Alberto Trionfi

Alberto Trionfi (2 July 1892 – 28 January 1945) was an Italian general during World War II.

Biography

He was born into an aristocratic family, the fourth and last son of Marquis Riccardo Trionfi, owner of ships employed in trade with the Americas during the nineteenth century; he was initiated into a military career like his brothers Giuseppe (who would become an Admiral in the Regia Marina) and Luigi (who would also become a General). On 7 November 1911 he entered the Military Academy of Modena, from which he graduated in February 1913 as a second lieutenant in the grenadiers. He fought in the First Italo-Senussi War (from April 1914 to March 1916, being promoted to lieutenant in July 1915 and to captain in January 1916) and then in the First World War, being wounded three times in the battles on the Karst and earning a Bronze Medal of Military Valor during the Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo. In May 1945 Trionfi's family was wrongly notified by the Italian embassy in Moscow that he was alive and in good health, but on the following month they received a letter of apology with the news of his death. In 1956 Trionfi's remains were excavated and returned to Italy. The general's daughter, Maria Trionfi, managed to identify the SS officer who had ordered the massacre with the help of Simon Wiesenthal and tried to have him brought to justice, but without success.