N JUNE 28, 1914, Europe was shaken when Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria and his wife
were assassinated in Sarajevo by a Bosnian nationalist, in retaliation for his participation in military maneuvers in Bosnia-Hercegovina. The ensuing tumult rapidly escalated into the first global conflict, beginning with Germany’s declaration of war against France and Russia on July 30, 1914. It was on that very day— which marked the beginning of the conflict that would escalate into World War I—that Emma Bava gave birth to her second child, a son named Mario.1
Mario’s older sister Elena, then only 3 years old, remembers the day vividly: “The delivery was expected to be very difficult. The physician, Dr. Cotta, asked for an oxy- gen tank—but we lived in the beautiful re- gion of San Martino, not in downtown Sanremo! So my father jumped on his bi- cycle and took a shortcut, pedaling through the sea front—a non-thoroughfare area! It was a real scene à la Chiapucci [referring to a famous Italian cyclist]—and my father was the winner! He managed to outdistance the policeman who was furiously pursuing him . . .
