian women together with troops from across the globe. As a result, stories about romantic and sexual entanglements between American servicemen and Italian women have become a cornerstone of the popular memory of the occupation period in Italy, shaping representations of the occupation era in literature and films. As such, the manifold relationship between American soldiers and the civilian population has often encouraged a highly personalised and overly anecdotal approach to the subject matter. However, the history of daily life under occupation, and the individual experiences that shaped the encounters between occupiers and occupied, still offer an important corrective to dominant narratives about the war by foregrounding social interactions that are rarely captured within official records (Zeiger Reference Zeiger2010, 3).
Following the 1943 invasions of Sicily and the Italian peninsula, the arrival of Allied – and especially American – soldiers was profoundly disruptive and transformative for the local population. Despite months of bitter fighting, hateful propaganda, and draconian army procedures, young GIs, far from home and often in need of human relationships amid a horrific war, bridged language barriers and cultural preconceptions to enter into new relations with the Italians. American soldiers exercised a significant appeal to people accustomed to material hardship and daily privations. As such, they were perceived as having at their disposal unlimited access to food and other resources that were in short supply in Italy. The forced cohabitation between Americans and Italians prompted by the occupation favoured the establishment of multifaceted relationships with local communities, with women often working in Allied facilities as waitresses, seamstresses or laundresses (Barbieri Reference Barbieri, Casa and Preti1999, 344–345).
Sixteen million young Americans – mostly aged 18 to 30 and unmarried – were mobilised between 1942 and 1945 to take part in the Second World War (Berthiaume Shukert and Smith Scibetta Reference Berthiaume Shukert and Scibetta1988, 1–2). As they travelled across the continents and occupied far-flung places, these US troops were often perceived by local populations as a ‘revolutionary’ force, owing to the ways in which they impacted the social, political, economic, and cultural conditions of the areas that fell under their control (Ellwood Reference Ellwood2012a, 274–275). This transformative effect was particularly pronounced for women, who in many instances entered a range of relationships with American soldiers that often fundamentally altered their lives (Ellwood Reference Ellwood2012b, 1–13). According to statistics provided by the Annual Report of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the number of European war brides who entered the United States between 1946 and 1950 amounted to 119,693. Most of them were British, but there were also many French, Belgian, Dutch and German women who came to US as part of this process and 9,728 were Italian (US Department of Justice 1950).
Like many Italians who had migrated to the US in previous decades in search of a better life, some war brides were simply seeking a chance to escape the hardships of war and improve their circumstances (Avagliano and Palmieri Reference Avagliano and Palmieri2024). Overall, however, the bonds established between American soldiers and Italian women were far more complex than suggested by such purely instrumentalist accounts. On the one hand, there were many cases of romantic relationships marked by couples falling in love. On the other hand, sexual encounters between GIs and Italian women were also shaped by coercion and violence and were often the result of women having to engage in prostitution to get by in a time of extreme material hardship (Fantozzi Reference Fantozzi2016, Reference Fantozzi2018). Such relationships, which at the time were framed under the label of ‘fraternisation’, became a prime concern for the American military authorities, who were worried about their detrimental effects and who made considerable efforts to separate many couples. Existing research based on personal accounts of Italian women during the Allied occupation of Italy has, therefore, painted a far more complicated picture through an exploration of the motivations, perceptions and experiences of women who entered relationships with the American occupiers, revealing lasting love stories as well as challenging unions that, ultimately, unravelled (Escolar Reference Escolar2019; Cassamagnaghi Reference Cassamagnaghi2014; Porzio Reference Porzio2011; Barbieri Reference Barbieri, Paticchia and Arbizzani1994, Reference Barbieri, Casa and Preti1999).
Above all, by including female voices, this research demonstrates that women were not simply passive objects of military policies or of soldiers’ ‘desires’ (Goodman Reference Goodman2002; Grant De Pauw Reference Grant De Pauw1998; Randolph Higonnet et al. Reference Randolph Higonnet, Jenson, Michel and Weitz1987). They had their own aspirations and made choices that shaped their lives and future. Spending time with Allied soldiers was a daring choice that often meant exploring a completely unknown world. It also involved having access to both pleasures and dangers that were unacceptable according to the social norms of the local communities to which many women belonged. Italian women who engaged with American soldiers, therefore, did so by stepping outside of the control exercised by their parents, defying their families, claiming their independence, and thus taking an important step towards achieving a form of personal autonomy (Cassamagnaghi Reference Cassamagnaghi2014, 13–4).
