Liberation Route Europe is a Council of Europe certified cultural route connecting people, places and events in order to remember the liberation of Europe from Nazi-Fascist occupation during the Second World War and to reflect on the long-term consequences of the war through a scientific and pluralistic approach.With hundreds of sites and stories in nine European countries, the route connects the main regions along the axis followed by the Allied forces in 1943-1945.LRE Italy is proud to present a new touristic and cultural proposal the “Liberation Route Europe Trails in Italy”. This ambitious project aims to create an Italian system of memorial trails from North to South and connecting the regions affected by the liberation of Italy.You can discover and visit museums, monuments and landmarks while discovering moving stories and the very first Liberation Route Italy themed routes.

Italy

On 12 August 1944, a crop combine was set on fire at Fornace Marchesini on the road to San Marino, a resistance gesture to prevent the Nazis from stealing grain. This event triggered the wrath of the fascist and Nazi troops, who went on a manhunt; a death sentence was passed on the resisters if they were caught. Two days later, on 14 August in the old barracks in Via Ducale, near the Tiberius Bridge, the three partisans were detained. The detainees were taken to German headquarters and tortured to get the names of their comrades: none of the three confessed. On the day of mid-August, a mock trial was staged against the three and they were sentenced to death by hanging. The sentence was enforced the next morning in Rimini's main square. During the night before the murder, the three resisters were detained at the Convento delle Grazie, where the three wrote their last letters to their families with the comfort of the monks. At sunrise, the three were taken to Piazza Giulio Cesare, a square where they were hanged by the so-called 'Mongols', Turkmen auxiliary soldiers. Before dying, all three shouted 'Long live Stalin'. Their corpses were displayed as a warning to the citizens for three days before being buried in the municipal cemetery. On 9 October 1944, the square was named after the Three Martyrs. The Cln (National Liberation Committee) and the fledgling administration's aim was to convey a clear signal to the population that this dedication marked the transition from the Fascist period to the Republic. Piazza Tre Martiri today symbolises the place of democracy and freedom for the Adriatic town.

Piazza Tre Martiri

The church of San Pietro in Trarivi was chosen as the site for a German artillery battery, as it dominated a large portion of the Conca Valley. This location was its misfortune. The church underwent a two-pronged attack from the Allies, at sea through a major cannonade carried by ships at anchor in front of the coast, accompanied by a simultaneous assault carried out by 45 tanks placed on the hill of Croce di Monte Colombo. The British soldiers then took over Trarivi and the hillock, whose ancient church had been stripped to ruins by their own shelling.After two years of restoration that started in 1989 and was completed in September 1991, the Peace Church was opened with an initial version of the Museum of the Eastern Gothic Line next to it, which was later renovated in the mid-2000s.At the opening, the veterans who fought in that battle donated a Peace Bell bearing the words 'War never again - Nie wieder Krieg - The veterans of the two armies to the Peace and Reconciliation Church.'The current layout of the site displays a powerful evocative force: on the one hand, the ruins recall the tragic nature of the war; on the other, its peaceful and picturesque location recalls its heritage as a place of peace and reconciliation. The parsonage houses the Historical Museum of the Eastern Gothic Line, which preserves a vast collection of historic photographs, war relics and newspapers of the time. The "Museum Trail" departs from the Church of Peace and connects it to the neighbouring Valliano Sanctuary via a pleasant walk through the countryside.

Peace Church

During WWII, the municipality of Montignoso was identified as the town crossed by the western front of the Gothic Line. The civilian population endured dreadful months of shelling and round-ups, which resulted in death, hunger and destruction. It was also the first town to be liberated in the Province of Massa Carrara. On 8 April 1945, the Allied offensive started from its mountains and gradually spread to the rest of the towns. After passing the hamlets of S. Eustachio and Cerreto, visitors arrive in the locality of Pasquilio, at an altitude of about 800 metres. The Monument to the Apuan Patriots can be seen at Termo. Built by the partisan commander Mario Angelotti 'Contegiò', the work consists of five marble blocks from Mount Carchio. Continuing along the road to reach the steps that lead to the Tricolour Church. Conceived at the end of 1943 to help and support partisan activities and as a vow of unity and peace for the terrible suffering caused by the war, the project was presented to the same fascist authorities by Don Millo Nicoli, parish priest of Sant'Eustachio and later chaplain of the Apuan patriots, Pietro Del Giudice, a Dominican friar and later commander of the partisan group, and other Resistance members through fund-raising. The cornerstone was laid on 1 April, and the ceremony was attended by numerous families and citizens, as well as by some partisan exponents hidden in the crowd while a company of Montignoso's Republican National Guard kept the area under control. The unwitting protection provided by the fascists to the initiative resulted in the name of the structure as 'Chiesetta delle beffe'. On 5 April 1945, the final Allied offensive began on the western front of the Gothic Line: the Japanese-American forces of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, starting from the village of Azzano near Seravezza, with the support of the Apuan Patriots, conquered the ridge between the Folgorito and Carchio mountains. Three days later Montignoso was liberated.

The Partisans' Church at Pasquilio

Born on 27 November 1923 in Mirteto, a hamlet of the city of Massa that is connected by the Foce canal to the nearby town of Carrara, he became an apprentice carpenter and an active partisan within the Aldo Cartolari group, a detachment of the 'Ugo Muccini' Garibaldi Brigade later renamed 'Gino Menconi'. On 18 September 1944, he and his comrades attacked some German soldiers garrisoned in Castagnola. The clash was averted by a sentry and led to the death of two partisans. Salvetti himself suffered a leg wound. The next day, after trying unsuccessfully to take cover by passing through a barbed wire fence, he was spotted and caught. Subjected to atrocious torture and public mockery in the streets of the city, he did not reveal the names of his comrades and was awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valour in memory, and the plaque in Via Castagnola di Sopra just outside the centre of Massa is dedicated to him. This is a marble work bordered by chains and pillars on which is written 'purest hero of the Italian Resistance, gold medal in memory'. After being wounded, he was crucified and before he breathed out his last breath, he cried out to his executioners, 'You will know the name of my comrades when they come to avenge me.' The ultimate example of patriotic love of absolute dedication to freedom. Castagnola 19 September 1944 - 54." The public vocational school in Massa and a road in Mirteto are also dedicated to his memory.

Monument to Aldo Salvetti

Menconi was born in Avenza, in the municipality of Carrara, on 13 May 1899. From a very young age, he embraced anti-fascism by serving in republican groups, where he became an officer during World War I, and later completed his studies in Business and Economics at Ca' Foscari University in Venice. In France, where he was in exile, he was a promoter of the Communist Party and, after attending the 'Leninist School' in Moscow, became a party official. In Italy, he was arrested and sentenced to seventeen years in prison, which was later converted into confinement in Ventotene in the late 1930s. From 8 September 1943, he lived in hiding within the CLN (Italian National Liberation Committee) between Florence and Parma. During his tenure as commander of the Piazza, he was discovered by the Germans probably due to a denunciation during a meeting in Bosco di Corniglio with other partisan representatives. Many of his comrades were killed, while 'Renzi', his battle name, "...Betrayed, he was viciously attacked by an SS unit and riddled with bullets before he could even defend himself... Knocked down, tightly bound, he was doused with petrol and burnt alive. Fiery torch of faith, he enlightens an entire people's life. Bosco Corniglio, 17 October 1944," as stated in the motivation for the gold medal for military valour. The Avenza G. Menconi Comprehensive Institute in Carrara, a street and a square were named in his memory, while a memorial plaque can be found in the Turigliano cemetery.

The assasination of Gino Menconi

The entire Canadian Corps was deployed to the Adriatic Sea sector in order to liberate Rimini by the end of August 1944. On 4 September 1944, the 5th Canadian Division left the coastal line to head inland. This group was tasked with conquering the town of Coriano, but because of heavy rain and strong German resistance their advance was hampered and slowed down. The Coriano ridge was the last major impediment to the Allied advance in the Adriatic Sea sector. Its capture was crucial for the seizure of Rimini and the subsequent breakthrough into northern Italy.After fierce fighting, which was often house-to-house, with a very high number of civilian casualties, on the night of 12 September the Eighth Army resumed the attack on the ridge, deploying both the British 1st Armoured Division and the 5th Canadian Division. The attack succeeded in taking Coriano Hill, but it marked the start of one of the hardest fighting weeks since Cassino back in May, resulting in daily losses for the Eighth Army of around 150 soldiers. The Germans were finally routed on the Marano river, located on the border between the towns of Coriano, Riccione and Rimini, due to the sacrifice of the 3rd Greek Mountain Brigade, who were the first to enter Rimini upon finding that the Germans had meanwhile retreated further north. According to the official account, the battle losses for the 1st Canadian Division in the period 25 August-22 September amounted to 2,511 dead. Apart from this, about 1,000 soldiers were medically evacuated. The 5th British Armoured Division had a total of 1,385 battle casualties.A cemetery commonly referred to as the Cemetery of the Canadians was built in the aftermath of the crossing of the front and contains 1939 graves of various nationalities (1,411 British, 427 Canadians, 28 South Africans, one Australian, 8 Indians, 4 of other nationalities, 61 unknown). In total, there are 5 Allied cemeteries related to the battle for Rimini, between Romagna and Le Marche: 4 related to the Commonwealth, one in Riccione of Greek soldiers.

Coriano Ridge War Cemetery 

The RAM, Rifugio Antiaereo Martana, is a small labyrinth hidden under the town of Massa. It was a shelter for thousands of women, men and children, built between 1942 and 1943 by miners from the Veneto region and then occupied by Nazi troops during the military control and standoff along the Gothic Line. The 400 metres of tunnels dug into the underground rock, with parts lined with concrete and several ventilation chimneys, find one of the three entrance openings in via Bigini, not far from piazza Mercurio, right in the old town centre, and extend as far as via Prado. The RAM was meant to offer shelter to civilians during the dreadful shelling that battered the city with the indiscriminate destruction of homes, buildings and historical works. Hearing the sound of the siren meant sensing the start of the attack and thus the rush towards that dark and gloomy corridor. As early as January 1944, in fact, the town of Massa and surrounding areas became the target of Anglo-American shelling, and during the course of the year, the Germans occupied the refuge, giving orders to displace civilians who took refuge in the nearby mountains, in natural ravines, quarries and in the destroyed houses. The last shelling took place in February 1945. The houses in Piazza Aranci, the Church of San Sebastiano, the Martana district and the monument in Piazza Mercurio were hit. Nearby, in Piazza Aranci, another underground shelter, completely covered by large tiles with four openings in the square's corners, can only be visited on certain dates during the year. There are other air-raid shelters: at Monte di Pasta, in Piazza Garibaldi, mostly covered trenches, and at Capaccola. After the end of the conflict, the RAM was closed until 2006 and then became a venue and setting for educational and cultural events and it is still open today for guided tours, exhibitions, concerts and theatre workshops. The experience and memory of those who lived through those dreadful events can be retraced through media material with interviews and films.

RAM, The refuge hidden under the town of Massa

The museum visit weaves together stories, images, documents and establishes an encounter between the public and the memory of witnesses. The museum was created in 1994 in Fosdinovo thanks to the efforts of the ANPI in Sarzana and its President Paolino Ranieri who, in agreement with the municipal administration, succeeded in transforming the structure - built in 1948 by some partisans of the 'Ugo Muccini' Garibaldi Brigade together with citizens and volunteers and used until 1971 as a summer camp for boys and girls - into the museum that can still be visited today. The MAR, dedicated to the memory of partisans Alessandro Brucellaria 'Memo' and Flavio Bertone 'Walter', was officially inaugurated on 3 June 2000 in the presence of Education Minister Tullio de Mauro. On the inside, visitors can interact with panels and multimedia installations designed by Studio Azzurro with the coordination of Giovanni Contini and Paolo Pezzino, real itineraries to bring them closer to the knowledge of historical facts about the War and the Resistance. On entering the museum, there is a huge 'memory table' in the centre of the hall, above which six thematic panels are divided into: farmers, partisans, war on civilians, deportees, women, calendar. The story of the witnesses, through films, documents and places, is activated by touching virtual books. Historical events are carefully reconstructed from 1943 until the Liberation phase and involving the neighbouring provinces of Massa Carrara and La Spezia, places of countless massacres and destruction. Busy with events, meetings open to the public and schoolchildren, the MAR continues to relentlessly address the themes of Resistance by embracing theatrical workshop activities, workshops and cutting-edge IT technologies for educational programmes suitable for every age group, from preschool to university. Next to the museum structure, which has deliberately remained 'familiar' as if to preserve its origin as a mountain colony, there is the Circolo Culturale Enogastronomico (Enogastronomic and Cultural Association) 'Archivi della Resistenza' where it is possible to enjoy traditional local dishes alongside theatre performances, exhibitions, festivals, book presentations and other cultural initiatives.

Audiovisual Museum of Resistance

In 1944, the Memorial Park was one of the minefields of the front line of the Gothic. Today, it is a place dedicated to historical knowledge as a tool for active reflection on peace, thanks to the dedication of its founder, Giovanni Tiberi. It was opened over 30 years ago and its permanent exhibition houses numerous original objects from the period. The museum also contains themed exhibitions on war-related aspects, a historical archive, a library and a video library.An important part of the museum is the Memorial Park, an open-air path immersed in greenery. The Memorial Park displays original military vehicles such as tracked vehicles, motorbikes and a Jeep Willys. It also houses the remains of aircraft that shelled the Pesaro area in 1944, and original pieces of Germanic bunkers constructed to defend the Gothic Line from the Allied advance. These facilities are now set up so that visitors can easily see the interior of these military installations.

Casinina Gothic Line Historical Museum

In 1997, at the site of Pozzo Alto battle, in the village of Montechiaro, the town of Tavullia erected a large monument to commemorate those young Canadian soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the Liberation of the town of Tavullia.The last battle between the Allies and Germans on the Gothic Line on the southern slope of the Romagna Apennines facing the Marche region was fought in the town of Tavullia on 31 August 1944. On this date, in the town of Pozzo Alto (also known as 'Quota 204', the authentic core of the area's defences) Canadian units of the 1st and 5th Divisions and German paratroopers, as well as other Wehrmacht units, clashed.During the day of 31 August, 'Quota 204' was disputed several times by the two armies. In the morning, it was taken by the Allied armoured units, while in the late afternoon and at night, a fierce German counter-offensive took place. After further bloody clashes, the following morning the German units decided to break away and retreat to the second defensive line, thus allowing the Canadians to occupy Pozzo Alto and conquer Mount Marrone and the town of Tavullia. Credit for this victory is owed to a brave action by the 9th Canadian Armoured Battalion British Columbia Dragoons, Lieutenant Colonel F.A. Vokes, who managed to break through the German resistance and finally conquer that position.

Canadian War Memorial in Quota 204

On 3 September 1943, the Allies invaded the Italian mainland. The invasion coincided with an armistice signed by the Italians, who then re-entered the war on the side of the Allies. The Allied objectives were to draw the German troops back from the Russian front and more particularly from France, where an offensive was planned for the following year. Progress through southern Italy was rapid despite fierce resistance, but by the end of October the Allies were facing the German winter defensive position known as the Gustav Line, which stretched from the Garigliano River in the west to the Sangro River in the east. The first attempts to break through the western end of the line were unsuccessful and as late as 17 January 1944 the Garigliano was crossed and Minturno taken two days later. but the Allies eventually ran out of ground and the site was under fire from German small arms. The cemetery was not used again until May 1944, when the Allies launched their advance on Rome and the US 85th and 88th Divisions were in this sector. The burials are mainly those of the heavy losses suffered in the Garigliano crossing in January. The Minturno War Cemetery contains 2,049 Commonwealth burials from World War II. The cemetery was designed by Louis de Soissons.

Minturno War Cemetry

Private First Class Webb carved his name into a wall in Tremensuoli – military graffiti - as the 85thDivision moved into line in and around Tremensuoli against the formidable German “Gustav” defensive line.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Sergeant Marshall A. Webb's graffiti

The museum's interior features large, impressive photo displays, with descriptions in Italian, Polish and English, as well as films of the battle and relics collected from the battlefield. Multilingual museum guides, highly knowledgeable about the historical events, narrate the odyssey of these brave Soldiers, over a thousand of whom lie in the adjoining War Cemetery at Monte Cassino.The Memorial Museum of the Second Polish Corps at Monte Cassino came into being thanks to the generosity of donors from all over the world. Funds were raised in the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Italy and Poland. These are places where battle veterans were forced to emigrate after the war, as they could not return to Poland because they were subject to all sorts of persecution and punishment. After a long administrative process, it was finally inaugurated on 17 May 2014 in the presence of many Polish Battle veterans and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland. It quickly became an important and unavoidable part of the visit to the adjoining Polish War Cemetery. The narration of the endless road travelled by these Soldiers from 1939 until 1945, their odyssey continuing beyond the end of the War, arouses admiration and surprise in visitors, as many people do not know about them. In its short history, the Museum has been visited by several Heads of State from all over the world, and of course by Italian President Sergio Mattarella. A necessary visit to understand the Sacrifice of the Polish Soldiers in the conquest of the Monastery of Montecassino and in general all the historical events related to the Battle of Cassino.

