The Cathedral of Saint Emidio in Ascoli Piceno contains a surprise gem for anyone interested in the stories of escaped Allied POWs in Italy and their Italian helpers.

Located in the apse of the cathedral’s crypt, a mosaic entitled La carità sui monti (Charity on the Mountains) attests to the advocacy role of the Ascoli church during the war.

Under the wartime leadership of Bishop Ambrogio Squintani, Allied prisoners who escaped from POW camps of central Italy—as well as families of Jews saved from persecution and sent to Ascoli by Pius XII—found refuge in the mountains. In the seclusion of the Apennines, they were cared for and fed by priests and local populations.

The Cathedral of Saint Emidio was named for the patron of the city of Ascoli Piceno. Archaeological evidence uncovered during the restoration of the crypt in 1967 established that the first temple was built as early as the 4th or 5th century on a pre-existing Roman building. At the end of the Second World War, Monsignor Squintani had the walls of the crypt decorated with mosaics designed by Pietro Gaudenzi (1880–1955) depicting events of the war, including the protection of Allied POWs. The mosaics were created by the Vatican Mosaic Studio in 1954.