This article builds on existing research on gender encounters and intercultural marriages in wartime to investigate the experiences of Italian women who married American soldiers during the Allied occupation of Italy. It analyses how these complex relationships were shaped by love, coercion, and the urgent demands of survival during war and occupation. In doing so, it combines the subjective perceptions of Italian women’s encounters with GIs – drawn from oral history interviews, memoirs, and literary sources – with extensive archival research on US Army regulations, marriage applications, and intelligence reports held at the US National Archives in College Park, Maryland,Footnote 1 combined with contemporary sources such as magazines and newspapers. Oral histories form an integral part of the corpus of sources used in this article. Their value lies in the possibility of giving voice to individuals who are often excluded or marginalised in ‘traditional’ written documentation, thereby providing insight not only into historical events but also into the eyewitness’s personal experience and perception of those events. As it is well known, what emerges from an interview largely depends on what the interviewer expresses in the form of questions and other stimuli, and is also shaped by their own disposition and attitude (Portelli Reference Portelli2007, 6–21). Avoiding a rigid interview structure that would risk ‘caging’ the interviewee’s storytelling, I allowed women to speak freely before posing relevant questions about unanswered and unresolved issues.
How did Italian women perceive and remember their encounters with GIs? In what ways did US Army regulations affect their relationships with American soldiers? And how did they navigate prejudice from both the US Army and their own communities? By addressing these questions, the article presents a multifaceted and more nuanced portrayal of wartime and postwar marriages that challenges overly simplistic and romanticising accounts.
The ‘problem of marriages’
In October 1943, a few months after the Allied landing in Sicily, the US military faced a major challenge: a growing number of soldiers were asking to marry local women. The question of marriages between soldiers and local women was not a novel one: it had already arisen after the arrival of American troops in England (Friedman Reference Friedman2007; Wharton Reference Wharton2005, Reference Wharton1987; Cracknell Long Reference Cracknell Long1988) and in North Africa and it would later also recur during the liberation and occupation of France (Roberts Reference Roberts2014; Kaiser Reference Kaiser2004, Reference Kaiser2008), Belgium and Germany (Carruthers Reference Carruthers2006, 111–131; Höhn Reference Höhn2002; Kleinschmidt Reference Kleinschmidt1997).
While during the period of hostilities, the US General Staff did not look favourably upon marriages contracted abroad, marriage was at the same time considered ‘a personal right and an individual privilege’.Footnote 2 Still, the military leadership thought that marriages between military personnel and civilian aliens in occupied territories, were often based upon circumstances that tended to differ greatly from ‘normal’ conditions and were therefore to be reined in as much as possible. As such, US military leaders and government officials doubted the good faith of the brides and generally regarded foreign women as dangerous adventurers who were eager to take advantage of young and naïve American boys. The separations dictated by the redeployment of troops after a marriage, coupled with the short period of acquaintance between the spouses, as well as the cultural and social differences between partners, were seen as factors that undermined from the very beginning the long-term stability of these unions. Above all, US officers thought that many of these marriages would not survive the end of hostilities and would collapse once soldiers and their wives moved to the United States.Footnote 3 As a result of these considerations, as early as July 1942, the War Department had introduced significant restrictions on marriages: ‘No serviceman serving in any foreign country or possession’ could marry ‘without the approval of the commanding officer of the US Armed Forces stationed in the country’.Footnote 4 Such an authorisation to marry would be granted only if such a marriage did not bring ‘discredit to the military institution’.Footnote 5 Marriages were henceforth only possible after a thorough investigation of the suitability of the bride-to-be and required the approval of a serviceman’s superiors. Disregarding these regulations incurred the risk of ending up before a court-martial.Footnote 6
