Early years Giglio was born into a middle-class family in Rome. His parents were Armando and Anna (). He had a sister, Giulia Adriani, who outlived him by many years. Maurizio spent his boyhood between France and Rome. From 1933 to 1938, he studied at the , graduating in law. He was a keen sportsman: hunting, skiing, swimming, mountaineering, and motoring.
Secret agent He began a double life. To public eyes - and, most importantly, to German and Italian collaborationist eyes - he was a uniformed police officer. In private, he created a network of informants. These included
Giuliano Vassalli and , and Colonel
Giuseppe Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, leader of the
Clandestine Military Front (a
resistance organisation). A priest helped him by concealing the radio transmitter in his own church. He watched for German troop movements by road and rail, and passed his observations on to the Allies using his radio transmitter (nicknamed "Radio Vittoria", i.e. "Radio Victory"). He helped fugitives from the fascist authorities to escape to the western (
Tyrrhenian) coast of Italy, from where they could be rescued by Allied
MTBs.
Peter Tompkins was an American undercover OSS agent in Rome. On 21 January 1944 (the day before the
Anzio landings), he made contact with Giglio. From then on, they worked closely together and were in almost daily contact. Allied forces were now within of Rome. Giglio increased his activity, which placed him increasingly at risk. He supplied Tompkins with detailed reports about the police stations of Rome, and about the buildings occupied by the Germans. ==Posthumous recognition==