Beneath a Scarlet Sky

The man with the gun asks Pino who sent him. Pino responds truthfully and the man lowers the gun. He introduces himself as Bergstrom, the man Pino is looking for. Bergstrom tells Pino he can take Luigi, Maria, and Ricardo the rest of the way. Before going their separate ways, everyone says goodbye and Luigi gifts Pino a fancy cigar. After, Pino makes his way back to Madesimo to rest at the inn. He is exhausted, but proud of himself for helping people and fighting back against the Nazis. Before reaching Madesimo, Pino stops to rest. From his position he can see four men with guns walking in the Val di Lei. He wonders whether they saw him.

Pino makes his way into Madesimo where he finds Alberto. Alberto tells him that partisans stopped in the village the previous evening. Although the partisans claimed to be fighting the Nazis, they asked a lot of questions about Jews. At the same time, Nicco is standing nearby showing an egg-shaped object to a few other kids. Suddenly, the egg-shaped object explodes, taking off part of Nicco’s face and injuring the other children as well. Pino picks up Nicco and rushes him back to his parents at the inn. Before anything can be done to help Nicco, he convulses and dies. Mr. Conte, the innkeeper, as well as Nicco’s father, asks Pino to fetch Father Re to bless Nicco’s body. Exhausted and upset, Pino makes his way back to Casa Alpina to find Father Re.

Pino returns to Casa Alpina and reports to Father Re. After, Father Re departs for Madesimo and Pino goes inside. Seeing the state of his brother, Mimo helps Pino to the shower to clean Nicco’s blood off of him. Later, Father Re returns and tells Pino he needs to rest because he’ll have two more Jewish people to escort the following day. Over the next few months, Pino helps escort Jewish people to safety almost daily. He also teaches some of the other boys, including Mimo, how to undertake the escort missions so they can help as well. Father Re is happy with their success but worries that the Nazis are becoming suspicious because they’ve been unsuccessful in their hunt for Jewish people. Pino hopes the war will be over soon, but he knows from listening to the radio that the Allies are not making much progress against the German front.  

Winter arrives and after a brief trip home for Christmas, Pino and Mimo spend it at Casa Alpina. One night, Alberto invites Pino to a party at the inn in Madesimo. Pino accepts the invitation. The party is great, and Pino is happy. However, the party is interrupted by a group of men with guns claiming to be partisans. They force everyone to “donate” to their cause, essentially robbing them at gunpoint. The leader of the group spots Pino and tells him that he’s seen him walking along many of the nearby trails. He tells Pino to stay off the trails and then steals his boots and money. Later, Pino learns the man’s name is Tito and that the group only pretends to be partisans when they are really just criminals. On top of everything else, it is a member of Tito’s group who left the grenade that killed Nicco.