Groppo, Riolunato

Groppo is both an hamlet and a territory. The territory boundaries are: the Scoltenna creek (south-east); the Palagano territory, beyond the Giardini and Vandelli routes (north-west); the Pievepelago territory (south-west) and Roncombrellaro (north-east). As a territory, it includes Cabonargi and many other small inhabited areas and it is about 3 km² wide.

During the 15th century, Groppo was already a municipality, endowed with its own statutes.[1] It became part of the municipality of Riolunato quite recently; in 1845 it was still part of the Pievepelago community, one of the five communities into which Frignano was divided (the others were Pavullo, Fanano, Sestola and Fiumalbo).[2] In 1786–1787, a great landslide affected the town, reaching as far as the Scoltenna creek.

Notable natives of Groppo include Father Claudio Fini, famous in the second half of the sixteenth century as a theologian and preacher, a witness to the holiness of St. Aloysius Gonzaga;[3] Saverio Cabonargi, a follower of Mazzini, who inspired the participation of the Frignanese mountain in the 1831 Modena revolution and Luigi Cabonargi (died 1852), a doctor in Rome and a friend of Stendhal.[4]

During the final phase of the Second World War, the territory of Groppo was just north of the Gothic Line; during that time an American reconnaissance aircraft crashed in the heights near the village: the body of the pilot, Paul M. Thorngren, from Boone, Iowa, was temporarily buried near the parish church and now rests in the Florence American Cemetery.[5]

Operation Herring took place in the same era, in which the paratrooper Enea Cucchi participated and died on 22 April 1945. Enea was born there; he was awarded the silver medal for military valour and a street and a commemorative plaque are dedicated to him.