(ANSA) - PRAGUE - The prestigious headquarters of the Italian Cultural Institute in Prague was the setting for the presentation of the Czech version of the book by Marco Patricelli ''Free the Duce - Gran Sasso 1943, the true story of Operation Quercia'', translated and published from the renowned Grada's publishing house. The meeting organized by Lukas Pokorny, editorial director at Grada, in collaboration with the IIC director Giovanni Sciola, in the presence of the author and with a public reading, is among the most important cultural events recently held in the Czech capital. Patricelli's book has recently been published also in Poland.

From this work, the Rai (Italy's TV) has drawn the docufilm ''Free the Duce'', which was broadcast in the series ''The great history''. Patricelli, the winner of the Acqui History Award, has accurately 'reconstructed' one of the most spectacular operations of the second world war, which took place on September 12, 1943, in Campo Imperatore. Patricelli dismantled the version created by the Nazi propaganda (starting from the false role of Otto Skorzeny, 'liberator' of Mussolini) and all the fanciful post-war tales, such as the alleged massacre during the blitz led by German paratroopers of Major Harald Mors.

(ANSA).