Maria Bergamas

Maria Bergamas (Italian pronunciation: [maˈriːa berɡaˈmas]; 23 January 1867, Gradisca d'Isonzo – 22 December 1953) was an Italian woman who was chosen to represent all Italian mothers who had lost a son during World War I not knowing where he was buried.

Life

Maria Bergamas was born on 23 January 1867 in Gradisca d'Isonzo and lived in Trieste, where she had moved in her youth, and where she resided at the outbreak of World War I.

At the time, both Gradisca d'Isonzo and Trieste were an integral part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so her son Antonio was drafted into the Austrian army. In 1916 Antonio defected, fled to Italy, and volunteered in the 137th Infantry Regiment of the Barletta Brigade under the name of Antonio Bontempelli, a false identity used by the Royal Italian Army to accommodate irredentists among its ranks. While leading an attack of his platoon, during a fight at the foot of Monte Cimone di Tonezza, on 16 June 1916, Antonio was killed by a barrage from a machine gun. After the battle, a note was found in his pocket in which he begged to inform the mayor of San Giovanni al Natisone, the only person aware of his real identity, of his passing. Antonio Bergamas was therefore recognized and buried, along with others who fell in battle, in the wartime cemetery of Marcesina, on the Sette Comuni plateau. However, following intense bombing, the burial site was destroyed, with Bergamas and the others who had been buried alongside him officially declared missing.