Marocchinate--Moroccans in Italy during WWII

Tilden's Italian characters, while fictional, are based on factual occurrences. The Pingree area for decades had a significant Italian immigrant community from its beginning, and though the original DeCeatis and Valenti families have disappeared a number of others followed them to the area, most from a single village in Italy--Castro Del Volsci, an hour from Rome by today's vehicular standards.

The Gaures, those Moroccans in French forces, really did rape and pillage the Italian countryside upon its "liberation", and the village of Castro sports a statue honoring those who suffered that event. The village did hide their young women and children in caves to save them from violence and the old women stayed, fearing the Gaures would be suspicious if no females remained. They of course suffered the consequences.

You can read about those events here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marocchinate