These norms gave extensive power to military commanders in establishing the suitability of individuals for marriage. At the same time, however, it was clear that the handling of the issue did not just have repercussions on the military, but that it also had highly complex political and social implications (Zeiger Reference Zeiger2010, 73). Given the extensive nature of the Second World War, the phenomenon had in fact taken on a global character, causing considerable concern within the American command. Senior officials consequently felt that it was necessary to make additional provisions to discourage this type of union. To deter those who were only seeking a visa to America, instructions were issued that reiterated that a foreigner who married an American citizen would not automatically acquire citizenship by virtue of marriage alone. Still, it was expected that the brides would not fall under the immigration quotas but would be entitled to faster naturalisation procedures. A non-American wife could be denied entry into the United States, however, if the authorities determined that she would be a burden to the community. Furthermore, for the duration of the conflict and for the six months afterwards, the transport of persons accompanying military personnel from the theatre of war to the United States would not be covered by government expenses, meaning that a couple had to mobilise their own financial resources. The special facilities provided for soldiers’ families, such as housing or access to military outlets, would also be discontinued six months after the end of the conflict. Finally, throughout the duration of the war, soldiers would be subject to constant transfers, according to the needs of the service, and no exceptions would be considered.Footnote 7
In 1944, the US Army commissioned a study on the ‘problem of marriages’ in Europe.Footnote 8 As the study demonstrated, the phenomenon of marriages between US troops and local women was extremely widespread. After only two years of war, the number of unions with local women had reached such levels that the Army staff felt alarmed, not least because of a range of culturalist and at times racist preconceptions. In some cases, US soldiers were stationed in countries that had a language and culture that was perceived to be similar to that of the United States, such as in Great Britain, which explain why the greatest number of marriages – more than 35,000 – took place there. In other cases, however, the host society was seen as being culturally fundamentally different from that of the US. If all the prospective alien wives of American soldiers were considered with a certain degree of suspicion by the American military authorities, the situation was considerably pronounced in the case of Italian women for two reasons. First, Italian immigrants to the United States had historically held a very low social status within American society and enjoyed a worse reputation than Northern European immigrants. For many Americans at the time, immigrants from southern Europe were ‘genetically’ inferior to those from the north. Many racist prejudices weighed heavily against Italians, who were considered prone to violence and crime (Sanfilippo Reference Sanfilippo2011; Luconi Reference Luconi2011, Reference Luconi2016). Second, from a political point of view, the Italians had a ‘borderline’ status: following the 8 September 1943 armistice they were no longer enemies, nor formal allies – but rather ‘co-belligerents’ that many Allied soldiers struggled to trust (Gribaudi Reference Gribaudi2005). As an occupied country, Italy was subject to different policies from those applied in the Allied countries and this condition was evident in the treatment of local women, who were often stigmatised by American officers as prostitutes and carriers of venereal diseases. Many Americans were also suspicious of Italy’s all too rapid conversion to Allied democracy. After landing in Salerno, war correspondent Ernie Pyle, for example, observed that US soldiers were often annoyed by the behaviour of the Italians and would not trust them: they considered them essentially kind and friendly, but also weak and unreliable. Linguistic differences probably influenced these judgments and prejudices, but the American GIs of Italian origin also expressed, in various circumstances, hostility. As one of them reported: ‘I don’t want to have anything to do with them. The exact moment they understand that I speak Italian, they start telling me some tearful story about how poor and hungry they are … This talk makes me sick. Let them go to hell. I don’t like them’ (Pyle Reference Pyle2001, 127). However, Pyle also noted that the Americans were not able to maintain this hostile attitude for long. Through personal engagement, they began to see them differently, as reflected in the diverse romantic and sexual relationships between American servicemen and local Italian women.