Memorial Museum of the second Polish Corps 

The visit itinerary unfolds through the most emblematic stages of the 20th century: the evocation of the work of St. Benedict, the two world wars, the construction of the Gustav Line, the shelling of the abbey of Montecassino, military strategies, the testimonies of civilians, the rebirth of the territory and the strength to rebuild. The exhibition route involves visitors in a multi-sensory experience, through the contamination of different languages: theatre, contemporary art, film.Made by Carlo Rambaldi, the renowned inventor of film characters such as E.T. and King Kong, known for special effects, it was inaugurated in July 2016. The entire facility is spread over an area of 1,200 square metres and comprises six pavilions. The main one consists of fourteen multimedia rooms, in which one of the bloodiest battles of the Second World War - the Battle of Montecassino - is recounted through unedited films, special effects and 3D images. The entire pavilion is adorned with information drapes showing the thousand-year history of the abbey, the works of the Benedictines and photos of the 36 municipalities affected by the terrible clash before and after the war. Leaving the multimedia tour, visitors can admire the original uniforms and objects of the twelve nationalities that fought on the Gustav Line in several rooms.

Historical Museum

The Museum of the 20th century and the Shoah lets visitors experience WWII and the Shoah during the battle of Cassino. Eight rooms, through an evocative interactive and immersive itinerary, recount the early 20th century, fascism, emigration, the internment of foreign Jews, the stages towards Auschwitz, the aid to former allied prisoners, the referendum for the Republic, the reconstruction of Montecassino.&nbsp;San Donato Val di Comino was one of the most important free internment locations in Italy and the first one in Lazio. The first Jewish internees arrived in the summer of 1940 and established good relations with the population and the authorities, from whom they were welcomed and helped, and were immediately integrated. Among the internees are: Margaret Bloch, Kafka's friend and confidante; Grete Berger, an important actress of silent cinema and German Expressionism, who starred in several film masterpieces: The Student of Prague, Metropolis, Dr Mabuse, Destiny.&nbsp;With the fall of fascism and the German militarisation of the Comino Valley, San Donato became the rear of the Cassino front and the last inhabited village before the Gustav Line. The town suffered various aerial bombardments and shelling, Allied and German, from 5 November 1943 to 5 June 1944, the last day of the war in Cassino. During those months, the inhabitants, particularly the women, rescued and helped Jewish internees, Yugoslavian internees and about a thousand Allied prisoners who had escaped from the prisons in Abruzzo and Emilia Romagna, receiving certificates of thanks from General Alexander.&nbsp;The museum displays are arranged in chronological order, marked by continuous film clips. Visitors can virtually browse through documents, war diaries and unpublished writings using touch screens. Organised activities include guided tours, workshops, teacher training, studies, research, urban trekking, excursions to World War II sites, events, and Remembrance Day events.The museum is the result of a collaboration with the Washington Holocaust Museum that began in 2018.

Museum of the 20th century and the Shoah

Colle San Magno - a small medieval mountain village a few hours' walk from Montecassino - was an important German rear post for the Cassino front (munition depots, field kitchens, radio stations, military hospitals) from September 1943 to May 1944.&nbsp; The museum tells the story of the experience of the civilian population under Nazi occupation, with several video interviews with witnesses developed in cooperation with the University of Cassino, original exhibits, documentaries, historical research and archive documents. The museum also records the stories of inhabitants of Colle San Magno who were directly involved in the conflict (partisans on other fronts in Italy and Europe, war prisoners, internment and deportation to Germany).&nbsp;&nbsp; The Museum is in Italian and it is entirely translated into English with room cards and subtitles in the videos. It also hosts temporary exhibitions of local history (photographic documents of life, work and traditions of the inhabitants; the strong emigration abroad) and offers specific activities for schools.The Museum has maintained a number of 'remembrance trails' and a 'remembrance cycle path' at significant wartime locations. In particular, a five-hour walk from Colle San Magno to the Abbey of Montecassino is possible along a mountain trail that passes through the battle sites of Cassino and retraces the paths that German soldiers took to reach the front. The museum is the property of the town council and is managed by the Association of Friends of the Living Museum of Remembrance, which also organises cultural events in the area. Admission is free.&nbsp;

Living Museum of Remembrance

This museum, inaugurated on 12 May 2019 on the 75th ͦ anniversary of the liberation, is the result of an ambitious project that was strongly desired by President Giuseppe Caucci, who personally oversaw its design and implementation together with some of his closest collaborators, in order to make the results of the research work carried out over the years accessible, completely free of charge.The museum is arranged along a route which follows the historical and chronological development of the main phases of the operations on the Garigliano front, where visitors can understand what happened through the stories of the men, unintentional players in that dramatic period, living an evocative experience through the exhibits, documents and multimedia effects.Castelforte, nicknamed 'Little Cassino' was almost totally wiped out by the contending armies, and was awarded the Gold Medal of Civil Valour. All the exhibits and artefacts on display, which come from the private collections of some members and donations, stem from years of work and research on battlefields and in documentary archives.

War Museum Gustav Line Garigliano Front

The Museum of the Gustav Line in Coreno Ausonio, established in the 74th year of the liberation of the town of Coreno Ausonio (FR), was designed, set up and is currently managed by the Linea Gustav Association, a military historical study and research centre. It features a permanent installation that retraces the highlights of the battles that led to the breakthrough of the German defensive line known as the 'Gustav', January-May 1944.&nbsp;The rediscovered images from major international historical archives and the historiographical reconstruction of the events frame an exhibition of artefacts from private collections, from members and collaborators of the Association itself, but also from Corenese citizens, and all those who would like to contribute to its growth over time.

Gustav Line Museum Aurunci

A shrine was erected on the site in 1983 with a monument created by the sculptor Mastroianni. Near the Rio Secco stream, there is the iron cross at the exact site of the massacre. Three miraculously survived, who were eyewitnesses to the massacre.The Massacre of Collelungo, Cardito di Vallerotonda hamlet, is one of the most brutal carried out by the Germans while on the Gustav Line. The place where civilians had sheltered from the harshness of winter was made up of ravines and caves, in which families had found refuge. The civilians were joined a few days before the massacre by four straggling Italian soldiers, who were also killed and whose names are still unknown. The place was located in a gorge near the Rio Secco, close to the Mainarde Mountains, where the troops of the French Expeditionary Corps, particularly Moroccans, had been trying for days to break through the German lines to implement the plan devised by General Alphonse Juin, called 'the Atina manoeuvre', which was to break through in the direction of the Comino Valley, bypassing the fortified German defences at Cassino. Still today, the reason for the massacre and the German unit that carried it out remains unclear. The sites were occupied by the 100 Gebjrsjager Regiment of the 5th Mountain Division, but soldiers from the 115th Panzer Grenadier Regiment of the 15th Panzer Division had also been sent for reinforcement during those hours. The survivors were only able to recount the excruciating phases of the massacre, carried out without any mercy or hesitation by the Germans. The corpses were covered as best they could with branches and leaves and abandoned on site. They were recovered a long time later. The Collelungo memorial, embedded in the Mainarde mountains, in the beech forests, is a unique natural site, full of a great sense of compassion for those who lost their lives there. Historical associations visit the site of the massacre every year on 28 December, whereas the official celebration by the Vallerotonda municipality takes place on the first Sunday in August.

Shrine of Collelungo di Vallerotonda

In fact, its elevated position over the town of Cassino was an important military point, also in view of the ascent to the Monastery.&nbsp; During the third battle, known as Dickens Operation, Rocca Janula, located 195 above seal level, was defended by German paratroopers, but on the afternoon of 15 March 1944, the day of the total bombardment of the town, it was taken by New Zealand Soldiers in a coup d'état. Several German paratroopers were imprisoned. Another important episode took place on 19 March 1944 when the Germans, with the pioneer battalion of the 1st Parachute Division, fiercely counter-attacked the castle to regain possession. The 4th Battalion of the Essex Regiment was there to defend. After a morning of fighting, with heavy losses on both sides, the castle remained in Allied hands. A well-known cease-fire was observed in the afternoon to gather the dead and wounded on the battlefield. A monument at the entrance to the castle is dedicated to the British 4th Essex Battalion, which stood out for its valour and suffered heavy losses in that battle.Although in ruins for years, the fortress underwent extensive restoration in the 2000s and was reopened to the public on 25 September 2015. Today it is open to visitors and hosts exhibitions and cultural events. Currently run by a cooperative, it has an entrance fee of €3. The price is increased in case of guided tours.

Rocca Janula Castle

Each bridge had a different name, the most important being Amazon Bridge, located near the Cassino Paper Mill. It was important for the breakthrough of the Gustav Line and was built by the British Royal Engineers under German gunfire. The Allies suffered many casualties. By the morning of 13 May 1944 it was completed and the troops of the 8th Indian Division supported by Sherman tanks managed to break through the German defensive line.On 13 May 1944, at 5 a.m., the Bailey Amazon Bridge was completed, at the cost of many Royal Engineering workers who died during the construction. The companies 7, 59 and 225 carried it out. Among the various bridges built over the Gari River, this is the first to be used and the most important, as it is also the closest to State Road 6 Casilina. The Germans knew its location. Throughout the night of 12 May, they relentlessly shelled the area, with considerable losses suffered by the Allies. Eventually, after much effort and sacrifice, the way into the Liri Valley was open and the troops of the 4th British Infantry Division advanced. The memorial was built by the British Engineers' Regimental Veterans Association and was inaugurated on 13 May 2022 and consists of a section of a Bailey Bridge. The Monument was erected near Via Folcara, about 300 metres from the Gari River where it was actually built.

Amazon Bridge monument

With Italy's entry into the war, transit, concentration and labour camps were established throughout the country for Allied prisoners captured on the African fronts and in the Mediterranean. Some 70,000 military personnel were detained in Italy within three years, both British (including the various Commonwealth states) and to a lesser extent American.Colle di Compito camp, located in the town of Capannori, was founded in July 1942 with camps in a marshy area. At the end of September, there were 3970 internees, divided as follows: 2224 British, 1737 South Africans, 3 Middle Easterners, 2 Indians, 3 Serbs and one of unspecified nationality. Delegates of the International Red Cross inspected the camp and denounced the poor conditions in which the prisoners were forced to live, such as overcrowding, lack of a sewage system, poor sanitation and infirmary, lack of books and leisure activities. The situation worsened with the presence of insects and mosquitoes that caused several cases of malaria, with at least 180 British people admitted to the military hospital in Lucca. On 2 September 1942, during an escape attempt, 24-year-old Briton Sidney Fawcett was killed by a sentry. The first autumn rains and the lack of water runoff caused the situation to worsen, combined with the lack of camp lighting and the absence of heating in the tents. It was decided to close the facility temporarily and the prisoners were transferred to other facilities by mid-November.The following year the camp was reactivated. With the Armistice of Cassibile it was plundered by the local population. Two days later, on 10 September 1943, Captain Massimo De Felice, Colonel Vincenzo Cione and Private Domenico Mastrippolito were killed by German forces for refusing to hand over British prisoners. The escape of these prisoners resulted in the emergence of helpers in the form of farmers and local people who provided shelter and protection, food and accommodation to the escaped Allied soldiers.Later, the camp was re-used by the Italian Social Republic for the internment of civilians and held 250 to 300 people. The Republican National Guard and the T. M. Battalion 'Mirio Ferrari' played a management and surveillance role. Politicians, Jews and ordinary prisoners were interned here. In June 1944, following a machine-gun attack, the camp was definitively closed, and the internees transferred to Bagni di Lucca.

Colle di Compito concentration camp

The Padule di Fucecchio massacre was carried out on 23 August 1944, by units of the 26th Armoured Division of the German army, under the orders of General Peter Eduard Crasemann. 174 civilians were murdered, including children, women, and elderly persons, in an area between the towns of Monsummano Terme, Larciano, Ponte Buggianese, Cerreto Guidi and Fucecchio. The operation of desertification of the territory, carried out by the Germans in collaboration with some fascists, aimed to eliminate any human presence that could help the partisans and hinder their retreat towards the Gothic Line. This ended definitively a few days later. Fucecchio was liberated on 1 September, Larciano on the 3rd, Monsummano Terme on the 4th).The massacre was characterised by the use of heavy artillery and methods of warfare used exclusively against civilians, mostly local farming families, or displaced people in the Padule escaping the daily German roundups and Allied gunfire. It was one of the five massacres with the highest number of deaths carried out by the Nazis in Italy during the war. The town of Monsummano was among the hardest hit, with 84 residents killed. Among them was Maria Faustina Arinci (called Carmela, aged 92) and Maria Malucchi, aged 4 months.During the immediate post-war period, Father Renato Quiriconi, the parish priest of Cintolese, together with the local population and the town administration, agreed to build a monument in memory of the Monsummanese massacre victims. The monument is made of white marble with a red travertine flame, and the names of the victims, from Arinci to Zerbini, are listed on the left and right side. A winged figure representing freedom stands at the top of the monument, at the foot of which stands the flame representing faith. A woman with two small children clutched to her chest is arranged above the base. Below her is a dead boy with a snake circling him as a symbol of the violence that the Germans perpetrated. The Angel of Death, consisting of a skeleton body and a halo, embracing a woman, is placed underneath.Every year, on 23 August, the town administration, survivors and relatives of the victims commemorate the dead and lay a laurel wreath at the monument.

Monument in memory of the victims of the Padule di Fucecchio Massacre

The Town and Territory Museum of Monsummano Terme is housed in the Osteria dei Pellegrini, a building promoted by Grand Duke Ferdinando I dei Medici and completed in 1616 to welcome pilgrims who came to venerate the image of the Holy Virgin in the nearby Sanctuary of Fontenuova. In 1855, the building was purchased by the Community of Monsummano and Montevettolini to house the prison facilities.During WWII, from November 1943 to March 1944, nine Jewish Italian citizens were detained here, including siblings Sergio and Giuliana Melli, aged 10 and 3. The patrols that led to the arrests were ordered by the Pistoia police headquarters, and were carried out by agents of the Montecatini public security police station and carabinieri from the Monsummano station, in cooperation with German soldiers and other local republicans. After being detained in Monsummano, the group were transferred to Florence, Fossoli and then Auschwitz, where they were murdered.The Osteria dei Pellegrini was home to prisons and court offices until the 1980s. Between 1995 and 1998, the building underwent major consolidation and restoration work that allowed for the construction of the Town and Territory Museum. The first floor was opened on 12 December 1998, while the second, dedicated to the 20th century, was opened to the public on 11 June 2005.The Osteria dei Pellegrini now houses on its premises the Town and Territory Museum, the Library, and the Town's Historical Archives. On the second floor, a prison cell is kept intact to preserve historical memory. The museum shows the environmental and cultural aspects around which the people of the Valdinievole have built their history, with sections dedicated to thermal baths, handicrafts, Industry and Archaeology. A section entitled 'The Hall of Remembrance' is dedicated to the Padule di Fucecchio massacre, which took place on 23 August 1944, in which 174 people were killed by Nazi-Fascists. It consists of explanatory panels, transparent silhouettes, the names of all the victims, and a video installation entitled 'Flashes in the dark... voices in silence'.

Town and Territory Museum 

The winter of 1944-1945 was extremely difficult for the families living in the mountainous area of Garfagnana. The war, bombings, the presence of German troops, and problems in finding foodstuffs were combined with a freezing climate that led to heavy snowfall and logistic challenges. Families in the area used to base their subsistence on typical activities, such as timber harvesting, agriculture, pastoralism, animal husbandry, hunting and fishing, but these jobs came to a halt with the Nazi occupation due to conscription, requisitions, the lack of able-bodied men for the job, the destruction from bombing and the danger from the escalating German violence. Women used to walk dozens of kilometres in an attempt to collect food for their families.Two women from Vagli di Sotto, Ermida Maria Fortini, 45, and Adelaide Baisi, 42, were on their way to Emilia-Romagna along Provincial Road 72 of the Passo delle Radici when a mine exploded near the area known as 'Il Camerale' just beyond the town of Casone di Profecchia, causing their death. They were on their way across the regional border to find the grains in which the region was rich.A memorial stone consisting of two small white marble plaques was placed at the place of their death in their memory. The 16 Garfagnana towns were awarded the Gold Medal for Civil Merit on 13 October 2009 with the following motivation: "During WWII, the Garfagnana territory close to the Gothic Line suffered continuous roundups and atrocious reprisals that caused hundreds of civilian and military victims, while repeated bombardments caused further death and destruction in almost all towns and villages. The population, although exhausted by hardship and deprivation and affected by ruthless massacres, was able to face the events of the war with generous solidarity and civil courage in defence of human dignity and faith in the highest ideals of freedom. Admirable example of self-sacrifice and patriotism. 1943/45 - Garfagnana (Lucca)"

Memorial stone in memory of Ermida Fortini and Adelaide Baisi 

Attilio Vergai was born in Corfino on 15 August 1895 into a well-off local family. He enlisted in WWI and was captured by the Austrians after the defeat at Caporetto. After the war, he graduated in law and practised as a lawyer. Under the Fascist Regime in 1927, he was appointed podestà of the municipality of Villa Collemandina (Lu). He promoted the building of a bridge over the Corfino stream, a work of high engineering difficulty, to provide his village with an efficient communication network and connect it to Canigiano via state road 48. Shortly after the inauguration, in 1933, Vergai became director of a branch of the Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca and left his role as podestà.After 8 September 1943, he came into contact with a group of partisans active in the village of Campaiana, on the slopes of the Pania di Corfino, under the leadership of Professor Carlo Del Bianco, who persuaded numerous young Lucchese to refuse the call to conscription by the RSI and to gather in Garfagnana to fight Nazi-Fascism. Vergai coordinated and took care of assistance to allied soldiers, particularly British, who had escaped from fascist prison camps. At the end of the summer of 1944, he came into conflict with the Black Brigades who tried to take the money kept in the bank he managed. He hid the money and managed to send it to Lucca, which had already been liberated. He was among the founders of the municipal CLN, chaired by his son Giovanni, and served as a military informer in a platoon of the National Liberation Army '11th Military Patriots Zone'.On 27 February 1945, he was arrested by a division of RSI bersaglieri. In prison he refused to talk, despite torture. After a month he was moved to La Spezia, after which all traces of him were lost. The most credited hypothesis is that, during a transfer to Genoa, his boat was hit by an Allied air raid, killing him.After the war, he was recognised as a partisan. The bridge over the Corfino stream was named after him, and on 3 August 1952, a marble slab in his memory was placed on the wall of the rocky slope near the access to the bridge. On 5 August 2015, an additional plaque was dedicated to him as part of the 'Places of Memory' project.

