Francesco Fausto Nitti (born 2 September 1899 in Pisa – died 28 May 1974, in Rome) was an Italian journalist and fighter against fascism. His father Vincenzo (1871–1957) was an evangelical preacher of the Italian Methodist Church, his mother was Paola Ciari (1870–1932).
Nitti went to Spain in March 1937 and served the Republican faction as a major during the Civil War. After the defeat of his side, he came back to France where he was held in a concentration camp, later being sent on the Nazi Ghost Train in order to be deported to Germany; Nitti (as well as one hundred of the seven hundred prisoners) fled when the train was near the frontier, after removing some planks from the floor of his carriage.
He returned to France and joined the maquis, helping the French Resistance. After rejoining his family at Tolosa, in 1946 he eventually returned to Italy. Taking a variety of roles in anti-fascist associations, he was director of the ANPI publication Patria Indipendente and became a commune councilman in Rome.
Nitti died in Rome on May 28, 1974.
Sources
Francesco Fausto Nitti, Escape: The personal narrative of a political prisoner who was rescued from Lipari, the fascist "Devil's Island". Putnam(1930) ASIN: B0006AKUZY
Francesco Fausto Nitti, Nitti F. F., Le nostre prigioni e la nostra evasione, Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, Napoli, 1946.
Francesco Fausto Nitti, Neofascismo allo specchio, ANPPIA, Roma,1968.
Francesco Fausto Nitti, Chevaux 8 – Hommes 70, Éditions Chantal, Toulouse, 1944. The escape from the train deporting him to Germany.
Francesco Fausto Nitti, Il maggiore è un rosso, Edizioni Avanti! Milano - Roma, 1953. The taking part in Spanish Civil War.
Pietro Ramella, Francesco Fausto Nitti - L'uomo che beffò Hitler e Mussolini, Aracne editrice, Roma, 2007. Biography of F.F. Nitti.