Maddalena Cerasuolo

Maddalena Cerasuolo, also known as Lenuccia (Naples, 2 February 1920 – Naples, 23 October 1999), was an Italian patriot and antifascist partisan.

She is remembered especially for having actively participated with a significant role in the revolt against the Nazi army that occurred in Naples from 27 to 30 September 1943, which is remembered as the Four days of Naples.

Biography

The life of Maddalena, as well as that of many of her peers, was split in two parts by World War II. Nevertheless, the war allowed her to stand out in the ranks of the Resistenza and as a secret agent, working with the United Kingdom.

After the war, she continued to live in Naples, until her death in 1999, after having married with surname Morgese and having two children, Gaetana and Gennaro.

Early years Maddalena's parents belonged to the working class; she was the daughter of Annunziata Capuozzo and Carlo Cerasuolo, who lived in the Stella neighborhood in Naples together with her other five sisters Titina, Maria, Anna, Dora, Rosaria and two brothers Giovanni and Vincenzo.

The father, Carlo, who was working as cook, in the 1910s participated in the Italo-Turkish War and also later in the Resistenza when he was registered and imprisoned several times for acts of resistance against Fascism. During World War II, he was initially employed by the company Ansaldo to manage the canteen. Later he was unemployed, thereby he put up an itinerant stall where he prepared and sold fried pizzas. She volunteered to go alone on the prowl to calculate the size of the German troops and later to speak with Nazi officials, despite the risk of not being accorded Geneva Convention rights, as a military delegate.

Maddalena Cerasuolo participated in the battle against the German troops by defending the Ponte della Sanità with the partisans of the neighborhoods Materdei and Stella, led by her father Carlo Cerasuolo, lieutenant Dino Del Prete and firefighter officer Vinicio Giacomelli. They contributed to keeping open an important entranceway to the city, and also an important branch of the aqueduct that supplied the center of Naples.

For this episode she received a Medal of Military Valor and she was invited to the Royal Palace by General Montgomery, who hugged and kissed her.

The Hillside II mission consisted of passing beyond enemy lines, but it ended with three failed attempts.

Her war service was summarised as follows: The collaboration with the SOE was recognized, besides with economic reimbursement, also with the following acknowledgement:

Popular culture Maddalena Cerasuolo's memory is held in the culture of the city of Naples, since she is quoted in several texts about the Resistenza and the Four days of Naples. Sometimes her story is brought up also in support of the thesis that Neapolitan resistance was not led by spontaneous riots, as is largely believed, but as the result of activity organized locally, within an internationally agreed strategy.

Books In 2014, her daughter Gaetana Morgese published a book dedicated to her biography.

She is quoted in several Italian books, such as the romance Il paradiso dei diavoli by Franco di Mare, 2013, in Le donne erediteranno la terra and in Possa il mio sangue servire by Aldo Cazzullo, 2016 and finally in Il treno dei bambini by Viola Ardone.

Music In 1995, Carlo Faiello wrote lyrics and music of a song dedicated to Maddalena Cerasuolo, entitled "Maddalena", which was interpreted by several artists such as:

Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare (1995) Lina Sastri (2000) Anna Maria Castelli (2010) Neapolis in fabula (2011) Paola Subrizi Quartet (2018)