Slab, plaque and bridge in memory of partisan Attilio Vergai

The 4th Alpine Division 'Monterosa' was a combat unit of the army of the Italian Social Republic formed in early 1944. It consisted of 20,000 Italians trained in Germany for six months and operational in the war against the Anglo-Americans and in anti-partisan offensives. The division occupied portions of the front in Liguria and Tuscany, in the Garfagnana area, where it participated in Operation Wintergewitter with the Wehrmacht in December 1944. During the war, the Monterosa soldiers were the protagonists of violence, roundups and massacres against civilians (e.g. the killing of Lamporecchiana Maria Assunta Pierattoni in Arni), prisoners and partisans. They supported the Nazi army until their capitulation in April 1945.In the 1970s, at the behest of Father Adelmo Tardelli and the Associazione Divisione Alpina Monterosa (Monterosa Alpine Division Association), composed of the division's ex-combatants, a shrine in memory of fallen soldiers was placed inside the church/sanctuary of San Rocco, consisting of several large marble plaques bearing the names of over 770 fallen soldiers, including those wounded in the Serchio valley and Garfagnana. The place was chosen for a strong symbolic meaning: the Headquarters of the Brescia Battalion of the 2nd Alpine Regiment were stationed here. The hamlet of Palleroso and its surroundings were often under Allied bombardment. It was liberated on 18 April 1945.The shrine became a destination for veterans and people belonging to extreme right-wing groups.

Memorial to the Fallen of the Italian Social Republic

The town of Bagni di Lucca, located in Media Valle del Serchio, was chosen by the Ministry of the Interior of the Fascist Regime as an internment site. A number of Anglo-Maltese evacuees from Libya were detained in city hotels as early as 1942. Between October 1942 and January 1943, 100 Yugoslav civilians from the Molat concentration camp (near Zadar) were detained before being transferred to another detention site.After the Armistice, the former Grande Albergo 'Le Terme' in Bagni Caldi (former summer residence of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, later converted into a hotel and active until the 1930s) was chosen as a concentration camp for Italian and foreign Jews. Here, in December 1943, dozens of Jews captured throughout the province were imprisoned, also thanks to informers. They were both Italian citizens, either from Lucca or displaced persons, and foreigners who had already been in free internment for some years. Their custody was entrusted to the 86th Lucca Legion of the Republican National Guard. They lived in an unhealthy environment, sleeping on straw beds, in extremely poor hygienic conditions, so much so that some prisoners had to be hospitalised.A group of partisans, in collaboration with the Jewish assistance network built by Giorgio Nissim, a Jew from Pisa, and the Oblate priests of the Holy Face, prepared a rescue plan that was never put into practice due to the prior transfer of all Jews. On 23 January 1944, they were taken by truck to Florence and from there to the San Vittore prison in Milan, where on 30 January they boarded convoy No. 6 in the direction of Auschwitz. The deportation journey was conceived both as a form of extermination through the selection of the weakest ones, who did not survive, and as an ideological means of uprooting and personality annihilation: a young Jewish girl from Lucca died on the journey. Many were killed on arrival in the gas chambers. Only five people out of a total of 99 survived the Shoah.The concentration camp in Bagni di Lucca was closed on 25 January 1944. The total number of Jews deported from the province of Lucca was 110. The former hotel is now abandoned and, to a large extent, collapsed. On 23 January 2018, a plaque was affixed as part of the 'Places of Memory' project of Istituto Storico della Resistenza e dell'Età Contemporanea [Historical Institute of Resistance and Contemporary Age] in the province of Lucca.

Provincial concentration camp for Jews

The Remembrance Museum was established in Borgo a Mozzano to complete a project that included the creation of a Committee for the Recovery and Enhancement of the Gothic Line and the carrying out and enjoyment of itineraries along the Gothic Line itself. In 2021, the exhibition was renovated in the former Oblate Convent downtown. It is divided into two parts: in the first part, objects, equipment and war relics donated by private citizens are displayed, together with explanatory panels containing photographs and historical information; in the second part, an interactive space has been developed where films relating to the Gothic Line are displayed in a continuous loop.The concentration of Gothic works in the municipality makes this area absolutely exceptional in the history of the Second World War in Italy: a true unicum of military engineering. The bunkers, tunnels, anti-tank walls, firing positions cut from rock and well-preserved trenches that are easy to visit provide an original experience on the German defensive line commissioned by Albert Kesselring to halt the Allied advance towards northern Italy. These works have not deteriorated over time and still retain their original appearance today. Outdoor enthusiasts can not only reach the fortifications at street level, but also the high bunkers in the hills above the village, thanks to the paths through the green chestnut forests.Upon request, guided tours are organised to the fortifications, guarded by the Committee for the Recovery and Enhancement of the Gothic Line in cooperation with the Borgo a Mozzano town and the Pro Loco di Borgo a Mozzano, and to the main monuments in the area (Ponte del Diavolo, parish churches, convents, hermitages and fortifications of the Republic of Lucca). One of the most famous and evocative medieval bridges to be found in Europe is the Devil's Bridge in Borgo a Mozzano. Built by Countess Matilda of Canossa in the 11th century, and surviving the war, it offers a unique spectacle for the visitor due to its particular shape and the beauty of the valley in which it is located.

Remembrance Museum

Pietro Pistis was born in Lanusei (NU) on 18 April 1916, the son of Bernardo and Filomena Usai. Called up for military service, he served as a sergeant in the Engineer Corps during WWII.On 8 September 1943, the day the Armistice between the Kingdom of Italy and the Anglo-American forces was announced, he was stationed in Viareggio where, as a straggling soldier, he came into contact with the first units of the Resistance movement that were forming in the area. He was arrested by the Republican National Guard and sent to carry out forced labour on the Gothic Line on behalf of the Todt Organisation. He managed to escape and join the 'Baroni' resistance formation, active in Lucca and the Serchio Valley, where he was appointed head of a Sardinian partisan unit. The team used to carry out sabotage actions, weapons collection, intelligence service. In June 1944, they chose one of the last tunnels between Ponte a Moriano and Borgo a Mozzano to sabotage the Lucca-Aulla railway line, in order to slow down German war operations: the partisans aimed to destroy the bridge at the tunnel exit. Pistis was leading the group in the darkness of the night when they realised that there were sentries on guard. They decided to continue the operation, but the German soldiers noticed them and opened fire: Pistis, being ahead of the others, was killed instantly while his companions managed to escape. The recognition cards as a partisan indicate him as having fallen on 25 September 1944.On 18 October 1992, a memorial stone in his honour was placed in Borgo a Mozzano by the town council and the Combatant and Patriotic Associations in an open space on the edge of Via Ludovica (Provincial Road 20), near an anti-tank wall built by the Germans in the 'Madonnina di Mao' area. The memorial stone consists of a large irregular block of marble cut crosswise on which the epigraph is engraved. It is commemorated every year by the town council, the ANPI and local associations. In Lanusei (NU) a town street was named after him.

Memorial stone in memory of partisan Pietro Pistis

The Serchio valley was affected by the construction of the Gothic Line. After 8 September 1943, the Germans settled in Borgo a Mozzano: they placed their headquarters in Villa Morante and established the administrative and technical headquarters of the Todt organisation in Palazzo Santini and Palazzo Giorgi. They built the Socciglia work camp near the hamlet of Anchiano, near the Bofocchia plain, to accommodate up to 400 people. It was fenced off with barbed wire to a height of four metres and was guarded daily by armed guards. This is where rounded up people from all over Lucca converged, assigned to work along the Gothic Line in the construction of fortified works, trenches, bunkers, casemates, anti-tank walls and communication routes. They slept in wooden huts on bunk beds; local priests often brought spiritual and material assistance (clothing and food) to the men imprisoned there. In addition to forced labourers, there were many Italians who volunteered for Todt's service: with this activity they avoided conscription or deportation.The internees of the Socciglia labour camp were mainly employed for defence work in the Serchio river and in the construction of an imposing anti-tank wall (three metres high, about one and a half metres thick, and about 400 metres long) designed to control transit on the Brenner Road 12 and the Via Ludovica. The rampart crossed the Serchio at a point where the valley floor was very wide. Two concrete casemates equipped with anti-tank weapons were erected at both ends.The Germans, after the liberation of Lucca on 5 September 1944, the advancement of the front and the breakthrough of the Gothic in Mugello, abandoned Borgo a Mozzano and established the frontline further north, not using the defensive fortifications previously built. The camp was liberated together with the territory of Borgo a Mozzano in September 1944. The men who did not manage to escape were deported to other towns.A memorial stone in memory of the Socciglia labour camp was placed on 9 May 1999. Commemorations are held here every 27 January (Remembrance Day).

Socciglia labour camp memorial

Aldo Mei was born in Ruota, a hamlet of Capannori, on 3 March 1912. He entered the seminary at the age of 14 and was ordained a priest in 1935. He became parish priest of Fiano, a village in the town of Pescaglia. With the outbreak of the war, he formed relations with Father Arturo Paoli and the Oblates of the Holy Face, a community of young priests who provided assistance to war victims and those persecuted by the fascists.Father Aldo Mei acted in the first person: he helped and gave protection to displaced persons, Jews, anti-fascists, Allied soldiers who escaped from prison camps, draft dodgers. It also helped to provide food and support to partisans acting in the surrounding area. He was arrested by the Germans on 2 August 1944 shortly after celebrating mass. He was transferred to the Pia Casa in Via Santa Chiara in Lucca together with thirty other civilians arrested during the same roundup. There he was subjected to a summary trial and sentenced to death on charges of hiding and giving protection to a Jew, administering the sacraments to partisans and owning a radio. Before his execution, he wrote four letters (addressed to family members, his brother, his friend Adolfo and various acquaintances), in which he stated: "I am dying first of all for a reason of charity - for protecting and hiding a very dear young man." Despite attempts by Monsignor Torrini, archbishop of Lucca, to intercede for him, on the evening of 4 August 1944 he was led on foot outside the Medici walls near Porta Elisa in Lucca and was forced to dig his own grave, before being shot by a Wehrmacht platoon. His body was later exhumed and moved to the Barbantine nuns of Lucca in Via Elisa.On 4 August 1945, the first anniversary of his death, a monument in his memory was erected at the execution site. Father Aldo Mei was awarded the Silver Medal of Military Valour on 30 July 1977. His body was moved on 31 October 1987 and interred in the church of San Pietro Apostolo di Fiano (Pescaglia), after a solemn ceremony widely attended by the authorities and the community. His bloodied shirt, hat and glasses are displayed there in a glass case, while a monument in his honour has been erected outside. The Sentiero della Memoria e della Pace (Remembrance and Peace Route) that leads from the hamlet of Fiano (Pescaglia) to Monte Acuto was named after him. A number of towns in Lucca and Tuscany have named a street after him.

Tomb of Father Aldo Mei

After 8 September 1943, the province of Pistoia also became part of the Shoah, with raids organised by the Police Headquarters and carried out by local sections of the Carabinieri or the National Republican Guard, occasionally in collaboration with members of the German army or the SS.The D'Angeli family was Jewish and lived in Montecatini Terme, viale Grocco. Mario worked as a Manager at the Melani company, and his wife Renata Fiorentini was a housewife. With them were their sons Carlo, born in 1938, and Massimo, born in 1942. The family had been displaced here for a few years and were known in the town. On the night of 5-6 November 1943, a raid by German soldiers, SS, Carabinieri and local fascists led to the capture of 21 people in a few hours. They also broke into the D'Angeli family home. All four members, alongside Clara Rosa Modigliani, Mario's mother, were arrested.The moment of arrest was seen as crucial in the deportation process. Indeed, this was the first step, and a tragic one because it marked entry onto an obligatory path from which escape was difficult, if not impossible. The D'Angeli family was transferred to a prison in Florence within hours. On 9 November 1943 they left with convoy number 3 in the direction of Auschwitz, where they arrived on 14 November. They died that day. None of the others arrested in Montecatini survived.In 2011, the Town of Montecatini Terme named a kindergarten in memory of Massimo D'Angeli, the youngest member of the family. On 27 January 2022 in Viale Grocco, near the house, the Town of Montecatini Terme laid five 'Stumbling Stones', created by German artist Gunter Demnig, in memory of the family members: Mario D'Angeli, Carlo D'Angeli, Massimo D'Angeli, Renata Fiorentini, Clara Rosa Modigliani. The inauguration was attended by municipal authorities, the Jewish community, several student groups and various local associations.

Stumbling stones in memory of the imprisonment of the D'Angeli family

On the night of 6 June 1944, a partisan patrol of the Pistoia formation 'Magni Magnino', composed of Natale Tamburini, Leo Innocenti and Sergio Sorri, attacked a convoy of heavily armed Nazi vehicles on the Firenze-Mare motorway, at Traversagna in Massa and Cozzile. The clash was fierce and the partisans Innocenti and Sorri were killed, while the Germans suffered five casualties and a vehicle was set on fire.Tamburini was wounded and transported to the hospital in Pescia. His comrades tried to organise his release, but did not make it in time because, still convalescent, he was transferred to Villa Matteucci, located in the hamlet of Segromigno in Monte, Capannori. There, he was repeatedly tortured by the Nazis with the aim of extracting a confession from him with the names and locations of his partisan comrades. Two days later, on 16 June 1944, he was taken to the garden and shot. His body was buried in the local cemetery and later, after the liberation, brought back to Lamporecchio. During the funeral, for which his wife wanted to hold a religious ceremony, his coffin was wrapped by his companions in a red drape. However, the priest, Don Ferrali, declared that without the black drape he would not hold the service. After a heated discussion, the red drape was removed and put back at the exit of the church.Natale Tamburini was a Lamporecchio communist from Carmignano. He was registered by the fascists in the Casellario Politico Centrale (Central Political Records) and spent several years between Belgium and France. Constantly under surveillance, he was one of the promoters of Lamporecchio resistance and was involved in both the recruitment of new members and direct actions against the Germans. After the war, the Casa del Popolo and a street in the hamlet of Cerbaia, Lamporecchio, were named after him. Sergio Sorri, whose battle name was 'Comeana' from his hometown, was awarded the Bronze Medal for Military Valour on 24 September 1975 and the Spazio Giovani in Comeana was named after him in 2016. Leo Innocenti, whose battle name was 'Pallino', was awarded the Bronze Medal for Military Valour on 10 February 1986.A plaque, unveiled on 6 June 1946 and restored in 2009, stands at the site of the armed clash near the motorway.

Tombstone to fallen partisans Innocenti, Sorri, and Tamburini

San Quirico is a hamlet in the municipality of Pescia, located in the mountain area known as Svizzera pesciatina. It is one of the 'Ten Castles' of Valleriana. In the summer of 1944, the entire area was involved in events characterised by fierce violence against civiliansduring the German army's retreat towards the Gothic Line. There was a strong Nazi presence in the area to guard the road communication routes, in particular the Pescia-Bagni di Lucca and Pescia-San Marcello links, where San Quirico is located. The partisan actions of the GAP and the 11th Zone detachments made the German forces' movements and defensive strategies difficult through constant attacks and sabotage.It is in this context which the incident took place between 17 and 19 August 1944. On the evening of the 17 August, during a battle of fire triggered by an attempt to assassinate a local fascist, two German officers were killed. The alleged perpetrators were Austrian deserters and collaborators of the partisans. Fearing reprisals, the men fled and only women, children and the elderly remained in the village. On 19 August, German soldiers ordered those present to leave the village. Some fled, others were unable to do so and because of their age they were confined in the church. Houses were looted and set on fire, while the parish priest was ordered to dig a pit near the cemetery that could hold twenty bodies. In the meantime, a column of civilians forced to work for the Todt organisation passed along the road in the nearby hamlet of Pietrabuona, as was often the case, to complete the fortifications along the Gothic Line. From this line-up, 20 men were chosen: one tried to escape from the truck and was killed. The others were shot in three separate groups at the local cemetery, then buried there. The 65th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht was responsible for the massacre.A memorial stone was unveiled on the first anniversary of the massacre. In 1974, on the occasion of its 30th anniversary, it was restored. On 30 March 1980, the town of Pescia was decorated with the Bronze Medal of Military Valour. A plaque, bearing the motivation for the award of the Medal, was placed near the memorial stone. The massacre is commemorated every 19 August by the municipal administration, the ANPI and the local Pro Loco.