Between American bureaucracy and Italian traditions
The Americans’ gradual change in attitudes and perceptions did not, however, do away with the considerable concerns that the US military had towards marriages between soldiers and Italian women. American authorities consequently examined each marriage request individually. They carefully investigated aspects such as the character and reputation of the bride-to-be and the financial capabilities of the groom, while assessing the extent to which the engagement period had been ‘appropriate’: their stated objective was to avoid hasty unions that might later be regretted.Footnote 9 All of this meant that the procedure to apply for marriage authorisation was lengthy and complicated, and required US servicemen to provide the military authorities with many documents. Several soldiers, struggling with this intricate bureaucratic process, remember this moment as ‘one of the most difficult and frustrating periods of my life’ (Pettey Reference Pettey2001, 413). In addition, each marriage application had to be accompanied by the results of a syphilis test, which both prospective spouses had to undergo. If the bride and groom were underage, a letter of consent, signed by the parents or legal guardians, was required.Footnote 10 If it was not their first marriage, they had to present a copy of the divorce or annulment documents or the death certificate of the previous spouse. Any certificate drawn up in a foreign language had to be translated into English.Footnote 11
US authorities were particularly interested in the brides-to-be’s political conduct under Fascism.Footnote 12 As an examination of the personal files of the future Italian brides demonstrates, most of them (especially those with a higher level of education or those who held public offices) had been members of Fascist organisations, which could, in theory, put a quick end to the marriage request. However, if the women could prove that they had joined Fascist organisations only for study or work reasons and if they were favourably disposed towards the Allied nations, their applications could still be approved.Footnote 13
Further complications arose from the couples’ differing ethnicities. Although Fascist racial laws in Italy had been abolished and interracial marriages permitted, at least 29 US states still prohibited them. Under these laws, having just one-eighth ‘non-Caucasian’ ancestry classified a person as ‘coloured’, and children from such unions were automatically deemed illegitimate. As a result, marriages contracted in Italy could be considered invalid in several states (Cassamagnaghi Reference Cassamagnaghi2014, 123–160; Kaiser Reference Kaiser2008, xlviii–l).Footnote 14
In Italy too, such relationships with African American soldiers attracted considerable scepticism and, sometimes, outright opposition. Nara Beltramini, for example, had not turned 16 yet when she met and secretly started to see John Parker, an African American corporal. As in most such intercultural relationships, John spoke very little Italian while Nara could speak no English at all – ‘Maybe, if we had understood each other, we wouldn’t have gotten married’, Nara recalled (Beltramini Parker Reference Beltramini Parker2010). The idyllic phase of their relationship did not last long: someone reported to her parents that they had seen her talking to a black American soldier. Predictably, her mother did not take the matter well: she was afraid of a scandal and forbade Nara to leave the house. However, John discovered where she lived, and he decided to show up at the Beltraminis’ place. When her mother realised who the young man in uniform was, she started yelling to chase him away, and Nara thought that her mother would kill her. At that point, Nara’s father intervened: he tried to calm his wife and then invited John to come in, and, after getting to know him better, he considered the soldier a decent man with good intentions.
Other inter-racial relationships were fiercely opposed, such as that of Silvana Galli, a 16-year-old girl from Camaiore, who had fallen in love with an African American soldier. The Allied command did everything in its power to discourage the union, confronting the couple with the difficulties they would have. When Silvana got pregnant, the soldier was transferred, while her father sent her away from home (Spose di guerra 2016). An aunt hosted her until she gave birth, but, at the hospital, the staff had received precise instructions to take the baby away from her immediately. Although the child’s father could no longer be traced, Silvana refused to be separated from her son. Despite her young age, with remarkable determination, she fought to keep him until even her father relented, allowing her to raise the baby (Galli Reference Galli2012).
The case-by-case investigations that the US authorities initiated after each marriage request resulted in dossiers full of personal and confidential information. They were conducted with the help of the local public security offices and often entailed the interrogation of parish priests, neighbours and, very often, the porter of the building where a bride lived. If her moral, civil and political conduct was impeccable, and if she lived at home with her parents and even knew some English, she had a good chance of having her application approved.Footnote 15 If, on the other hand, a woman’s conduct was considered questionable because, for example, ‘she was in habit of entertaining German troops at her home … She has been engaged to two Italians, was then often in the company of a Canadian soldier and later with a member of the US Force’,Footnote 16 there was very little hope. Such a track record was, in fact, considered as evidence for a woman’s low moral standards and the American command would not allow one of its own to ‘ruin his life’.Footnote 17
Negative stereotypes and strict moral codes were similarly present within Italian society. Thus, in many Italian communities, it was important for a ‘respectable girl’ to follow the rules, comply with conventions, and get officially engaged. If the war had made women more ready to challenge the authority of the family, the attachment to pre-existing notions of morality was still strong, as John Horne Burns well captured with the character of Giulia, in his book The Gallery, a collection of stories based in occupied Naples and first published in 1947 (Burns 1964, 117–156; Escolar Reference Escolar2019, 102–107). In Burns’s account, many Italian mothers had essentially secluded their daughters at home, fearing something bad would happen to them. Giulia’s life, by contrast, had remained quite free: she could go out, work at the Peninsular Base Section Club, and earn some money. Still, when she started a relationship with an American soldier, she had to participate in the rite of an official engagement ‘at home’, with the whole family involved.
