Untold story of the 17-year-old girl who saved a village from the Nazis

• Video report by ITV News Correspondent Richard Pallot

Gabriella Ezra was just 17-years-old when she saved every man in an Italian village from a Nazi firing squad.

It was during the last days of the Second World War when her selfless act of bravery stopped her father, Luigi, and 37 other villagers from being shot.

Now, aged 91, Gabriella has been awarded the Star of Italy - one of the nation's highest honours - in recognition of her act.

It was April 1945, and the Germans were intent of revenge following an attack by Italian partisans a couple of weeks earlier and had lined up all the men in the village of Capella di Scorze, near Venice.

The villagers had hidden their partisan armbands but the Germans were seemingly bent on retribution.

In was then that Ms Ezra stepped in to try to save them.

Recalling what happened, Ms Ezra said: "It is very emotional because I remember everything that happened that day.

"My heart was breaking when my father passed by me and took out his watch and some papers and said: 'Give them to momma.'"

She feared the worst, so decided she had to do something.

As her family had lived in Austria, she spoke excellent German and used that to convince the Nazi commandant to spare the men.

She told him that the men were not partisans but farmers, but, she recalled, she was warned that if it was discovered she was lying, she would also be shot.

"I was not scared, I was worried about everybody around me," she said.

Fortunately, the commandant did believe her, and her father and the other men were saved.

When her father learned of her role, he merely hugged her and said: "Let's go to momma."

After the war, she married a British Army officer and now lives in Brighton.

Her extraordinary story came to light after her son, Mark, wrote to the Italian embassy to recount his mother's act of courage.