Memorial stone to the victims of the Nazi massacre of 19 August 1944

Carlo Cassola was born in Rome on 17 March 1917 into a petit-bourgeois family. He had a secular education and attended public school. His father, a socialist, passed on to him the libertarian tradition; his mother, on the other hand, instilled in him a love for Tuscany, which was a summer holiday destination in his youth. From the mid-1930s onwards, he developed an anti-fascist political consciousness, first by organising a university political protest group, which was soon disbanded, and then by reluctantly undertaking military service. In 1939, he graduated in law, but his real passion was literature: he taught, wrote and collaborated with various magazines.Starting in 1941, he first joined the liberal-socialist movement, then the Action Party. After the Armistice of Cassibile, he chose to participate in the Resistance against the German occupation and the Italian Social Republic. His activity was recognised from 1 January to 20 July 1944 in the communist-inspired 23rd Garibaldi Brigade Guido Boscaglia. Under the battle name 'Giacomo', he headed the explosives squad, operating in the area between Volterra, the Alta Val di Cecina and the Alto Grossetano. Displaced to Volterra, he contributed to the local section of the National Liberation Committee and supported several local anti-fascist newspapers, devoting himself full-time to political activity.In 1945 he settled in Florence where he collaborated with various magazines, including La Nazione del Popolo (newspaper of the Tuscan Liberation Committee). The following year he was among the initiators of the appeal 'Italian intellectuals for the Republic' calling for the abolition of the monarchy. In the meantime, he resigned from the Partito d'Azione (Action Party): this marked a sharp departure from political engagement in favour of resuming his literary profession. He recalled the Resistance experience in his novels and short stories, particularly in 'Fausto e Anna', an autobiographical book. The novel 'La ragazza di Bube', published in 1960, won the Strega prize and brought him great notoriety.In 1974 in Pescia, while attending a conference on Collodi, he met Pola Natali, a local girl, and he moved with her to Montecarlo in the province of Lucca in 1978. Here he died on 29 January 1987. He was buried in the local cemetery; the funeral was held in a strictly private civil ceremony.

Tomb of the partisan and writer Carlo Cassola

Like much of Italy after 8 September 1943, the town of Porcari, located in the province of Lucca, was involved in the German occupation and the rebirth of fascism under the government of the Italian Social Republic. Several young men joined the partisan brigades that were emerging in the area, in particular the 'Poggiocaro' formation that acted mainly in Porcari, Capannori and the surrounding area. Arcangelo Toschi was under its command. The partisan team excelled in the collection of weapons, sabotage activities and the exchange of information with the Allied forces, with whom they established an excellent collaboration.The town was hit several times by the Allies, both by bombs and shelling, (the latter in the summer period after the advance of the Front), which caused several civilian casualties, including Raffaello Toschi, Giuseppe Benetti and Arcangelo Del Carlo. The German army and the republicans managed to shoot down some Allied planes, without capturing the soldiers who had taken refuge with some local families before attempting to cross the front. On 3 September 1944, Pietro Della Nina was shot by the Germans after being captured together with Francesco Franceschini, who managed to save himself. Porcari was liberated on 4 September 1944.The War Memorial was placed next to the town hall in 1929, a work commissioned from the sculptor Alfredo Angeloni by the Municipality of Porcari, in memory of the soldiers who died during WWI. After 1945, the monument was also dedicated to the victims of WWII. The base is made of concrete in the shape of a cube and consists of various geometric elements and a bronze slab in the centre, in which the text "To the fallen of all wars" is inscribed. A bronze sculpture above the plinth features a woman in classical clothing, an allegorical representation of Victory, as she shoots an arrow at the enemy and protects the body of a soldier who died for the Fatherland. The two sides feature plaques bearing the names of the fallen soldiers and civilians of WWI and WWII. Porcari's WWII civilian victims included the following names: Benetti Giuseppe, Della Nina Pietro, Matteucci Giuseppe, Toschi Raffaello, Del Carlo Arcangelo.

Monument to the Fallen of All Wars

The Museo della Memoria (Remembrance Museum) was inaugurated on 2 October 2022 and it is housed in the rectory premises next to the church of San Giusto di Brancoli, in a larger and completely renovated location than the previous museum on site. It consists of the museum halls, a large conference hall (named after Piergiorgio Romboli) and an archive with a documentary and photographic heritage of high historical value.The museum was built by the members of the Brancoli Gothic Line Committee and results from many years of research into both history and objects about World War II. The hall is divided into thematic areas: the 'from the Battlefields' hall houses excavation material found in the area, such as mines, armaments and ammunition, and a miniature reproduction of a minefield, which is useful for understanding the danger of these devices; the 'conferences and historical archive' hall contains a thematically divided photographic exhibition and a specialist library; the 'German and Italian Army (of the Regio Esercito)' hall contains various materials used by the soldiers or equipment, such as uniforms and helmets, as well as a reproduction of a bunker modelled on those built along the Gothic Line; the 'Ivan J. Houston Allied Forces' hall (named after the sergeant of the 92nd Infantry Division, known as the Buffalo Soldier Division, of the United States Army that liberated the Serchio Valley) displays various types of materials that belonged to the Allied army, including several objects donated by Houston's own son, as well as equipment from the peasant culture that first came into contact with the Americans in 1944. The area was in fact liberated by the Allied army and partisans at the end of September 1944.The museum, a true place of memory, aims to keep memories alive and preserve objects from WWII. It is a cultural and attractive centre for schools, citizens and tourists. Visitors are given details of the material, uniforms and exhibits. Guided tours, by reservation only, are also possible to the Gothic Line fortifications on Monte Pittone along a route of high historical and scenic value.

San Giusto di Brancoli Remembrance Museum

On 24 January 2003, at the suggestion of Gariwo President, Gabriele Nissim, the Garden of the Righteous of the World was inaugurated in Milan. It is located in the large green area of Monte Stella, on a hill formed by the accumulation of rubble caused by Allied bombing. The garden is the third of its kind in the world, after those in Jerusalem and Yerevan, and was the first of almost one hundred now existing in Italy.In Milan, the first trees were dedicated to Moshe Bejski for the Righteous of the Shoah, Pietro Kuciukian in honour of the Righteous of the Armenians, and Svetlana Broz for the Righteous against ethnic cleansing in the Balkans. Since 13 November 2008, the management of the Garden has been entrusted to the Association for the Milan Garden of the Righteous founded by the Municipality of Milan, the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, and Gariwo. From the activity of this place, the Day of the Righteous, on 6 March, was born. This was introduced by the European Parliament in 2012 and became a civil solemnity in Italy in 2017.In 2019, the Garden was renovated with a project by architects Stefano Valabrega and Giacomo Crepax. It now houses a true path among the Righteous. After discovering the stories of the exemplary figures honoured with a tree and a memorial stone, visitors can walk through the Viale del Bene (Avenue of Good), to the Albero della Memoria (Tree of Memory), where the plaques dedicated to the new Righteous begin. Continuing on, visitors reach the Spazio del Dialogo (Dialogue Space), a small space with a few seats where they can reflect, read, and converse. Continuing on their walk, visitors come to a particular work, the Albero delle Virtù (Tree of Virtues). The geometry recalls the map of the city of Milan, and the engraved words represent the values that guide the actions of the Righteous: solidarity, human rights, civil courage, memory, truth. Finally, at the end of the path, surrounded by trees, there is an Amphitheatre dedicated to Ulianova Radice, the director of Gariwo who passed away in 2018. There are currently 80 righteous people remembered. The garden is always open.

The Garden of the Righteous of the World

The church and monastery date back to the mid-14th century, with some renovations in the late 17th century. At the beginning of Twentieth century the facility was considerably enlarged to accommodate the community of the Grande Chartreuse expelled from the France. Farneta was the mother house of the Carthusian Order from 1903 to 1940.During the last phase of WWII, the monks, with the support of Archbishop Antonio Torrini, took in civilian refugees, Jews and partisans. The night between 1 and 2 September 1944 the retreating SS broke into the Charterhouse with a stratagem, rounded up the 100 or so people present, corralled them and forced the monks to wear civilian clothes. The next day the prisoners were transported in three lorries to an oil mill in Nocchi di Camaiore, where they suffered violence and decimation.On 4 September, not far from Nocchi, at Pioppetti, as many as 35 people were killed, about 20 of them from the Charterhouse.At dawn on 6 September, the SS divided the remaining prisoners into three groups.The first, composed of some 15 Carthusians, among whom the master father and the novice bishop, was transferred near Camaiore. The two prelates were shot on the morning of the 7th during a transfer on foot from the Camaiore prison to Fort Malaspina in Massa.The second group, consisting of all the other fathers, was taken on a 4 km walk to the Sammellager in Carrara, where a new selection took place: two fathers and six brothers considered unfit for work were transferred to fort Malaspina. Here they were joined by the veterans of the first group, these ten clergy were shot dead on the 10th, together with 27 other people (7 of them from the Charterhouse) at Fosse del Frigido.The third group, made up of the youngest and most valuable, was imprisoned in the Dogali prison in Carrara and then deported to Germany.The Carthusian monks were awarded the Gold Medal of Civil Valour whereas the procurator, Father Gabriele Costa was awarded the Gold Medal of Civil Valour.Two plaques were placed on the walls of the Charterhouse, one in 1954 and one in 1985.

Charterhouse of Farneta

Piazza della Resistenza, known by the people of Pistoia as 'Piazza d'Armi', is one of the symbolic places of the remembrance of city's resistance and was the site of the Allied field hospital after the Liberation.&nbsp;The main monument is the War Memorial, which was inaugurated in 1957. It is composed of three massive coarse blocks of red limestone, extracted from a quarry in Monsummano Terme, which form the base, core and top of the monument. The work symbolises the strength, perseverance and sacrifice of the partisans who perished in the War of Liberation. It is surrounded by a low, circular hedge, which is interrupted to allow frontal access. Commemorative ceremonies are held here every year on 25 April (Liberation of Italy) and 8 September (Liberation of Pistoia).&nbsp;New memorial installations related to WWII were created in the square and in the immediate vicinity: a monument to the child victims of the Shoah; a plaque to the women enlisted in the Força Expedicionária Brasileira (FEB); a plaque to the Roma who were persecuted and deported by the Nazis; and a plaque to the Jew Renato Moscato, captured in Pistoia and victim of the Shoah. Two further plaques are currently planned: one dedicated to the Women's Defence Groups, a resistance formation that also originated in the Pistoia area, and another one to the Jewish partisans of Pistoia.&nbsp;The neighbouring Medici fortress at Santa Barbara also serves as a site of resistance remembrance. Here, on 31 March 1944, Italian Social Republic troops shot four men among deserters and draft dodgers: Alvaro Boccardi, Aldo Calugi, Lando Vinicio Giusfredi and Valoris Poli. A plaque was put up in their memory.&nbsp;Finally, an adjacent street was dedicated to the partisan commander Manrico 'Pippo' Ducceschi and the nearby ARCI club La Fortezza was named after the partisan Loriano Bugiani, who died on 9 September 1944.&nbsp;A project by the Pistoia municipality, CUDIR and a number of local associations is underway to transform Piazza della Resistenza into a 'Park of Remembrance'.

Resistance Square

The Monte Sole area - in the towns of Marzabotto, Grizzana Morandi and Monzuno - was the scene of the Nazi massacre with the highest number of civilian victims in Italy and Western Europe in the period 1943-1945. During the so-called 'Marzabotto Massacre', also referred to as the 'Monte Sole Massacre', between 29 September and 5 October 1944, German units mostly belonging to the 16th Grenadier Division Reichsführer-SS, supported by fascist elements of the Italian Social Republic, indiscriminately slaughtered almost 800 people, mostly women and children, in an anti-partisan land reclamation operation.&nbsp;The town of Marzabotto was awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valour by Luigi Einaudi, President of the Italian Republic, on 25 September 1949. In 1961, the War Memorial was inaugurated: the solemn ceremony was attended by tens of thousands of people, including Defence Minister Giulio Andreotti.&nbsp;The war memorial was placed in the crypt of the St. Joseph and St. Charles parish church building. It contains the bodies of 778 civilian and partisan victims (mostly residents of Marzabotto, Monzuno and Grizzana Morandi) killed in the Monte Sole massacre and the remains of 404 soldiers who were killed in WWI and WWII. The remains are placed in niches along the side walls of the crypt, in individual tombs or in collective urns. Some have never been identified. Four plaques commemorate the Gold Medals awarded to Don Giovanni Fornasini, Francesco Calzolari, Mario Musolesi and Gastone Rossi. The memorial contains the works of artist Stella Angelini who, in the painting around the altar, in the gold foil triptych and in eight bronze compositions, portrayed situations and feelings related to the war, the massacre and the partisan fight.&nbsp;The War Memorial belongs to the Ministry of Defence and is managed by the General Commissariat for the Honours to War Victims, which relies on a special annual agreement entered into with the Town of Marzabotto to ensure its day-to-day management.&nbsp;Several plaques are placed outside the War Memorial in memory of the several international city-martyrs with whom Marzabotto had contact.

War Memorial Marzabotto

The path that led to the establishment of the House of Culture and Memory in Marzabotto was long and complex. The site was located in a completely restored building where the town's primary school used to be.It performs several functions: it is a multifunctional institute equipped to welcome students, delegations and tourists who visit the town and the Parco Storico di Monte Sole (Monte Sole Historical Park) every day. It hosts organisations, associations and cultural bodies. It is a centre for the preservation of documentary and bibliographic material and a place made available to local associations. It hosts the Municipal Library, which holds over 10.000 open-shelf volumes, including the book collection of the Honours Committee, guaranteeing reading and lending; the Municipal Historical Archive; the "Painting and Remembrance" art collection, which includes the works presented in the 1960 and 1961 competitions in remembrance of the Nazi-Fascist massacres of '44; the archive of the Honours Committee, comprising the Documentation Centre for the study of Nazi-Fascist massacres and war reprisals, which preserves both book material and archival documentation divided into paper, audio-visual and photographic collections: the local Pro loco, the offices of the Monte Sole Historical Park; the headquarters of the Regional Committee for Honours to the Fallen of Marzabotto, the Association of Victims of the Nazi-Fascist massacres in Grizzana, Marzabotto, Monzuno and surrounding areas in 1943-44. the Family Centre of the Bolognese Apennines, etc. In 2021, the Monte Sole Interpretation Centre was inaugurated in a section of the building, a place of remembrance divided into three rooms: the first on rural life in Monte Sole in the years before the massacre, the second on the war and the massacres of 1944, the third on the Resistance and the partisan brigade 'Stella Rossa Lupo', named after the commander Mario Musolesi, who was killed on 29 September 1944 and decorated with the Gold Medal of Military Valour. The exhibition includes explanatory panels, photographs, objects and documentary material.

House of Culture and Memory

The village of Cereglio, located in the town of Vergato about 10 kilometres from the capital, was included in the last retreat of the Gothic Line and remained under the control of the Nazi army from September 1943 to April 1945. The heights overlooking the villages were an integral part of the defensive ridge line from which the Germans controlled the Reno valley and access to the Porrettana state road. In mid-April, the Allied army liberated the territory up to Mount Pero. Instead, American and Brazilian troops made the final onslaught and apprehended several German soldiers.&nbsp;On 23 April 1989, the Associazione Nazionale Partigiani d'Italia (ANPI) (National Association of Italian Partisans) promoted the installation of a monument about one kilometre upstream of the village of Cereglio, near the crossroads going up towards Tolè on the Cereglio-Zocca road. It bears the following inscription: "In this hilly setting, united by their love of peace, freedom and social justice, American and Brazilian soldiers and partisans from Italy fought against tyranny and Nazi-fascist terror.&nbsp;On 6 April 2019, next to the monument in remembrance of combatants, the 'new' war memorial entitled 'Geode della Memoria' (Geode of Remembrance) was inaugurated. The monument was commissioned by the Vergato section of the ANPI, the ANPI Provincial Committee of Bologna and created by Paolo Gualandi in collaboration with the 'I.I.S.' school. Luigi Fantini'. The monument replaced a copper work stolen from the same location a few years earlier.

