Ernesto Colli

Ernesto Colli (born April 1, 1899, dead September 29, 1989) was an Italian priest and historian, known for his works on Lower Novarese.

Biography

Son of Battista and Maria Anna Cusaro, he had three older siblings: Giuseppe, Luisa and Carolina. He was also the cousin of Lino Cassani, with whom he collaborated in the writing of several works.

He was conscripted in 1917, during World War I, and discharged in 1920. This made of him a ragazzo del 99 (boy of '99) – he was later a member of the related national association I Ragazzi del 99.

In 1920 he lost his father, aged 56, to the after-effects of Spanish flu.

He was ordained a priest on July 6, 1924, and celebrated his first mass in Gravellona Lomellina the following Sunday.

He was a member of the Società Storica Novarese (the Novara Historical Society), in whose magazine he published an article on Vespolate castle in 1982.

He died on September 29, 1989, in Galliate and was buried in Nibbiola.

Works Ernesto Colli has published numerous volumes on the history of the towns of the Lower Novarese and Lomellina, with an extremely simple and linear style. Still in Nibbiola, a street bears his name.

Various articles were dedicated to him, including one in the magazine of the National Association I Ragazzi del 99 in 1973 and one in the magazine of the Società Storica Novarese in 2002.