A MAN has made an emotional journey to thank an Italian woman for saving his father's life during the war.

Arthur Leeming, of Carr Bank Avenue, Ramsbottom, travelled to Italy to say thank you after tracking down a woman who helped his father hide from fascist troops during the Second World War.

His father Eric spent six months hiding with Rosa Fortini's family in the rural town of Petritoli after escaping from a prisoner of war camp in 1943.

Arthur (54) said: "My father never went back to Italy to see the family. I think it was an incident he wanted to put behind him.

They received a commendation from the War Office after the war but I wanted to say thank you personally. If it wasn't for that family I wouldn't be here. They found my father injured and starving and they took him into their home.

By the end of it they regarded him as a brother." Similarly, enthusiastic hospitality was extended to Mr Leeming and wife Janice on their visit to Petritoli, in the eastern La Marche region of Italy. Mr Leeming said: "I was a bit overwhelmed. We were greeted by television cameras and we appeared on the evening news.

We were treated like royalty. Everyone referred to my father as Henry because that was the name he gave when he was found, so we stuck with it to avoid confusion."

Miss Fortini, now 85, showed Mr Leeming the house where she had helped shelter his father.

"It was very emotional," Mr Leeming said. "She was in tears and I was fighting them back."

Miss Fortini's father was arrested for letting Eric Leeming escape through a window when the house was finally raided. The fleeing soldier was recaptured a month later and imprisoned until the end of the war.

Mr Leeming began his search for the Italian family after finding a letter from them, translated from Italian, among personal items left after his mother died last year.

He said: "It involved a lot of detective work. All we had was this scrap of a letter and the address had been mistranslated by the War Office. But I was determined to find this family to offer them my thanks. There is no doubt that they saved my father's life."