Geode of Remembrance

Rocchetta Mattei was built by Count Cesare Mattei (1809-1896) on the ruins of the Rocca di Savignano, an ancient residence dating back to medieval times. The castle was built between 1850 and 1871 and modified several times by both the count and his heirs. Inside, there is a labyrinth of towers, monumental staircases, reception rooms and private chambers, built in very different styles: from neo-medieval to neo-Renaissance, Moorish to Art Nouveau.&nbsp;Within a short time, Rocchetta Mattei was known all over Europe and became famous as a cure house where certain alternative medicine methods were experimented with, in particular electromeopathy, and where electromeopathic products were prepared and shipped everywhere. The castle brought work and prosperity to many families in the area.&nbsp;After the Armistice, it was occupied by Third Reich troops and was turned into the headquarters of the 2nd Battalion of the 36th Regiment of the 16th. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division 'Reichsführer SS'. The interior spaces were completely devastated and many valuable pieces of furniture were burnt to heat the rooms. In the days before the Liberation, the fleeing soldiers stole all kinds of goods (documents, jewellery, paintings, Persian carpets, tapestries, etc.). This is why visitors today find it almost completely unfurnished.&nbsp;On 9 November 1944, near Rocchetta Mattei, 18-year-old partisan Giovanni Rastelletti, battle name 'Bobi', belonging to the Folloni brigade of the Modena Montagna division, was killed by German shrapnel.&nbsp;The Rocchetta Mattei, described as a real fairytale castle, is now open to the public and can be visited by appointment.

Rocchetta Mattei Castle

Antonio Giuriolo, a literature graduate, anti-fascist and intellectual, came from Arzignano (VI) where he was active in the local Italian anti-fascist resistance movement Giustizia e Libertà and where he was among the organisers of the Veneto Resistance after 8 September 1943. Due to a wound in one hand, he was hospitalised under a false name at the Putti orthopaedic centre in Bologna, where other partisans were being cared for. There he was persuaded to reorganise the Matteotti Montagna brigade, which had been formed in the spring of 1944, but was without a commander at the time.&nbsp;He assumed leadership of the formation in July 1944; the operational area was the Upper Reno Valley, on the border between Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany. In cooperation with the Modena Armando Division, the brigade took part in the liberation of numerous Apennine towns in September-October 1944, including Porretta Terme. Later, it was rearmed and equipped by the Allies, taking over a large section of the front.&nbsp;On 12 December 1944, partisans captured a German post in Corona, a hamlet in the town of Lizzano in Belvedere west of Monte Belvedere, but were counter-attacked by Nazi troops. Antonio Giuriolo, called Toni, while covering his retreating men, was hit by a burst of machine-gun fire. Partisans Pietro Galiani and Nino Venturi also perished that day. The brigade continued its war operations until April 1945 and recorded 181 recognised partisans of whom 24 died and 19 were wounded.&nbsp;The monument, erected at the behest of the local ANPI section and the town of Porretta Terme, was inaugurated on 15 December 1946 to commemorate Giuriolo and the fallen partisans. Two dates are engraved on the stone: 19/07/1944, when Giuriolo took command of the brigade (according to some sources it was 10 or 16 July), and 12/12/1944, the day of his death. The ceremony was attended by Giuriolo's family members, civil and military authorities, and representatives of neighbourhood parties.

Monument to Captain Tony and the Fallen Partisans

The summer of 1944 was the bloodiest season of the entire Nazi occupation. In the course of the retreat towards the Gothic Line in Tuscany, events characterised by ruthless cruelty were recorded: fires, destruction, raids and executions were carried out against civilians. The hilly territory of Pistoia province was involved in this massacre trail until early autumn, that is to say, shortly before the war front was stabilised on the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines.&nbsp;The killing of Dorindo Nicodemi, aged 52, and Alfredo Ballotti, aged 29, respectively uncle and nephew, residents of Castagno di Piteccio, falls within this context. Both railwaymen, they were captured by the Germans during a round-up and were forced to transport war material along the Porrettana road. They were released in Ponte alla Venturina, in the province of Bologna, and from there they took the path back along the Limentra stream. At 8 a.m. on 27 September 1944, they reached the village of Spedaletto where they were shot dead at close range by an SS patrol from the 36th regiment, for no apparent reason. Their bodies were temporarily buried there, almost on the riverbank, before being transported to Piteccio on 13 October 1944.&nbsp;The SS unit responsible for the massacre remained in Spedaletto for a few more days before moving to Taviano. The legend that has spread in the area is that here they were caught up by the Allies and, barricaded in the cellar of a building, they were tracked down and partly killed by machine-gun fire and hand grenades.&nbsp;On 26 September 1999, a memorial stone, consisting of a plaque resting on a stone topped with a small cross, was erected at the site of the killing of Nicodemi and Ballotti.

Memorial stone to civilians Nicodemi and Ballotti

The Porrettana railway line played a strategic role in the 1943-1945 period and provided a direct connection between Pistoia and Bologna across the Apennines. It was an excellent alternative to the direct Prato-Bologna line, which was often hit by Anglo-American aircraft. Supplies and goods shipped to northern Italy and Germany passed through here. The Allies tried several times to hit the line viaducts, making such line progressively unfit for rail traffic. The Germans used it as a road route anyway, which was more inconvenient but safer due to the presence of many tunnels.The Anglo-American shelling on 28 April 1944 was aimed at destroying the railway viaduct above Piteccio, but only caused damage to one of the arches. The sounding of the air-raid alarm began at 11.35 a.m. and ended after about an hour at 12.32 p.m. Within minutes, the village was completely devastated and 38 people were killed, including many children. Thirty private homes were destroyed and around twenty were damaged. The electricity came back on after forty-eight hours, the aqueduct was only restored after many days, and the telephone connection to Pistoia in mid-May had still not been reactivated.This was followed by further shelling, which did not end until late summer. The Piteccio Bridge was mined and blown up on 24 July 1944 by German sappers in anticipation of the retreat towards the Gothic Line. The railway building, stations, service facilities, viaducts, bridges and tunnels of the Porrettana were completely destroyed during the war, first by Allied bombing, then by Nazi troops. Post-war reconstruction of the railway line was started and completed in 1949. A few years later, a plaque was installed at the entrance of the church in Piteccio to commemorate the names of those who had fallen in the Allied raid. At the foot of the gravestone in 1982, the casing of a large aeroplane bomb found intact during excavations was placed. In 1994, a striking monument in memory of the bombing of 28 April 1944 was unveiled in a green area below the viaduct. The plinth was made by Federico Filoni while the bronze design was created by Giordano Pini.

Monument in memory of the Allied air raid

In 1941, Italian troops occupied Yugoslavia and several divisions were stationed inside the country. After the Armistice, the soldiers had few choices: try to return home, surrender to the Germans or fight them. The Taurinense and Venezia divisions, the latter partly composed of Tuscan soldiers, opted for armed resistance and, on 2 December 1943, they formed themselves in Pljevlja, Montenegro, as the 'Garibaldi Italian Partisan Division', comprising some 20,000 soldiers. In the following months, the Division fought the Nazi troops alongside the People's Liberation Army led by Marshal Josip Broz Tito. It recorded thousands of dead or missing men and returned to Italy in March 1945.&nbsp;The decorated members of the Resistance in the Balkans from Pistoia include: Arrigo Bertini, Foriero Cappelli, Giuseppe Dolfi, Dino Lastrucci, Silvano Pastacaldi, Aldo Vannacci. One of them, veterinarian and partisan Villy Pasquali, who died in battle, was awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valour and, in Pistoia, a garden and a memorial have been dedicated to him.&nbsp;On 25 April 1992 in Pistoia, a monument designed by Umberto Civinini was unveiled in remembrance of the Pistoiese fighters in the division in a green area of the 'Le Fornaci' district. There were about 200 of them, including those from the province. The work came to life from a block of rough marble from Tuscany. The four cardinal points are schematically highlighted on the round base, a circle representing the 'perfect world'. A sword tip rises from the large boulder: Civinini envisioned it as the same one that Giuseppe Garibaldi always wore at his side. The blade points towards the sky, protected by large trees that surround it. The sky sees that point and symbolically remembers the men, the partisans, the fallen of the Garibaldi division, everywhere in the world and in the celestial infinity.&nbsp;Occasional commemorative events and ceremonies are held at the monument.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Monument to the Pistoiese partisans

Villa Henraux is an important historical residence in Versilia. Built in 1897 in Art Nouveau style by the descendant of a Napoleonic officer turned marble entrepreneur, it was purchased in 1922 by Nello Pilli, son of the doctor and philanthropist Bettino. The latter, a lawyer and poet, hosted Giacomo Puccini, Guglielmo Marconi and Gabriele D'Annunzio among others; but above all, he turned it into his love nest with Ukrainian princess Gabriella Kourtsoh De Solva Sevrouk.The villa is located on the Via d'Arni towards Seravezza, just past the Pratale bridge. It was a strategic position, on the only road connecting Versilia and Garfagnana, close to the Apuan Alps and near the Gothic Line construction site.The SS in fact requisitioned it on 12 July 1944, installing the German command post there. It then became a place of arrest, detention, torture for all local anti-fascists. The main anti-partisan offensives of the summer were also directed from here, which also resulted in several civilian massacres.On the 27th, as a plaque outside recalls, seven men who had been rounded up in Livorno were shot there. On the 29th a shot was fired at the villa and in retaliation the Germans arrested four local civilians. They hanged two of them from light poles and shot the other two just below, near the bridge, which has since then been sadly known as the 'bridge of the hanged'.The villa was heavily damaged by the passage of the bridge.In 1949, it was bought by a Marian Congregation, which established a girls' boarding school there for orphans of fallen naval personnel.In 2003 it was restored to its former glory and now houses a holiday home.

Villa Henraux

The primary school was established in Nozzano Castello in the early 1920s. It was located in the Piazza, in a two-storey building with classrooms below and the teacher's flat above. In 1928 it was named after Ermenegildo Pistelli.On 24 July 1944, the Germans requisitioned it and made it the divisional prison, assigning its command to Lieutenant Gehrard Walter. The military tribunal was located not far away in Bordogna. Displaced persons, stragglers and roundups were collected here in the following weeks.Religious men such as Father Giorgio Bigongiari, Father Angelo Unti and Father Libero Raglianti; and teachers such as Mario Bigongiari, Leila Farnocchia and Livia Gereschi also passed through.Opponents were tortured and then killed, in various parts of the surrounding area. Between 1 August and 2 September, more than 80 prisoners were shot.Many others were sent for deportation. Before leaving the area, the Germans blew up the building. On 8 September Nozzano was liberated.The new schools, built not far away, just off the square, were built in 1948 and opened on 11 December 1949. A plaque on the façade commemorates the old building and its tragic history.Another was placed next to it in 1954.A stele commemorating the violence of 1944 was unveiled in 1989 in the garden of the war memorial.

Nozzano Primary School

Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, but for everyone 'Piazza Grande', was the centre of town life since the early 20th century.Here, on 16 May 1921, Pietro Nieri (caulker) and Enrico Paolini (sailor), two 'workers of the sea', were killed by the fascists. Since the post-war period, the square has been named after them; and in 1971, a plaque was placed on the Town Council to remember them. Here, on 3 July 1927, Pnf (National Fascist Party) Secretary Augusto Turati inaugurated the Casa del Fascio (later moved to Via Mazzini in 1940).A large popular demonstration for the fall of fascism was held here on 26 July 1943, during which the communist Leonardo di Giorgio, later a member of the local Cln, spoke. The Carabinieri stepped in to break it up and the anti-fascists were locked up in the Matilde tower.Here on 8 September, the Germans occupied the old town hall, located in the so-called Regio Casino, which was later destroyed by bombing on 12 May 1944 (like the nearby Pacini Theatre).The new town hall was built here after the war.Unfortunately, the subsequent transformation of the square into a car park depreciated its historical value.

Piazza Grande 

Forte lorenese, known to all as 'il Fortino', was built in 1788 by Grand Duke Leopold for defensive and commercial purposes.After unification, it was barracks for the customs guard and then the finance guard. It was also used as a marble warehouse.In 1928 it was renamed Palazzo Littorio and became the headquarters of local fascism.Mussolini's speech announcing the declaration of war was broadcast from here on 10 June. After 8 September, local fascism was among the first to re-establish itself, under the leadership of Vincenzo Gasperetti; and it was immediately among the leading players in the anti-partisan repression. This was the starting point for the expeditions of 24 February 1944 against five local partisans, who were then taken to Lucca: 28 February and 16 April in Ruosina against Gino Lombardi, 12 May against eight other anti-fascists, including the parents of partisan Piero Pierini, who were then transferred to Colle di Compito. After the war, the fort was renovated and became the seat of the post office. Today it houses the Museum of Satire and Caricature

Forte lorenese

The Historical Museum of the Resistance is housed in the village's old primary school. It was inaugurated as a picture gallery in the autumn of 1982 by the President of the Republic Sandro Pertini. On 19 September 1991 it was transformed into the current Historical Museum of the Resistance by regional law. Until June 2005, it hosted a historical-documentary exhibition, chronologically retracing the phases of the Resistance in Versilia and the massacres carried out by the Nazi-Fascists in the Tyrrhenian sector of the Gothic Line. In February 2007, the current exhibition, designed by Pietro Carlo Pellegrini and divided into thematic sections (the war, the German occupation, the Resistance, the massacres) was inaugurated. The upper floor hosts the exhibition I bambini ricordano (Children remember), where Oliviero Toscani's photos depict some survivors, children on 12 August 1944, alongside their testimonies. The history of the Sant'Anna massacre is retraced in the Red Room; along with the history of historical research on the subject, right up to the trial proceedings against the defendants of the massacre, which ended on 22 June 2005 at the Military Court of La Spezia, which continued with the Appeal sentence in October 2006 and reached final ratification by the Supreme Court of Cassation in November 2007, with the confirmation of the life sentence of ten SS. The exhibition was enhanced in 2013 with new multimedia installations by Space. A Hall of Remembrance was also created, a moment of concluding reflection for the visitor.A sculptural reproduction of a detail from Picasso's 'Guernica' is placed on the external façade, next to the plaque bearing Calamandrei's Ode to KesselringThe museum also houses a collection of paintings and sculptures. It includes an archive and a specialised library; it has a teaching room dedicated to Father Ernesto Balducci.

Sant'Anna di Stazzema Historical Museum of the Resistance

Largo Risorgimento, in the 16th September Park (the date of the Liberation of Viareggio), houses the Monument to Resistance and Peace, erected by the town council in September 1998, where the Allied and partisan forces passed through in September 1944 to liberate the town. The monument, designed by architect Bruno Belluomini and donated to the town by the Versilia Committee of the ANPI, comprises a number of columns recovered from the rubble of the old Town Hall destroyed by bombing in May 1944, raised on a circular plinth. This is pierced by a wall in which a rectangular opening, the 'Gate of Freedom', is opened. On the wall there is a mosaic by Belgian artist Jean-Michel Folon, the 'Dove of Peace', and verses by Salvatore Quasimodo are reproduced: “And how could we have sung with our foreign feet above our hearts?.”&nbsp;

Monument to Resistance and Peace

One of the main features of the Allied troops involved on the Gothic Line was the highly varied ethnic background.Within the American army alone, African Americans, Native American Indians, and Jews were represented.Particularly worth mentioning is the story of the 'nisei', the soldiers born in America but of Japanese origin. Their regiment, the 442 Infantry, stood out in WWII as the most decorated regiment ever. Their role was particularly critical in the attacks on Mount Folgorito and Mount Canala in April 1945, as part of Operation 'Second Wind', which allowed the break of the Western Gothic Line and the liberation of Massa and Carrara. The monument in Pietrasanta, which specifically commemorates Sadao Munemori, is dedicated to them. Born in Los Angeles in 1922, enlisted as a private in the 100th Battalion, he fell on 5 April 1945 on Mount Canala (known as 'Georgia Hill') to save two fellow soldiers. For this he was awarded the Medal of Honour on 7 March 1946.The work of Marcello Tommasi and inaugurated in 2000, the monument is located along Viale Apua, at the time an American artillery base.The statue is a traditional venue for the 16 September and 25 April celebrations, which in 2019 also hosted a Japanese American delegation.

Monument to the Allied Soldier

The Palazzo Littorio in Camaiore was built in 1940.During the CSR, the 'Palazzo' became the site of arrests and torture, in which Franco Casamassima and Ernesto Cirillo, commander of the Black Brigade, stood out.Between 18 and 24 August 1944, eight people were killed in Camaiore as part of the roundups on the Gothic Line, including the town doctor, Dr. Carlo Romboni.Six victims are commemorated on a plaque placed in 1954 on the exterior façade of the Palace. Romboni and mechanic Giovannino Zucca also have a dedicated plaque in the Badia tombs.

Palazzo Littorio

The parish church of Torre del Lago, dedicated to St. Joseph, dates back to the end of the 18th century. It is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and oldest in the area, thanks to the frescoes by Torrelaga painter Ferruccio Orlandi.Giacomo Puccini's funeral took place here on 29 November 1926.On 8 September 1944, fleeing Germans undermined the church, damaging the bell tower (built in 1904) and the apse.On the 11th, the British troops arrived and the city was liberated.The church was rebuilt in 1951.On 11 September 1983, a bas-relief by Serafino Beconi (1925-1997) describing village life in the summer of 1844 was placed on the north wall.It depicts, interspersed with allegorical figures of animals, bombings, displacements, cattle raids, labour raids, funerals of the dead.It also recalls Velio Bini and Lelio Gori, who were involved in the massacre at Valpromaro on 30 June; Ettore Tofanelli, who was sent for deportation and killed on 19 August in the massacre at San Quirico di Valleriana; and Guido Francesconi, who was killed by the Germans on 7 September for opposing their harassment.The exploits of the Padule partisans, led by Silvio Orlandi, are also recounted.

