He did not like to talk about the war, on the contrary, he almost never remembered that period spent between deprivation and suffering. Mario Carpani, 96, who died last night in hospital in Savigliano, was one of the last partisans still alive in the Varaita valley. He was 18 when the Resistance started. The alternative would have been enrollment among the Salò militias. Carpani decided to join the groups of young people who took refuge in the woods and mountains of the Varaita valley and as a nom de guerre “Tarzan”.
After the conflict he found work in the Tessitura Wild, the large factory in Sant’Antonio di Piasco which, until the crisis of the 1970s, employed hundreds of valley dwellers. Reaching retirement, Carpani devoted himself to his family, grandchildren, garden and sport. He loved to ride a bicycle and, as long as his body allowed him, he traveled kilometers along the streets of Piasco and the lower Varaita valley. He leaves his sons Ezio and Claudio, his grandsons Davide, Paolo, Cristina, Francesco, Michele and his great grandchildren. The funeral will take place in the parish of Piasco on Thursday 30 December, at 3 pm.