The description of the formal courtship and presentation to relatives provides useful insights into the Italian society of the time, where appearance was as important as substance and adhering to rituals and conventions was essential to mark the boundary between ‘reputable’ women and those who started relationships with soldiers just to obtain personal favours and material benefits. At the same time, unmarried couples were expected to comply with established rules.
There was also a widespread resentment within Italian society towards such relationships. During the occupation, episodes of conflict between Italian men and foreign troops were common, while women were also often attacked for having a relationship with an Allied soldier. In one case, for instance, Italians stole an American soldier’s jeep – while the trooper was visiting his fiancée – as a form of ‘retaliation’: ‘Of all the young men here, why did she have to marry an American?’ was a common sentiment at the time (Petrucci Piccirilli Reference Petrucci Piccirilli2007). In many instances, however, the attitude towards the Americans was far more aggressive, even violent.Footnote 18 Generally, the motivations of those who committed such acts were not political, but rather an expression of jealousy or of their relative position of powerlessness during the occupation period. That the attacks were not perceived to be politically motivated seemed to reassure the police and the Allied command. Still, the situation was often terrifying for women involved, who were publicly humiliated and sometimes even had their hair cut off. The ‘ritual’ of cutting off women’s hair aimed at emphasising the guilt of those who had fraternised with the enemy and was a common practice throughout occupied Italy (Porzio Reference Porzio2011, 118–141) and Europe (Virgili Reference Virgili2002; Brossat Reference Brossat1992). Depriving women of their hair meant, symbolically, depriving them of their femininity, while meting out a form of ‘exemplary’ punishment that would expose them to public scorn for a long time. In Italy, such actions happened mainly in the Centre-North, as punishment for those who had flirted with Fascists and Nazis, had cooperated with them, such as by denouncing partisans and deserters, or who had been part of the Italian Social Republic. The cases that occurred in Central-Southern Italy were certainly more ambiguous: here, instead, it was those who fraternised with Anglo-American troops who were attacked.
The numerous difficulties and societal backlash that many such couples faced prompt the question of what factors motivated them to try and persevere with their plan to get married. For one, alongside more material reasons, there were the usual factors of love and romance. This was, for example, the case of Rita Lucarelli, who met Captain Edmund Armstrong on 5 June 1944, the day after the Allies entered Rome (Armstrong Reference Armstrong2006). As people celebrated liberation, Rita was in front of her house on the Via Appia Nuova, cheering the Americans as they drove past. Rita was the third of the Lucarelli daughters, who were all welcoming the Allies together when a jeep stopped and its Italian American driver asked them for directions, while the passenger, Captain Armstrong, was really struck by Rita. So, Edmund returned to the same spot the following days until he finally met her again. Despite the language barrier, they began a secret courtship – aided by her sisters – since her father forbade Rita from dating an American officer: decent girls, so the assumption was, did not flirt with soldiers. Ultimately, Edmund received a marching order forcing him to leave Rome.
Although they often did not speak the language of their parents or grandparents well, Italian American servicemen played a distinctive part in the history of GIs’ encounters with Italian women. They were, in fact, far more willing to engage with Italian women than their fellow soldiers.Footnote 19 This was aided by the fact that, given that not many among the US authorities had a real knowledge of Italy or spoke the language, the War Department had decided to send to Italy many first or second-generation Italian Americans to carry out military, government, and intelligence duties. They believed that for these men it would be much easier to adjust to Italian customs (Pretelli and Fusi Reference Pretelli and Fusi2023).
Mariano D’Angelo was one such American soldier of Sicilian origin stationed in Naples. Wandering around the city, he heard a female voice singing and found himself in front of Anna Cappadano’s house (D’Angelo Reference D’Angelo2002, Reference D’Angelo2006). She was a woman in her twenties, working as a seamstress to support herself and her family. At first, when she realised that someone was staring at her window, she hid behind a curtain, then tried to chase the soldier away, but Mariano, who spoke a little Italian, reassured her. He was fascinated by this woman and hoped to meet her again by telling her that he had some uniforms that needed to be fitted. A few days later, alongside his clothes he also brought some coffee and sugar as gifts. As one of his comrades suggested: ‘There are few things worth their weight in gold on the black market in this city. One is booze and the other is coffee’ (D’Angelo Reference D’Angelo2002, 363). This impressed Anna’s mother greatly: there had not been any real coffee in the house for years.