Bas-relief for the Liberation at Torre del Lago 

There has been controversy throughout the world over Pius XII's public silence on the Shoah. However, the Catholic Church undoubtedly played a decisive role during WWII. In Italy, it exercised a kind of mothering both of the population towards collapse of the political authorities.It also distinguished itself in rescuing different categories of persecuted people: soldiers who strayed after 8 September, former Allied prisoners, and Jews. In particular, the Vatican palaces and Roman convents became places of absconding for many antifascist leaders.In the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary, for example, several members of the CLN found refuge: president Ivanoe Bonomi, Meuccio Ruini, Pietro Nenni, Alcide De Gasperi, Marcello Soleri (these two only until February), Alessandro Casati, Giuseppe Bergamini, Giuseppe Saragat (from January, after his escape from Regina Coeli).In addition to the seminary, there were also people sheltered in the other buildings of the extraterritorial area:&nbsp;the Pontifical Lateran University, the palace of the canons of St. John's, the convent of the canon penitentiaries of the basilica and the convent of the Passionists at the Holy Stairs. In total, the number of refugees in the Lateran area amounted to about eight hundred people.&nbsp;In addition to the anti-fascist leaders, a few main players of the Resistance Movement such as General Roberto Bencivenga and the Gappist Piero Calamandrei also passed through here. Then there were the four ministers of the Badoglio government who had not followed the king to Brindisi, as well as some relatives of Marshal Badoglio himself (and also his enemy Graziani).There were also renegades, diplomats, professionals, industrialists, professors and university students (among them many Jews, such as the philosopher of law Giorgio Del Vecchio, the geographer Roberto Almagià, the mathematician Federico Enriquez, the student Raniero Panzieri; altogether more than 50 Jews were saved).The mediating role of certain prelates was important: the rector Father Roberto Ronca, but also his substitute Giovan Battista Montini and Cardinal Nicola Canali; and above all Father Pietro Barbieri, whose home at 14 Via Cernaia, near the Marian Fathers, had become a place of temporary accommodation and clandestine meetings.

The Resistance in the convent

The Military Conspiracy Center, later the Clandestine Military Front, was created by General Antonio Sorice in the aftermath of the armistice.Colonel Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, former member of the general staff and head of the Civil Affairs office of the Rome Open City command, was placed in charge. The latter entered the underground at the end of September under the name of Eng. Giacomo Cateratto, later Prof. Giuseppe Martini.He undertook to link the wards that remained loyal to the king and made contact with the sovereign in early October, becoming his official representative.He managed to build a very solid network, especially in central Italy, organizing a military structure that also involved the Navy and Carabinieri; and an intelligence service in connection with the Allies.In December 1943 he drafted and circulated directives for guerrilla warfare in which emphasis was placed on sabotage activities, intelligence gathering and maintaining public order after the German retreat. He also subtracted watermarked paper with which he made and circulated fake ration cards.However, the wait-and-see attitude contrasted with the Cln line, and the tension was not resolved even with Montezemolo's entry into the military junta.Cooperation became more active after the Anzio landings and in preparation for the liberation of Rome. But Montezemolo overexposed himself and was arrested on January 25, along with his friend Filippo de Grenet, as he was leaving a meeting with General Armellini. He was taken to Via Tasso, segregated for 58 and tortured several times . He was later among the victims of the Fosse Ardeatine.After his death the command of the Front passed first to Qurino Armellini and then to Roberto Bencivenga. From May 16 to 23 the Germans arrested several representatives of the Front, and on the 29th also the chief of staff Angelo Odone.They also attempted to arrest Bencivenga in Lateran but failed.In all, the Front engaged more than 1,600 people, over 2,000 of whom were militarily active.

Clandestine Military Front

Prato is world-famous for its textile industry based on reuse and the so-called circular economy. Starting in the 19th century, full-cycle wool mills began to spring up in the town, whose production process used rags or the low-value scraps of yarn and fabric production, to be transformed into finished and ennobled fabrics. In the post-war period, small artisans established themselves by working with rags imported from the United States of America or made from the same uniforms used by soldiers during the war. After the liberation of Florence on 11 August 1944, the Allies stayed for several days on the banks of the Arno River. The advance only resumed at the beginning of September and on the 6th of the same month the South Africans entered Prato, without encountering any resistance from the Germans. However, that morning they were preceded by some partisan formations that reached the town centre, occupying the Town Hall. The South African advance continued towards Figline. The Germans had meanwhile retreated to the Apennine mountains, entrenching themselves in the defences of the Gothic Line.

Liberation of Prato

The contribution of women to the Resistance was fundamental, despite being underestimated for a long time.On 8 September, they carried out an important operation to save straggling soldiers, along with the other groups of persecuted people. Following this, they then became directly involved in partisan activity: often as relay girls, but in some cases also as fighting partisans. The choice to join the Resistance Movement was even more significant for women, because it was not induced by conscription notices. However, even at the end of the war, their role in the Liberation parades and in the recognition commissions was still underestimated.In recent years, however, both historiography and public memory have recovered and enhanced it. This is also demonstrated by the plaque which was placed in 2014 in Via del Loreto, near the town hall and the ANPI headquarters.Among the women protagonists of the Lucca Resistance were Maria Lazzareschi, GDD leader; Nara Marchetti, partisan fighter and later UDI and ANPI leader; and Maria Eletta Martini, relay girl and later a main figure of Catholic associationism.

Plaque to Women in the Resistance

Vasco Braschi (1908-1944) and Luciano Tonelli (1913-1944) were two communist partisans from Lucca. They were killed on 5 September 1944, the day of the Liberation of Lucca, victims of the ammunition fire with which the Germans protected their retreat towards the safer positions on the Gothic Line. Nine other partisans died along with them.Braschi, on duty at an air-raid shelter, was wounded by a grenade and later died on 13 September in hospital. Tonelli was shot in a fight of ammunition fire with the Germans near the Foro Boario and died on 6 September.A plaque on the wall of the castle of Porta Santa Maria (Porta Giannotti for the people of Lucca) is dedicated to Braschi and Tonelli. It is a very humble and bare sign, and is characterised by displaying the communist symbol of the hammer and sickle: it is the only one of its kind in the entire Lucca area.The PCI section in Lucca centre was named after Tonelli until the 1980s.

Porta Santa Maria Memorial plaque

On 6 January 1944, Epiphany Day, at 1.07pm, 22 B-26 Maruders, belonging to the 319th Bomber Group which took off from Sardinia, dropped 124 500-pound bombs on the Lucca district of San Concordio, from altitudes between 9000 and 9900 feet.&nbsp;The targets were the railway station, the Italgas company, and the Lenzi mechanical workshops, engaged in war production. However, civil and industrial buildings were also hit. The toll was 25 casualties buried under the rubble, including four minors, as well as several injured people some of whom died in hospital in the following days.&nbsp;On the same mission, Viareggio and Pontedera were also hit. The episode marked the beginning of a very difficult period for the population, who had to face the fiercest period of the war.Seventy years after the tragedy, in 2014, the town council had a plaque installed on the station entrance to commemorate the pain suffered that day by the entire Lucca community. Original research by Michele Citarella was also promoted.&nbsp;

Railway Station

Shortly after 10am on 5 September 1944, the first Allied soldiers entered Lucca, passing through Porta San Pietro. It was a group of African-American soldiers from the 370th Combat Team of the 92nd Buffalo Infantry Division, under the command of Captain C.F. Gandy. Only readmitted to the army in 1941, African-American soldiers were segregated into separate units, such as the Buffalos, which consisted of 15,000 men mostly from the southern states. They disembarked in Naples in 1944, then arrived by sea in Civitavecchia and arrived in Tuscany on military convoys. They had the task of crossing the Arno and breaking through the Gothic LineThey fought heroically in Versilia and Garfagnana. Lucca, liberated by partisans the night before, welcomed the troops with celebration. The CLN held its first free assembly, in the presence of Renato Bitossi and Giuseppe De Gennaro for the PCI (Italian Communist Party), Aldo Muston for the PDA (Action Party), Ferdinando Martini for the DC (Christian Democracy), Frediano Francesconi and Giulio Mandoli for the PRI (Italian Republican Party), and Enea Melosi for the PLI (Italian Liberal Party). On this occasion, socialist Gino Baldassari was appointed Mayor of Lucca. After Lucca, the Buffalos also contributed to the liberation of La Spezia and Genoa. In total they suffered over 12,000 killed and 3,500 wounded. They returned home in November 1945 and the division was immediately disbanded. For a long time they were discriminated against and even forgotten. Only in the 1980s did they come to be valued as they should, thanks to pop culture: Bob Marley's Buffalo Soldiers and then Spike Lee's Miracle at St. Anna made their exploits known, as did Fred Kowomu's docu-film, Buffalo Inside. On 13 January 1997, President Bill Clinton honoured Lieutenant John Fox (who died in Sommocolonia) and Petty Officer Vernon Baker (the protagonist of the Battle of Castello Aghinolfi) with America's highest military award: the 'Medal of Honour'.Many Buffalo veterans returned to Lucca in the post-war period: Among them Ivan John Houston, sergeant of the 92nd, author of the book Black Warriors and the film of the same name. He took part in the Liberation commemoration ceremonies in 2013 and 2019, and sadly passed away in 2020.

Porta San Pietro

The Ponte ai Frati bridge [Bridge of the Friars] over the Ozzeri canal has been the link between Lucca and the hamlet of Guamo since the Middle Ages. It owes its name to having been historically crossed by monks who resided in monasteries to the south of the city. In the 1930s, the old bridge was replaced by a brick and iron structure two hundred metres further upstream.&nbsp;On the evening of 3 September 1944 in anticipation of the Allied attack on Lucca, the representative of the local Liberation Committee, in agreement with the commander of the Resistance military forces, ordered the mobilisation of the partisans, who began to round up the few remaining Germans in the city centre.&nbsp;There was a tangible risk that the Allies, fearing an all-out resistance by the Germans in the capital, would order the bombing of Lucca. It was therefore necessary to warn them that the Germans had retreated in order to avoid further mourning and ruin. CIN Commissioner Vannuccio Vanni and Captain Mario Bonacchi decided to send a patrol towards Pontetetto to avert the possibility of a bombardment of the town.&nbsp;It was made up of four young men in their early twenties: Guglielmo Bini, Alberto Mencacci, Giuseppe Lenzi and Alfonso Pardini. Through the Tempietto, along the canal that reaches the Ozzeri, they arrived at the footbridge of Ponte dei Frati which was guarded by a squad of five Germans. Having eliminated that last guard post, they gained the allied positions and at 10pm delivered the message of the CLN to Colonel J.R. Sherman, who had already set up a battery of twenty 120 mm cannons in the Guamo area.Thus the text of the message in English. "To the Allied Troops Command. Having learnt of the approach of the allied troops to Lucca, it was decided that the patriots would proceed to occupy the town during the night of 3 to 4 September. Any shelling is therefore unnecessary. Instructions are awaited through the patrol, bearer of this letter. Signed Alfredo."The marble memorial stone placed in Via Santeschi reads: "To the four partisans, with eternal gratitude."The bridge was abandoned during the 1970s and is now unusable. Local citizens set up an association, La Guscianella, to restore and enhance the place.

Friars' Bridge

Institutions for orphaned and abandoned children have existed in Lucca since the 16th century. Among the most famous of them was the Quarquonia. In 1822 the Deposito di Mendicità per gli orfani e i vagabondi [Begging Home for orphans and vagrants] was founded, from which the Pious Charity Home was born in 1851.In 1895, the institution moved to its final headquarters in Via Santa Chiara, in the former Monastero dell'Angelo, built in 1830 for the Passionists and designed by Lorenzo Nottolini. The new facility, which covered more than 10,000 square metres and was equipped with drinking water and gas lighting, included the orphanage, as well as a hospice for the disabled and a beggar's hospice, reaching a total capacity of 350 guests.In 1944, the institution was transferred to Bagni di Lucca while the building was requisitioned by the Germans, who made it a camp for all the forced labourers rounded up in the Tuscan coastal area.The first group was the 400 Livornese people arrested by the SS between Suvereto, Castagneto Carducci and San Vincenzo. They travelled 150km on foot, reaching Lucca on 23 June, and were than sent to the Gothic Line or to Germany. In the following weeks, over 3,000 transits per day were reached. The damage to the railway and the shortage of vehicles slowed down marshalling operations. The conditions were terrible: rotten straw beds, a scarcity of food and water, a cold and damp environment, in addition to physical and emotional harassment.The population was unable to provide any support to the inmates. Exceptions to this were the Oblati del Volto Santo [Oblates of the Holy Face] and four Red Cross women who were in charge of health care and mail sorting.On 2 August, Father Aldo Mei was also brought here, and was later killed on the evening of 4 August outside the walls. The last internees were those rounded up between 20 and 31 August. At dawn on 1 September, the Germans retreated, without following through on their threat to blow up the building. In total, more than 70,000 people passed through the Pia Casa. In the post-war period, the opera assistenziale took over the buildings, although heavily damaged, and continued its activities until 1985.Today the spaces are occupied by IPSIA (Instituto Pace Sviluppo Innovazione Acli) and a nursing home. In front of the building, a stumbling block was placed on 8 January 2020 (see image) as a reminder of the suffering endured by the inmates.

Pia Casa di Beneficenza

Since its creation, the Ducal Palace was the location of the political representation of the town. The Augusta Fortress of Castruccio Castracani was built here in the 14th century; the Citadel in the 15th century; and then the Public Palace.After the explosion in the armoury in 1586, the complex was redesigned by Bartolomeo Ammannati and then by Filippo Juvara. Under the Principality new works were carried out by Lorenzo Nottolini. After the unification of Italy it was stripped of its vestments and equipped with courtrooms.During the fascist regime it hosted various fascist demonstrations; in particular in September 1930 when Mussolini gave his official speech there in front of the crowd gathered in the square.In 1944, it was the seat of the prefecture of the Salò government. During the hectic hours leading up to the arrival of the Allies, on the evening of 4 September 1944, one of the two courtyards of the palace, the so-called 'Swiss' courtyard, was the gathering place for the partisans ahead of the uprising. The announcement of the Liberation was then made from the balcony on Piazza Napoleone. In the following days, meetings of the no longer clandestine CIn were held here.Since 1989 it has housed the Museo del Risorgimento (Museum of Unification of Italy), which was founded in 1925.

Ducal Palace

The Church of St Augustine was built in the 14th century on the pre-existing Church of San Salvatore in Muro, near the remains of the city walls and the Roman Theatre. In the 19th century it was deconsecrated and used as a military warehouse. It was returned to worship in 1866 thanks to the work of the Oblate Sisters of the Holy Spirit. It houses the venerated Madonna del Sasso and the body of Blessed Elena Guerra.The adjoining 15th-century convent has a portico with slightly ogival arches supported by octagonal brick columns.In December 1943, it became the headquarters of the provincial headquarters of the 86th Legion of the Republican National Guard, headed by Bruno Messori, and its Political Investigation Office. Among the torturers Camillo Cerboneschi stood out, who was known in the post-war period as 'the beast of the province'. Born in Perugia in 1908, but Milanese by adoption, a veteran of the Montenegrin front, he had been caught on 8 September 1943 in Lucca during a brief convalescence leave. Unable to return to his unit, he made himself available to the local Germanic command, managing to gather around him a small nucleus of ex-squadristas [member of Italian fascist squads] and veterans from the front. This group established the UPI, which was active in the search for ex-prisoners and straggling soldiers and then in anti-partisan repression.After being identified and apprehended, all those suspected of anti-fascist actions were taken to St. Augustine. They were interrogated, tortured and intimidated, and threatened with retaliation against their families. The torture consisted of forced ingestion of liquids, burns inflicted with a stove, and compression of the private parts. He is remembered by victims such as Captain Fiilippo Rubolotta, lawyer Guido Di Grazia and Professor Aldo Muston, among others.Through these fierce methods and the investigations conducted via a large network of local informers, the UPI achieved important operational successes, including the capture of Vittorio Monti and Domenico Randazzo, accused of being part of the Resistance movement and shot in Massarosa on 19 April 1944, and the mortal wounding of the partisan Roberto Bartolozzi, who died the following 29 June.With the approach of the Allies, Cerboneschi and his men moved to Emilia where the group disbanded. In 1948, they were tried by the CAS, but only the militant Erminio Barsotti was convicted (and granted amnesty), while Cerboneschi escaped from prison and Messori expatriated to Spain. In 1975, a plaque was placed to remember their criminal actions.

Convent of St Augustine

The Church of St. Anne, just outside the western walls of Lucca, is a very ancient settlement, dating back to the 7th century. The first record of a church dates back to 1331, but it was destroyed by a flood of the Serchio river in 1447. Later rebuilt, it was enlarged in the 17th century and later acquired considerable importance with the opening of the gate of the same name in 1911. The last extension dates back to 6 November 1932 (the bell tower was only added in 1948).&nbsp;On 4 September 1944, the town of Lucca was finally free. Luigi Giusti's partisan squads rounded up the town in search of the last Germans. Ten of them took refuge in the parish church of St. Anne, with a mortar and three machine guns, and set up an observation point on the bell tower.&nbsp;On the morning of 5 September, as the partisans reached the Palazzo del Goerno, a final battle took place there, in which Alberto and Ezio Angeli, Marcello Fava and Aldo Marchegiani were the protagonists. After three quarters of an hour, the Germans retreated towards the Serchio river through the fields.&nbsp;The inscription remained, almost mockingly, on the wall next to the church:&nbsp;Unique faithLove of countryUnique willMaking the Italianpeople big.

