'family' time

so when i decided to come to italy, instead of going on a more solitude type trip to say, iceland, it was for two reasons. the first was to hang out with steve and julia in roma, an opportunity that seemed too good to pass up. the second was that my 'aunt' has just passed away and i wanted to come visit the 'family'. now, as you have probably noticed, there are ' ' on the family pronouns. let me explain this.
when i was in italy in 2000, i spoke to my grandmother one day who excitedly exclaimed - we have family there in toscany, you should call them! she gave me a phone number and of course, i called, i think even that evening. that phone call went to marcello, the 'uncle'. he was amazingly friendly on the phone, very warm and when i said i was a parente, a relative, he immediately exclaimed - when can we meet? are you coming to visit?
i was in pisa that very weekend visiting him. he is an amazing person. incredibly warm, sweet and charming, a true character. i stayed at his house and he took me around pisa and explained so much about the history, the life, the university (he is a botanics prof in università di firenze). i greatly enjoyed the weekend. he then told me of his sister in firenze, the 'aunt', and her two kids, 'the cousins'. i also got to meet his son, a 'cousin', who it turns out is a physicist...
ok, so i still haven't explained the ' '. its coming.
i later investigated this side of the family i had never heard of from my mom and my grandmother. so my mom's father's (yes, some would call him my grandfather...) sister (yes, my mom's aunt...) ex husband is a cousin of marcello. to sum it up, my great aunt's ex-husband's family (he is romanian by the way). so i have no sangue, blood, relationship with this 'family'. (see how i am showing off my italiano?? that was like three words i wrote in italian just now!!). yet they have treated me so amazingly well that i can't call them anything but. dana, my mom's aunt's youngest daughter, is very close to everyone in this side, as is her father alfred. i am quite close with dana, i have a really cute thing she wrote me when i was just born, saying i was the cutest baby ever. i mean, how can i not love her after that (and of course, she reads this blog, so..).
all right, so that's the famiglial relations. now, marcello's father was a partigiano, a member of the italian resistence against the germans/fascism. his mom was jewish so they all hid for around a year from 43 to 44 in firenze. he has very strong memories from the period and now that eva, his sister, the aunt, has passed, he has no one to confront them with. so he is writing them down. he told me this one today.
eva was born during this time that they hid, and he and his father risked their lives (he was 7) to go out of their hiding spot and go to the market to buy a basket where she can sleep. he took me to the place where they hid along with two other families, in a church. the picture is below.
quite fascinating. and quite emotional at the end.