Similarly, Gino Piccirilli, an Italian American soldier, arrived in Italy when the European war was already over and was 19 when he married an Italian woman. He had landed in Naples and was assigned to Livorno, where his knowledge of Italian and typing skills were considered useful. In Livorno, while visiting an acquaintance, he met the girl who would become his wife. Marisa Petrucci was only 14 but had studied English for several years, as her father expected an Allied victory and hoped she could work as an interpreter during the occupation. Her friends encouraged her to meet ‘the American’ to test her English. Gino began visiting more frequently, and Marisa’s mother soon noticed their closeness and began to worry. Marisa recalled that they were not allowed to be alone: ‘We were sitting on a sofa with the door closed and my sister’s eye glued to the keyhole. I used to say to my sister: “Lina, I see your eye!” And she replied that it wasn’t true, that she wasn’t there, but I could see her, because the keyhole was big’ (Petrucci Piccirilli Reference Petrucci Piccirilli2007, 2016). After two months of ‘dating’, Gino asked to speak to her father about marriage. Mr Petrucci tried to dissuade him, arguing that Marisa, though mature looking, was too young and should finish school first. Gino insisted: ‘If I come back in four or five years, I won’t find Marisa anymore! Or I find her already married’ (Petrucci Reference Petrucci Piccirilli2007, 2016). Determined, he called his mother in the US to sign the necessary documents, as he was still legally underage. After waiting more than a week to get the phone line to make the call to the US, his mother asked if he was drunk. Gino threatened that if she refused to consent to the marriage, he would simply prolong his stay in Italy and marry Marisa once of age (Petrucci Reference Petrucci Piccirilli2007).
These cases illustrate that, despite the objections of the US General Staff and the reservations of their families, thousands of couples persisted in pursuing their intentions, refusing to be deterred by the obstacles they encountered.
Marrying a GI: a long journey home
After the war, while American women were often reproached by public opinion and media in the US for their excessive materialism and love of luxury, foreign brides were generally depicted as the opposite example, portrayed as ideal wives, quiet and fully satisfied with what their husbands could offer them. American soldiers were attracted by the fact that their foreign girlfriends or wives were ‘old-fashioned’ or ‘more feminine’ – more tied to traditional family roles – than their American peers (Kent Reference Kent1945). In some cases, war brides, who had experienced first-hand the tragedies of a conflict in their own country, could also be closer to their emotionally and physically exhausted partners who were returning from the war. Many of these intercultural couples were able to build long-term relationships, but, unsurprisingly, some of these marriages turned out to be tragic mistakes, causing constant regret: after all, there were objective differences that were likely to emerge sooner or later.
Marisa and Gino’s wedding was celebrated in Livorno in the spring of 1947, since he was still waiting for transportation to the US. The church was decorated with white flowers, and Marisa wore a silk dress that, due to limited fabric, was slightly tight. Her veil resembled that of a communicant rather than a bride and, lacking proper stockings, she wore simple white cotton socks. At the end of the ceremony, many soldiers joined the party. Although army cooks had prepared and offered the cake as a wedding gift, the food was not enough. Marisa’s mother diluted the chocolate with water and broke up each biscuit into two. Then, Mrs Petrucci took all her daughter’s girlfriends to a nearby house: there were too many soldiers around and she did not feel comfortable having so many women in their presence. The Americans were disappointed, and according to Marisa, wondered: ‘Where are the girls?’ (Petrucci Reference Petrucci Piccirilli2007).
Captain Edmund Armstrong, meanwhile, had left Rita to return to the United States, but they continued to exchange letters for almost two years. Her father urged her to forget him, suggesting he might never come back and that she would be better off with a suitable Italian young man. Then, unexpectedly, Edmund returned. Her father still refused consent, a significant obstacle since Rita was underage. Confident in her feelings, she one day left home with only a dress, claiming she was going to the laundry, and did not return, fleeing with Edmund to Trieste, where he was stationed. Outraged, her father reported Captain Armstrong to the Allied authorities for corruption of a minor. The captain faced a court-martial but was acquitted, as Rita testified that she loved him and had left of her own free will. Ultimately, confronted with her determination – and the fact that she was pregnant with their first daughter – her father relented and gave his consent (Armstrong Reference Armstrong2006).