Church of St. Anne

The Oblates of the Holy Face were a diocesan congregation from Lucca that had chosen to adapt the rules of religious congregations to the life of the secular clergy.Starting in June 1942, first Father Arturo Paoli and Father Guido Staderini and then from November 1943, Father Sirio Niccolai and Father Renzo Tambellini, joined a communal living experience in the premises of the old seminary in Via del Giardino Botanico, 2, (Casa degli Oblati).From June 1944, the house was managed by Monsignor Raffaele Malfatti. The Oblates hosted the diocesan centre of GIAC, the St Vincent's Conference for Graduates and the 'Vita e Penseiro' association chaired by Giovanni Carignani. They also organised a boarding house for transfer students, and the 'Poor Man's Canteen', distributing over 500 soups a day.&nbsp;They helped Jewish people fleeing from Pisa and Livorno, through Giorgio Nissim, but also foreigners, providing them with housing, food, clothing and above all documents. It is estimated that over 700 were assisted during the war.They also provided health care to prisoners in the Pia casa di beneficenza and to refugees concentrated at the GIL, formerly the Royal College of San Frediano.&nbsp;They housed the headquarters of the military CLN from March and from May, with the arrival of Augusto Mancini, who had been released from prison, as well as the political CLN until the end of August. The building was liberated on 5 September.&nbsp;

Casa degli Oblati (Oblate House)

A convent of cloistered nuns (Dominican nuns of the Angels) built in 1520, it was used as a prison from 1806 by Felix I and as a house of correction by Maria Luisa of Bourbon from 1815.From October 1943, it housed numerous resistance fighters and in many cases their families were also held as hostages. From 5 January, Augusto Mancini, a philologist from the University of Pisa and president of the Lucca CLN, was imprisoned there for six months.A memorable action took place on 23 August 1944, when Franco Bonacchi, commander of the town's PAS, penetrated it in broad daylight disguised as a party official and helped three partisans sentenced to death for the assault on the BN headquarters in Castelnuovo Garfagnana to escape.In the post-war period, it was home to jazz musician Chet Baker, among others, who was arrested for drug use and detained from August 1960 to the end of 1961.

St George's Prison

In March 1944, the Committee of National Liberation for Northern Italy called a national strike with the main objective of organising a mass opposition against Nazi-Fascism, effectively blocking industrial production. Textile workers in Prato also participated in large numbers. The broad participation in the strike, also organised in collaboration with the emerging partisan movement, not only took the local fascist and German authorities by surprise, but irritated them to the point that on 7 March, after the tenth Allied air raid on the town, they launched a vast round-up operation. During this action, many people were captured and imprisoned in the Fortress, which served as the headquarters of the Republican National Guard. Some women were also among the prisoners, but they were not deported. The following morning, as the number of prisoners was too small, a further round-up was carried out. The prisoners were then taken to Florence and on the morning of 8 March they were loaded onto the train bound for Mauthausen. A total of 152 people were sent to concentration camps during the war and of these only 24 returned home.

Plaque to Prato deportees

On 1 September 1944, while waiting for the upcoming liberation of Prato, the Prato National Liberation Committee met the South African vanguards in Campi Bisenzio. The Committee then organised the occupation of the town before the arrival of the Allies. The main Prato partisan formation, the 'Buricchi', which was based in the wooded area of Faggi di Javello, was also ordered to reach the town. On the way down, however, near Figline, the partisans ran into a group of German soldiers. During the ensuing battle, the partisans dispersed: some of them returned to base, others reached the town. The Germans immediately organised a large round-up. There were around thirty captured partisans who were then taken to Villa Ristori in Figline, the headquarters of the German command, and subjected to a summary trial.On the morning of 6 September, the prisoners were taken to the centre of Figline to be hanged from the rafters of the vault in Via Maggio. The hanging took place almost simultaneously with the entry of the South Africans into Prato, so much so that some cannon shots fired by them on Figline hastened the execution: the last prisoners were in fact shot. However, a partisan or two managed to save themselves due to the confusion created by the cannonade.Today, a monument stands in the street dedicated to the 29 partisans killed, while a bas-relief has been placed under the vault of Via Maggio to commemorate the event.

The Figline Massacre

The museum, opened in 2002, is one of the few ones in Italy dedicated to the deportation of people to concentration and labour camps. What is new in the exhibition is the connection between the Resistance and deportation, highlighted through the remembrance of the two major episodes that occurred in the area, namely the deportation of people - particularly workers - caught in the March 1944 strikes and the killing of twenty-nine partisans who were about to reach Prato to occupy the town centre before the arrival of the Allies.The museum features an exhibition dedicated to German concentration camp with the display of original objects. In 2010, an audio-visual route was inaugurated along which visitors can listen to excerpts of interviews given by Jews, political deportees, but also Jehovah's Witnesses, Sinti, Roma and homosexuals - mostly from Tuscany - who survived the death camps.

Museum and Documentation Centre of Deportation and Resistance

The South Africans entered Montemurlo on 11 September 1944, even though three days earlier they had already reached the outskirts of the town, at Bagnolo, where they were stuck by the rubble of the bridge that had been blown up by the retreating Germans.The museum was created in 2000 by the Historical Research Group 'Gothic Line' of Montemurlo and collects artefacts, documents and photographs of the passage of the front in the area.These include the remains of a Spitfire aeroplane of the Raf, a spy plane found in 2002, piloted by Leonard Williams, who survived the crash and returned to Italy in 2003 to see the remains of his plane.Finally, in 2022, the daughters of the South African soldier James Orr, who painted 150 watercolours during the Italian campaign in Florence, Prato and Pistoia, donated their father's album to the museum and the Montemurlo community.

Historical Museum of the Gothic Line

The area for the burials was chosen in November 1944 by a British soldier, attached with his unit to the 6th South African Armoured Division. The cemetery faces north towards the neighbouring mountains, where South African soldiers fought fierce battles: Mount Catarelto, Mount Stanco and Mount Sole.The first burials of soldiers date back to November 1944. Today, the cemetery holds the remains of 502 fallen soldiers, including 401 South Africans, 99 British and 2 Indians.The project was designed by architect Louis De Soissons.Relatives of the deceased often visit the cemetery, and official commemoration ceremonies are organised on a regular basis.

South African War Cemetery

The cemetery stands in the area where the defensive works of the Gothic Line were located and was the scene of the battles fought for its breakthrough.The work was carried out from 1961 onwards, after an agreement between Italy and the Federal Republic of Germany in 1955, which was later rectified by Italy in 1957. The cemetery was officially opened on 28 June 1969. It is the work of architect Dieter Oesterlen and occupies an area of 12 hectares, housing over 30,000 bodies of German soldiers who fell in northern Italy. The design takes the form of a two-kilometre-long spiral that rises up around the mountain, allowing a 360-degree view of the landscape until it suddenly stops in front of a truncated pyramidal wall on which a terrace rises. A sort of sail is grafted onto it, appearing as a broken wing pointing skywards.Two crypts are also located on the summit. The first one opens to the west with three ribbon windows and is meant to commemorate the many fallen soldiers still missing, whereas the second one houses the funerary tombstones from the pre-existing Cervia military cemetery.

Futa Germanic Military Cemetery

Castiglione dei Pepoli was liberated on 27 September 1944 by American soldiers of the 91st Reconnaissance Squadron, attached to the 34th American Division, immediately followed by South African infantrymen of the Imperial Horse/Kimberly regiment. From that date until April 1945, Castiglione became their headquarters and resting place. The Germans had abandoned the country two days earlier.The South African War Memorial exhibits war relics from the battlefields and photographs from the period, and also displays some personal items of the then South African soldier Colin Eglin, who after the war became an anti-apartheid politician and participated in Nelson Mandela's government with his party.A visit to the Centre is rounded off by the Origins Room, which is dedicated to human settlement in the area from the Middle Ages to the present day, and the Rural World Room, which is dedicated to traditional work in the Apennines and preserves objects used daily by the inhabitants. Finally, the Earth Room is interesting, where you can see mineralogical and palaeontological (fossil) finds discovered in the area.

Guidotti Centre

On 11 September 1944, 24 medium-sized B-26 bombers of the American 17th Bombardment Group hit the hamlet of Baragazza, because the Allied intelligence service had received news that it was to host the German Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, supreme commander of the German army in Italy.Kesselring actually visited the hamlet that day, home to the command headquarters of the 334th German Infantry Division, but the field marshal arrived early, leaving the hamlet just before the aeroplanes arrived. However, the bombing resulted in the death of 34 civilians and 11 German soldiers.In 2005, the square was named '11 settembre 1944', in memory of the victims of the bombing.

Piazza Caduti 11 Settembre 1944

Built between 1877 and 1883 on an area of about eleven hectares, it was one of the 15 forts of the first defence belt of Rome.&nbsp;Designed as an&nbsp;artillery emplacement, it was later converted into barracks and a military depot.&nbsp;During the fascist period, it was used as a place to execute the death sentences of the&nbsp;Tribunale speciale per la difesa dello Stato [Special Court for the Defence of the State]. On 17 June&nbsp;1932&nbsp;republican and anarchist were shot there&nbsp;Domenico Bovone&nbsp;and the anarchist&nbsp;Angelo Sbardellottobeing considered guilty of planning attempts on the lives of&nbsp;Mussolini. Between 11 October&nbsp;1943&nbsp;and 3 June&nbsp;1944, during the period of theGerman occupation of Rome,&nbsp;there were executed, by order of the&nbsp;Germanic Military War Tribunal. Among them, Don Domenico Morosini, star of Rossellini's film Roma città aperta, was killed on 3 April.Between 1944 and&nbsp;1945&nbsp;Pietro Caruso and Pietro Koch were also shot there, sentenced to death by theHigh Court of Justice for sanctions against fascism. A monument, placed at the entrance in 1967, commemorates the names of patriots killed during the war.After the war, Fort Bravetta was used by the Army as an ammunition depot. Decommissioned by the military, it passed into the hands of the&nbsp;Public Property&nbsp;Department and, since 2009, has been owned by the&nbsp;Town Council of Rome&nbsp;, which has destined it for collective memory. On 9 September 2009, the Mayor of Rome&nbsp;Gianni Alemanno&nbsp;inaugurated the 'Martyrs' Park' here, a new ten-hectare municipal garden open to the public, consecrated to the victims of Nazi-Fascism. During the ceremony, an olive tree symbolising peace was planted, donated by the&nbsp;Jewish National Fund&nbsp;and coming from&nbsp;Jerusalem.On the occasion of the reopening to the public in June 2011, it was proposed to establish a 'Museum of Remembrance' in the fort's buildings. The area is part of the&nbsp;Valle dei Casali Nature Reserve&nbsp;between Via Aurelia and Via Portuense.

Park of the Martyrs of Fort Bravetta

The story of the 650,000 IMI-Internati Militari Italiani, i.e. the soldiers arrested by the Germans after the armistice and deported to camps in Germany, has long been relegated to private memories. The first scientific publications did not occur until the 1980s.In 2008, a commission of German-Italian historians was set up to 'deal with the Italian-German war past and in particular the fate of Italian military internees deported to Germany'. The Commission's Final Report, published in 2012, emphasised, among other things, the need to establish a Memorial Place for IMIs in Berlin and Rome and to promote close twinning between the two centres.While in Berlin-Schöneweide the exhibition 'Tra più fuochi’ [Between more fires] was set up on the site of a forced labour camp that had housed Italian Military internees, in Rome the space in Via Labicana was chosen, adjacent to the ANRP headquarters, which first drew up the feasibility outline of the project and then implemented it, with the financial aid of the German-Italian Future Fund set up at the Embassy.The Museum 'Vite di IMI. Paths from the War Front to the German Lager 1943-1945’ recovers the association's intensive collection work and makes available to the public, with cutting-edge multimedia devices, material having considerable interest, with specific routes for schools.The route runs through six rooms, describing the experience of internment in all its phases (arrest, deportation, camp life, liberation, repatriation) and its aspects (treatment, forced labour, leisure, art production).

Vite di Imi

The palace in Via Tasso 145-155 was built in 1938-39 by the family of the Princes Lancellotti and was leased to the German Embassy in Rome, which located its cultural offices there. From September 1943 to June 1944 he was assigned to&nbsp;Auβenkommandos des Befehlshabers der Sichereitspolizei und des Sichereitsdienst&nbsp;(Overseas Headquarters of the SIPO Security Police and the SD Security Service), headed by Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Kappler and officially headquartered at house number 155. The adjustment to the new requirements brought with it the transformation of the flats of house no. 145 into a prison.Windows were bricked up, grates were placed over the doors and later on , the&nbsp;'Bocche di lupo' [Wolf mouths] were open.The slightly downhill road outside was closed off with Friesian horses. Passage on foot is only permitted with a pass in a narrow corridor along the wall of the building opposite. During the nine-month occupation of the city, more than 2,000 prisoners were held there, of whom about 400 were women.&nbsp;On 3 June, close to the arrival of the Allies, the SS abandoned the prison, burning most of the documentation. They also tried to take the prisoners with them, but only managed to evacuate about fifteen of them. The others were released by the population on the 4th. Later,&nbsp;the palace was occupied by evacuees&nbsp;who had lost their homes during the bombing. Later, the owner Princess Ruspoli sold the flats, but donated four of them to the state, with the condition that a museum be built there. A restoration was then carried out in the former Nazi police headquarters and prison, which was partly conservative and partly reconstructive.The Museum - created on the initiative of a special committee appointed by the Minister of Education and chaired by Guido Stendardo - was initially set up between 1954 and 1955 and was inaugurated on 4 June 1955 under the name of Museo storico della lotta di Liberazione [Historical Museum of the Liberation Struggle]. A new set-up was started in 2013 and then, after a suspension for economic reasons, in 2017. 2017. Giant photographs of reproductions of works by Bruno Munari, Francesco Cretara and Renato Guttuso serve as settings in the staircase and on the landing. The ground floor flat houses the teaching room and reading room of the Guido Stendardo Library.

Historical Museum of Liberation

At the beginning of 1943 at the Casablanca Conference, the 'Big Three' (United Kingdom, USA and Free France) decided on the offensive that was to go from Africa to Italy and defeat the axis from the south.The Allies therefore landed on Pantelleria on 12 June 1943 and in Sicily on 10 July. Mussolini met Hitler in Feltre without obtaining any substantial aid. On 19 July, just after 11 a.m., 300 American bombers from North Africa dropped more than 4,000 bombs with more than 1,000 tons of explosives on the railway station of San Lorenzo, the airports of Littorio and Ciampino, and the depots along the consular roads.The Faculty of Medicine, the Verano cemetery, the basilica outside the walls and several houses within a radius of more than 500 m from the target were hit. The toll was over 3,000 dead and 11,000 injured; 10,000 buildings destroyed and 40,000 displaced. In the afternoon, Pope Pius XII left the Vatican and went to bring comfort to the people in the neighbourhood. Instead, the king was pushed away by the crowd, and Mussolini only visited the wounded a week later. There were over 50 bombing raids on Rome between August 1943 and June 1944.On 19 July 2003, a memorial was unveiled in which the names of the 1,674 victims ascertained during the tragic bombing on 19 July are listed. The monument was created by Luca Zevi, winner of a competition organised by the Valle Giulia Faculty of Architecture in collaboration with the town council. Two faces emerge from the ground and while one is enclosed by a continuous series of crystals on which the names of the victims are laser-imprinted, the other, which is not visible to visitors, allows inspection hatches to be placed. In the evening, the monument is illuminated by a series of neon lights placed inside the crystal. The monument underwent restoration in 2018.There are several other landmarks in the neighbourhood: monuments, gravestones and plaques that form a true urban route.&nbsp;A historical archive was also established, which updated the list of the fallen and compiled a list of the inhabitants of the district who were deported during the war.

Monument to the bombing of San Lorenzo district

The Foundation was established in July 2008 by the Shoah Museum Project Committee, formed at the end of 2006 and including&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="quot;https:/it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associazione_Figli_della_Shoah&amp;quot">Sons of the Shoah Association</a>,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="quot;https:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Ghetto&amp;quot">Jewish Community of Rome</a>,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="quot;https:/it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roma_Capitale&amp;quot">City Council of Rome</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="quot;https:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_Italian_Jewish_Communities&amp;quot">Union of Italian Jewish Communities</a>.The mission is to boost the construction of the National Museum of the Shoah in Rome, which is to be built in the park of Villa Torlonia based on Luca Zevi's design.In the meantime, in 2015 the Foundation set up its headquarters at the Casina dei Vallati at the Portico d'Ottavia, in the area of the ghetto that was raided on 16 October 1943, where it also opened an interpretation centre.The Foundation works to keep alive and present the memory of the Shoah, the planned extermination of 6 million Jews, and the dynamics that generated it, with specific reference to the Italian racial laws of 1938.It sponsors conferences and research; as well as touring exhibitions, audiovisual works and memory tours; and carries out intensive teaching and training activities. In particular, in cooperation with the Jewish Community, it organises guided tours of the Ghetto and other sites of the Roman persecution.

