The attic of the San Gioacchino church in Rome served as a hiding place for seven months.

Many people were at risk once German troops occupied Rome in 1943. Soldiers in the Italian army were under threat of being brought to Germany to perform forced labor. Jews as well as political dissidents were persecuted. Thousands found refuge in churches. The San Gioacchino church was among the churches that took in refugees. Some men hid in the attic, and helpers from the congregation looked after them. The German occupiers soon started searching churches for people in hiding. Together, the helpers and those in hiding decided to wall up the door to the attic.

The extremely close quarters made life difficult for those walled in. Food and other supplies were passed through a window at night. Those in hiding were also brought in and out through the window. Some stayed there for only a few days, whereas others stayed for months.

Italy had been allied with the German Reich and was a relatively safe country for Jews to live in up to 1943. Although they did suffer increasing marginalization once the anti-Jewish laws were passed in 1938, they were not deported to German extermination camps. This situation changed suddenly in the fall of 1943. On September 8, Italy surrendered to the Allied forces. A short time later, German troops invaded Italy. Jews were then defense-less. The first deportations began later that month.

In late October of 1943, several men suffering persecution let themselves be walled in under the roof of the San Gioacchino church. Their helpers carried food in and waste out through a rose window at night. For those in hiding, this window was the only means of entering or leaving the attic. Letters and messages were passed through a small hole in the vault. Ten to fifteen men hid in this attic simultaneously; almost forty in total hid here, including Italian soldiers who had deserted and eight Jews.

Alluding to the location of the hiding place under the church roof, the network of helpers called themselves the “Air Division of San Gioacchino.” The French nun Marguerite Bernes, the engineer Pietro Lestini, and his daughter Giuliana looked after those in hiding, with the support of Father Antonio Dressino.

In late May of 1944, Dressino feared that the hiding place had been discovered. The wall was torn down and those in hiding found new places to stay until Rome was liberated on June 4, 1944.