The Italian American soldier Mariano D’Angelo, finally, realised that the only way to stay with Anna would be to marry her. He discussed the matter with his superior, who replied discouragingly: ‘It’s a big pain in the ass. You have to get approvals of all kinds of big brass in Army Command. Are you sure you want to do this?’ Determined, Mariano proposed to Anna, and she accepted – but her sister warned her of what such a decision would entail: did she love him enough to leave Naples and her family forever? ‘You will be alone … in a place you know nothing about. How much do you really know about Mariano?’ Anna was adamant about pursuing her plan and immediately started organising the wedding, sewing her own wedding dress. Fabric was scarce even at the black market, but a comrade procured a parachute, whose silk allowed her to make the dress she desired. The couple married in Bagnoli in July 1944. The priest reminded them – and especially Anna – that their choice would carry consequences: ‘You and Mariano have made this courageous decision together, but only you, Anna, will have to leave one life and start another’ (D’Angelo Reference D’Angelo2002, 402, 415, 510).
The priest’s words highlighted a key challenge for marriages formed during the occupation: marrying an American soldier was one thing, but moving to the US was another. Restrictive immigration quotas and limited means to cross the Atlantic prevented many Italian women – often with young children – from joining their husbands immediately. This changed on 28 December 1945, when the US Congress passed the War Bride Act, granting foreign wives and minor children of American servicemen special entry to the US, regardless of existing quotas (Good Housekeeping 2006, 6; Salinsbury Reference Salinsbury1982, 305–306).
The first systematic government investigation about foreign wives and minor children in the Italian theatre of operations was carried out in November 1945: the American authorities could no longer underestimate the emergency of dealing with the family members of American soldiers waiting for passage to the US. The first large-scale embarcations of war brides and their children were scheduled for early 1946, all departing from Naples; only later were ships organised from Livorno and Genoa. This meant that all eligible women initially had to converge on Naples. With the support of the American Red Cross, a residence centre for war brides was established there, but applications soon exceeded capacity. To be able to take up lodgings in the centre, one had to have passed a preliminary assessment of suitability for transfer to the US and be in possession of the resulting pass. While an estimated 1,700 Italian war brides sought entry, the centre could accommodate only 160, later expanded to 200. US soldiers and officers who had dependents in Italy were therefore invited to assist them directly and provide for their material needs, even if they were still with their families.Footnote 20
The experience of women and children waiting to leave for the US is well captured by a survey conducted in February 1946, coinciding with the departure of the first 412 war brides aboard the USAHS Algonquin, a former hospital ship converted for passenger transport.Footnote 21 The US authorities considered the morale and health of both the servicemen and civilians who depended on them to be of the utmost importance.Footnote 22 They consequently opened training and learning courses in Italy reserved for brides awaiting departure, such as at the Continental EM Club in Naples and at the Hotel Esplanade in Viareggio. The subjects covered focused on how to raise children, manage a household equipped with modern appliances – generally still unknown in Italy – and how to cook certain foods (Barbieri Reference Barbieri, Casa and Preti1999, 349). The courses also included English lessons, while brides were provided with a map showing where their future homes would be located.
At the same time, while waiting to board a ship to the US, numerous problems emerged. In several cases, it was found that women’s documents were incomplete, and the boarding list was modified up to the very last moment. These changes – and the inevitable contradictory information provided by the authorities – created much confusion and led the brides to panic. Soon enough, rumours became widespread that one could pay to add names to the passenger lists or edit them. Such rumours were never officially confirmed, but it was undeniable that the continuous changes, even a few days before departure, provided fertile ground for a general discontent amongst the many families waiting to start their long trip.
