Originally called the Riva dell’Impero, in reference to the Italian Empire formed by Mussolini, the Riva was built in the 1930s on the site of a long sequence of shipyards.
During World War II, following the disappearance of a German soldier, it was chosen by the Nazi army as a site of reprisal against the partisan forces. The choice of this site also was to be a blatant lesson for the inhabitants of Via Garibaldi, always an anti-fascist area.
On the morning of August 3, 1944, seven political prisoners held in the Santa Maria Maggiore prison were led here and shot in front of 500 inhabitants of the neighborhood previously rounded up and forced to witness the shooting. The corpses were then left exposed for several days.
The body of the missing German soldier was found a few days later, at sea: he had no injuries and had probably fallen into the sea drunk during a night of festivities.
After the conflict ended, the shooting was considered war retaliation and there was no trial.
The victims included:
Aliprando Armellini (24 years old) Vercelli, partisan fighter
Gino Conti (46 years old), animator of the Resistance in Caverzerano
Bruno de Gasperi (20 years) Trento, draft evader
Alfredo (20 years) and Luciano (19 years) Gelmi, Trento, draft evader
Girolamo Guasto (25 years), Agrigento
Alfredo Vivian (36 years old), Venice, partisan military commander.
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