I know how bad the US treated Europe after WWII.

The CIA launched its first regime change op in Italy in 1947 in order to overthrow an election in which the Communists would have on. The Italians have a lingering, grudging respect for the "Chee-ya" as they call it.

I did not live through WWII, but my relatives here in Italy did. My great uncle Alfredo regaled me with stories of his exploits in WWII.

He was drafted into Mussolini's army as a motorcycle courier and sent to the Russian front. Italy sent 125 rail cars full of troops to Russia. Only 5 came back. He was lucky enough to have survived.

While he was in Russia, criss-crossing the steppes on a motorcycle, he came to know the Russian people. You see, he would often have to stop and overnight at some farmhouse while he was making his way across the land.

Alfredo told me that the Russian people - once they realised that he was not German - were wonderful. They offered him food, drink, conversation and succour in general. Alfredo loved the Russians.

So ...upon his return to Italy, Alfredo deserted. He had had enough of Mussolini's fascism and had no desire to fight.

Unfortunately, he was caught by Mussolini's Black Shirts and sent to Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. He almost died there, but eventually the war ended, his captors abandoned the camp, and he was able to make his way home.

When I first came to Italy as a young student, I stayed with Alfredo and his wife. We lived in an old house up in the mountains of Valtellina, and every night Alfredo would tell us stories of his experiences in the war.

There were two basic themes:

1) The Russians are a wonderful, generous and tolerant people, and

2) Fascists and Nazis were really, REALLY bad people.

These two guiding principles form my Weltanschauung to this day. And my writing reflects this.