The War Department regarded the proper treatment of these women as crucial, believing that this would shape decisively how they behaved in the future as prospective US citizens and mothers of American children. Its stated aim was to place the women and soldiers’ children in the calmest possible state of mind before a difficult and uncertain journey.Footnote 23 Stars and Stripes (9 March 1946), the popular troops magazine, reassured war brides: ‘Relax Girls, US Will Treat You Right’. It was normal for young women, leaving their country for the first time, to be scared, but the publication assured them that they should not worry: ‘Going to the States is a good idea, and the way you will be treated when you get there will convince you that you did all right in marrying a Yank and going home to live with his folks’. There were many causes for concern: the long journey alone, meeting in-laws for the first time, and knowing no Americans other than their husband. For most women, the only certainty was the destination address written on a form. To ease their transition, Red Cross staff welcomed the women on arrival in the US, while each ship carried surgeons, nurses, army doctors, a Women’s Army Corps lieutenant, and stewardesses.Footnote 24
At the same time, however, a considerable number of war brides remained in Italy with no means of reaching the US. Most lived in poverty, without support or news from husbands who had already been demobilised. Since the procedures for transporting the war brides had to be initiated and pursued by the American spouse, the women were entirely dependent on their husbands. Under US law, a person of foreign nationality, including war brides, could not enter the country on their own initiative, even if legally married to an American citizen. Brides for whom a husband had not requested transportation could therefore not be admitted to the US. According to US registers, in November 1946, there were 255 wives, with 55 children, for whom no request for embarkation had been submitted, with at least 200 more brides likely facing the same situation.Footnote 25 This left these women in a highly precarious position. No agency was responsible for their care, and under Italian law a woman who married a foreigner assumed her husband’s citizenship, releasing the Italian government from responsibility. The problem was compounded by the fact that, in order to survive, many women began to draw on the black market, reselling what they had been able to purchase at military outlets. It was also estimated that over 90 per cent of the husbands of these abandoned brides were no longer in military service, which complicated the possibility of tracking them down. The general command decided to collate the information held by the War Department and the Red Cross in the hope of achieving results. Every effort was to be made to provide abandoned brides with as much assistance as was possible under existing regulations.Footnote 26 In many cases, this meant little more than informing them of their legal status and helping them return to their families.
Unsurprisingly, some marriages of brides who had reached the US ended early. Nevertheless, many Italian women chose to stay: their lives were now there, particularly if they had children or found work that offered a level of independence and living standards unattainable in Italy. Divorce was also legally impossible in Italy at the time, making the US a more viable option. Some women mastered English, completed their studies, and began a new life in a new country.
Conclusions
The initial distrust – perhaps not entirely unjustified – of the Allied General Staff towards the Italian population did not prevent Italian women and American soldiers from getting married and staying together for a long time. The stories of these couples developed against the shared backdrop of the Allied occupation of Italy. Yet each marriage had its own specific characteristics, shaped by the social circumstances of the couple: their social status, command of each other’s language, education, family background and support, areas of origin, their often very young age, and individual attitudes.
Examining oral history interviews and lesser-known memoirs, many of which have been self-published, has brought to light various dimensions of these relationships that are only poorly captured in government records. Interviewing women eyewitnesses on their wartime encounters with GIs often sparked surprise, followed by the same recurring question: ‘Do you really want to talk about those old stories? There is nothing interesting. I was simply living my life’. Curiously enough, this is also the objection raised by several women who took part in the Resistance in Italy, ready to take a step back and return to their everyday life at the end of the war (Cairoli Reference Cairoli2006, 271–273). An entire generation of women, accustomed to fulfilling imposed gender roles under the guise of ‘duty’, considered their own trajectories during the war and the Allied occupation period to have been of no consequence. Yet, to overlook their distinctive experiences would be to ignore one of the central social dynamics of the era.
The personal stories of Italian war brides offer a valuable lens through which to examine the Allied occupation of Italy while also contributing to broadening gender history approaches to war and occupation. I had the opportunity to record the memories of these women, most of them in their late eighties, while it was still possible to document their testimonies firsthand. They lived through a unique experience, challenged many of the social conventions imposed upon them, and demonstrated a considerable degree of agency by choosing to leave for an unfamiliar country, facing considerable personal risks. They did so without any guarantee of reuniting with their families or ever returning to Italy at a time when a transatlantic journey often represented a significant obstacle. In making these choices, they contributed to cementing the long-term legacy of the Allied occupation of Italy and became key actors in the process of transnational exchange that characterised the global mid-twentieth century.
Competing interests
The author declares none.
Silvia Cassamagnaghi is Associate Professor at the University of Milan. Her research interests include Italian American war weddings and the influence of the US on postwar Italy. Among her publications are Operazione Spose di guerra. Storie d’amore e di emigrazione (Feltrinelli, 2014), and Quando lo zio Sam volle anche loro. Hollywood, le donne e la Seconda guerra mondiale (Mimesis, 2011).
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