Saturday October 24 is dead Germano Nicolini, known by the partisan nickname of “Commander Diablo” and for having been one of the main protagonists of the Resistance in Emilia: he would have turned 101 in a month.

At the end of the Second World War he was elected mayor of Correggio (Reggio Emilia) and in 1947 accused, along with two other supporters, of the murder of Don Umberto Pessina. After a first sentence of 22 years in prison, the judicial case would have continued for a long time and it was not until 1994 that Nicolini was definitively acquitted of the charges received. According to various historians and observers, it had been unjustly and for political reasons.

In March 1997, Nicolini received the Silver Medal for Military Valor with this motivation:

An Army officer, after September 8, 1943, he fled from capture and entered partisan training, in defense of the invaded homeland. During the long period of belonging to the formations and in the numerous combat actions, he showed brilliant gifts as an organizer and commander, disdainful of any danger. His work was deemed conspicuous, because it was carried out under difficult conditions, in a flat area constantly controlled by the enemy. Considered one of the best Reggio resistance fighters.