Maria Bergamas was born on 23 January 1867 in Gradisca d'Isonzo and lived in Trieste, where she had moved in her youth, and where she resided at the outbreak of World War I.
At the time, both Gradisca d'Isonzo and Trieste were an integral part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so her son Antonio was drafted into the Austrian army.
While leading an attack of his platoon, during a fight at the foot of Monte Cimone di Tonezza, on 16 June 1916, Antonio was killed by a barrage from a machine gun.
After the battle, a note was found in his pocket in which he begged to inform the mayor of San Giovanni al Natisone, the only person aware of his real identity, of his passing.
[2] After the war, Antonio’s mother Maria was asked to choose the body of a soldier from eleven corpses of unidentified fallen servicemen, gathered from different areas of the front.