In 1896, for instance, Alcide's father Agostino led a peasant insurgency after the government imposed tax on flour.

[2] Cervi first joined the Partito Popolare Italiano (PPI), a political group founded by the Sicilian priest Luigi Sturzo.

[2] The Cervi family initially attracted the attention of authorities sometime in the mid-1930s after they opened a library that included books considered to be seditious.

[6] On January 17, 1954, Cervi was awarded by Luigi Einaudi the Medaglia d'oro della Resistenza (Gold Medal of the Resistance) in recognition of his contributions to the anti-Fascist movement.

This aspect was also highlighted in the study conducted by Ilaria Marcyan entitled, The Cervi Family: A Peasant Story.