Shoah Museum Foundation of Rome

The Casilino Ecomuseum was established in 2012 to fight against building speculation and to enhance the territory of Rome's Fifth Municipality.In 2016, the participatory research and emergency census activity was completed, and the results are presented in front of more than 200 citizens. In the summer of 2019, the museum project was handed over to the Urban Planning Department of the Municipality of Rome and officially recognised in October as an Ecomuseum of regional importance. In the same year, it received a special mention at the National Landscape Award.The territory of the Ecomuseum includes the Archaeological District Ad Duas Lauros, but also areas such as the Ex Snia Viscosa, the Prenestina Station, and the Old Quadraro, as well as including the entire Centocelle District and the entire Prenestino Labicano district. It therefore preserves a remarkable cultural heritage: five archaeological parks, two stretches of the Via Francigena, several medieval towers, as well as green areas of environmental interest. During the war, it then hosted the 8th Roman Resistance zone.After the war, the area became a destination for emigration, first from the south and then from abroad. Today it is home to six Catholic churches, four 'mosques', seven Pentecostal churches, two Hindu temples, a Buddhist temple, as well as a dense network of ethnic restaurants promoting an international food and wine culture. It has recently stood out as a centre of national significance for street art, hosting four open-air museums.Therefore, six heritage contexts were identified in the area; and seven utilisation routes were constructed, which refer to three different interpretation centres. On the historical side, there are several plaques, such as the one in the former police station in Piazza della Marranella or the one to the fallen soldiers of the Bandiera Rossa band; and a dozen memorial stones dedicated to partisans have been placed. Routes on the First World War and the 1970s are also marked.

Ecomuseo Casilino “Ad Duas Lauros”

On 10 July 1943, the Anglo-Americans landed in Sicily and began the conquest of the peninsula. On 26 July, formations of enemy aircraft carried out the first raid on Eboli, dropping bombs near the covered market in Corso Matteo Ripa. There were three fatalities: one civilian and two soldiers. That first raid was a wake-up call, in fact, the population, fearing a repetition of other raids, abandoned the town and fled to the neighbouring mountains or other villages. A second raid took place on the evening of 4 August and this one was much more devastating. The various aircraft formations that took part dropped tons of bombs on the town, with the clear aim of razing it to the ground. 70% of Eboli's houses were destroyed. If the inhabitants of the town had not decided to leave after the first raid, it would have been a slaughter, but there were casualties, including a five-year-old boy hit by shrapnel and seven Capuchin priests from the local convent of San Pietro alli Marmi, who had sought refuge in the grotto in the convent's garden. The immediate post-war period was marked by the reconstruction of what had been destroyed, with the creation of the Molinello and Paterno quarters, while the church of San Bartolomeo was built in the former 'Littore' sports ground. The 1950s were the years of the agrarian reform that led to the expropriation of 7500 hectares of land in the Ebolitano area and the creation of several farms that gave rise to the Cioffi, Scanno, San Cesareo, Santa Cecilia and Fiocche villages.

The bombing of Eboli

The House of Remembrance and History, established in March 2006, is a space of the Municipality of Rome created with the intention of sharing and raising awareness of the remembrance and history of the 20th century, with a special focus to Rome.The following Associations reside at the House, carrying out their work of conservation, research, education and dissemination: Aned, Anei, Anpc, Anpi, Anppia, Circolo Gianni Bosio, Fiap, Irsifar.The House also houses the thematic library of Istituzione Biblioteche di Roma Capitale [Rome Library Institution] of the same name. The House of Remembrance and History traditionally holds commemorations and in-depth initiatives on the main dates of the civil calendar. It also hosts meetings with witnesses and scholars dealing with anti-fascism, the Resistance and the Shoah.

House of Remembrance and History 

As early as 1881, the 17th-century Carmelite convent of Maria in Trastevere was used as a prison. After adaptation works directed by Carlo Mangini, it kept the name Regina Coeli and was inaugurated in 1900. The complex also included the Women's Prison of the Mantle, the Criminal Records Office and the Political Police School. During fascism it also became a political prison, which housed Alcide De Gasperi among others.Following the occupation of the city, the third and sixth arms were managed by the SS. This is where many of the dead of Forte Bravetta and the Fosse Ardeatine came from; but also the 320 deportees of 4 January 1944. and not far away is located the Military College, where the Jewish victims of round-ups from the raid of 16 October 1944 were taken.Several anti-fascists were imprisoned there, including politicians, military personnel and intellectuals. More than 2,500 inmates arrived, when the planned capacity was 900. On 28 December 1943, the GAP man Mario Fiorentini threw a bomb that caused three deaths;Epic was the escape of Pertini and Saragat on 24 January 1944. The two future presidents were arrested on 18 October 1943 and taken to Via Tasso.They were then taken to the sixth wing of Regina Coeli where they had been. Later in mid-November they were sentenced to death.Transferred to the third wing with some Badoglian officers, they managed to escape with five other political prisoners thanks to a plan devised by Giuliano Vassalli and Peppino Gracceva, commanders of the clandestine Roman Socialists, later to become the Matteotti Brigades, with the help of Massimo Severo Giannini and Ugo Gala, who prepared a false release order.A crucial role was played from inside the prison, by the lawyer Filippo Lupis, who pretended to be a police officer; and by the doctor Alfredo Monaco, who together with his wife arranged a hiding place after the escape. On 3 February, Leone Ginzburg died there, having been arrested in the clandestine printing works of Italia Libera. Also detained there were the fascists who had voted for Grandi's agenda pending the trial in Verona; and those of the Palazzo Braschi gang, arrested by the Germans for their robberies.After the war, director Donato Carretta was lynched by the mob. On 18 September, during the trial against Police Commissioner Pietro Caruso, he was recognised and assaulted. Carretta was beaten, dragged over the rails of the&nbsp;tramway line&nbsp;to run him over and finally thrown into the&nbsp;Tiber. His corpse was later recovered and hung from the bars of a prison window.

Regina Coeli Prison

During the days of Operation Avalanche, the entire Salerno coastline suffered fierce shelling: Eboli and even more so Battipaglia had been targeted, so most of the population had fled to places considered safer, and among these was Campagna, a town in the province of Salerno, bordering Eboli, which had the advantage of not being far from Piana del Sele. It was also well defended, because it was surrounded by mountains.The bombing affected parts of the town, including the Town Hall square. The bombs fell on the crowds lining up to receive their bread rations: the Allied planes left a painful trail of blood behind them. Over one hundred and sixty dead were counted, and on top of that, rescue was not timely as a result of the confusion caused by the war actions. During those hours, the action of the Jewish doctors, already interned in the Campagna camp, who were involved in a tragic moment, was crucial, as they worked to help the stricken civilians. That tragic episode was recounted by one of the two doctors many years later, Chaim Pajes, in an interview with Judith Goodstein and Carlotta Scaramuzzi, for the magazine Il Sapere in October 2002.This terrible tragedy is commemorated at the main site where it took place with a memorial dedicated to the victims, where they are remembered each year through an institutional celebration.

Largo Della Memoria

At the time of the landing of the Allies on the shores of Paestum, the Germans had placed a machine gun emplacement on top of the tower, and it was only by sheer luck that the tower was not destroyed by naval attacks.Standing guard over the Salerno coastline for about five centuries, the Licinella tower, also known as the 'Paestum tower', performed its function until September 1943. Built in the 16th century, in fact, the coastal tower was part of the sighting system against the Saracen raids that threatened the Italian coasts at that time. The tower was used as an observation and defence point, and incorporated into the Italian coastal stronghold in the area, by Italian soldiers of the 222nd coastal division, which had been formed in July 1942, and was part of the garrison placed in defence of Salerno. After the armistice was announced on 8 September, the tower was occupied by the Germans, playing an important role during the first hours of Operation Avalanche on the night of 8-9 September. The Germans placed a machine gun and several sharpshooters on top of the tower, which caused many casualties in the ranks of the attackers. Behind the tower, a number of German Panzers were positioned, hidden among the houses, which made the situation even more complicated. The American soldiers of the 531st Shore Engineers of the 36th Infantry Division, who landed on the beach in front of them, managed to take the area after many hours of fighting. The commander of Company D of the regiment, together with three other men attacked the Paestum tower, forcing the German machine-gunners to retreat from it. The interior of the tower cannot currently be visited, but signs of the fighting in 1943 are still visible on its walls.

Licinella Tower

The old medieval tower, which was the observation point of the German stronghold, is now just a few steps away from the beach, near the bridge over the river. Near the beach, a marble plaque on a trunk brought in by the sea commemorates the soldiers who died there.The Battipaglia beach landing sector was assigned to the 8th and 9th Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers of the 167th Brigade of the British 56th Division. The area was defended by the 64th Panzergranadier Regiment and occupied the coastal stronghold Scharnorst, whose artillery caused many problems for the Allied naval forces. When they reached the shore, the men of Company Z of the 8th Battalion, with a side assault on the German stronghold, silenced the gun battery. The 9th had the objective of annihilating another German battery with 88 mm cannons located near the coast. However, it was preceded by the destroyer Biscaynz, which destroyed it with its cannons. The 9th Battalion had no choice but to conquer some German machine-gun nests stationed on the beach and then continue the advance towards Battipaglia.In 2017, the Mu.Bat project was launched, offering to undertake a path to re-evaluate the town's history through the preservation of memory, the emergence of collective knowledge and its dissemination, beginning by reaffirming the key role that Battipaglia played in the days of Operation 'Avalanche'. Subsequently, the '9 settembre' Study Centre was also founded by the Mu.Bat Association to carry out research and dissemination activities, with the aim of emphasising the importance of the Italian campaign in the context of WWII. Furthermore, every year the Mu.Bat Association organises a historical re-enactment of the landing: a true representation of the moments of September 1943 with the possibility for the public to observe reconstructions of the fighting.

Battipaglia Beach

The hill was subjected to numerous clashes due to its tactical importance. In fact, it provided a tremendous vantage point over the entire landing zone. The battle, one of the fiercest, took place between 11 and 17 September and spread across Piana del Sele. Near the monument visitors can find material that the locals find in the soil of the hillside.Although scarcely known to the chronicles and subsequent historiography, the battle that took place on the hills on which the town of Altavilla Silentina stands was among the most important ones from a strategic and military perspective. From the highest elevation of the territory, which reaches the now symbolic 'Quota 424', the enemy manoeuvre could be controlled and this was essential for the defensive operations of the German troops. The hand-to-hand fighting between German and American troops lasted until the ammunition ran out. On 15 September, the hill and the village were subjected to a naval bombardment that caused much damage to the population that had already been exhausted by the fighting in the previous days. When the fighting ended, there were more than two hundred casualties between Germans and Americans in the area over a period of about seven days. The monument, dedicated to those who fell in those battles, stands next to a small votive shrine that already existed before those events.Today, 'Quota 424' is part of a wide landscape, full of cultivations, orchards and isolated farms that characterises the land between the districts of Pagliara and Campo Fiorito. When visitors reach the junction with State Road No. 19 of Calabrie, they can continue north along the latter until you reach the winding bridge over the Sele River, a very important strategic point for the outcome of the battle in those days.

Memorial at Quota 424

This defensive stronghold was built between 1941 and 1943 by the soldiers of the 222nd Italian Coastal Division, and consisted of around twenty posts of various types, with the aim of defending the access routes in the southern area of Salerno. It was occupied by the Germans between 8 and 9 September 1943 and used against the British who occupied those hills in the hours following the landing. Today, the house-shaped façade facing the street has almost completely disappeared and the entrance has been closed to the public.Today, the Bellara Hill is known as Masso della Signora (Lady's Rock) because of its particular shape. The Hill separates downtown from the new eastern districts, and during WWII became the scene of fighting between the Anglo-American allies and Nazi-Fascist troops. The bunker, equipped with a machine gun and a small anti-tank gun, controlled the central part of the stronghold and the road that ran alongside it. The side facing the driveway leading to Giovi was camouflaged with the façade of a house, while the side to the east, facing the sea, was camouflaged partly with the fake roof of the house and partly with camouflage material. Following the road downhill on the left, a few metres from the bunker, there is one of the many circular single-weapon emplacements in the area. This has a turret with loopholes and an underground chamber.The area is now involved in the MAPPAMI SALERNO project (Mapping Salerno's military posts), which, in collaboration with the M.O.A. of Eboli and the Faculty of Computer Engineering of the University of Salerno, has as its main aim the census of all military posts, facilities and works in the province. Furthermore, a team of researchers began the restoration and conservation of the military posts present a few years ago.

Salerno Bunker

Known to many as the Paestum bunker, the facility was built by Italian soldiers of the 222nd Coastal Division. This is the only Italian military bunker that has remained almost intact and represents one of the defensive posts that completed the coastal stronghold of Paestum. Occupied by German troops of the 16th Panzer Division between 8 and 9 September 1943, it was used during the early hours of Operation Avalanche to hinder the landing of the American 36th Infantry Division on Yellow Beach.&nbsp;&nbsp;The discovery of the bunker dates back to 2014, thanks to the work of some volunteers who brought it to light and restored it. Immediately after the discovery, the then mayor of Capaccio-Paestum issued an order to clean up the area. The order also provided for the construction of a wooden fence to prevent vehicle access and the installation of suitable security and locking systems. It is a defensive machine gun emplacement with two underground shelters for troops on both sides of it. It features few elements protruding from the ground, to conceal it more easily. The facility consists of two symmetrically positioned underground buildings, 3 metres high and 10 metres long, equipped with a combat chamber and loopholes, to face the advancing enemy soldiers.An access road behind the post leads to the lowest level, where the entrance to the two underground shelters measuring 3 metres by 2 metres with a barrel roof is located. A staircase leads from the lower level to the post, where the defensive weapon was positioned.Except for the two underground chambers, whose entrances are closed by gates, today the post can be visited thanks to a number of groups and associations operating in the area and accompanying tourists and visitors to the battlefields of Salerno.

Coastal Defence Post

The obelisk forming the body of the monument bears the coats of arms of the 36th Infantry Division and an inscription in Italian and English stating:THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED IN PROFOUND HOMAGE TO THE MEN OF THE 36TH INFANTRY DIVISION FROM THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THE LIBERATION OF ITALY THAT BEGAN ON THESE SHORES ON 9 SEPTEMBER 1943. Every year, on the anniversary of the landing, local authorities lay a wreath at the foot of the monument in memory of the military and civilian casualties of Operation Avalanche. 'Avalanche 43 - History Comes from the Sea' is the name given to the project commissioned to the artist Franco Palmentieri, sponsored by the town council, which is expected to be implemented over the next few years. The work consists of the construction of a monumental work in the maritime state property area, near the German Bunker. The project has also obtained the moral and official acknowledgement of the civil and military authorities of the State of Texas, who consider 'Avalanche 43' an action capable of building a bridge between Agrigento and the city of Austin, which already hosts the Texas Military Museum at Camp Mabry.

Monument to the 36th Texas Division

The fallen soldiers are distinguished within the cemetery in this way: 1653 soldiers from the United Kingdom, 27 from Canada, 10 Australians, 3 from New Zealand, 9 from South Africa, 53 fallen soldiers from India and Pakistan, 109 unknown, one Russian and a plaque commemorating a fallen soldier from the Great War, whose grave had been lost in previous years.The British military cemetery in Salerno is directly managed by the British government, or rather by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, a special commission within the organisation that brings together all the territories belonging to the British crown. The cemetery was designed by Louis de Soissons, an English architect of French descent. De Soissons lost a son in the landing and, as if it were a duty to his memory, ended up signing the plans for no less than fifty British military shrines in Italy including, in addition to the one in Salerno, the memorials in Fiesole, Rome and Cesena. There were 23,000 of them on 9 September 1943. They landed at Paestum - a little further south - to carry out Operation Avalanche, i.e. the avalanche that was supposed to sweep Italy in the aftermath of the armistice signed only the day before by emissaries of the House of Savoy and General Castellano. Just under two thousand, however, stopped here. British, Americans, Australians and New Zealanders. Irish and Scottish, Africans and even some Jews. Of all ages, ranks, military corps and qualifications. Not all the graves have names: one hundred and seven, even today, remain unknown. Perhaps the most distinguished of these is that of Captain of second commando Henry Valerian George Duke of Wellington, who fell on 16 September on the Salerno front. There is also a small building in the cemetery that holds the registers of the fallen and the diary for visitors.

Salerno English War Cemetery

The portion of the ancient town that is visited today corresponds to the area where all the most important monuments were located: the two sanctuaries with the famous temples, the Greek agora and the Roman forum with the temples and&nbsp;tabernae&nbsp;and the basilica and macellum, the Greekekklesiasterion&nbsp;and the Roman&nbsp;comitium&nbsp;(both places of political meetings).In 1829, the Tirrena Inferiore road (later State Road 18, the ancestor of the Salerno-Reggio Calabria) was built right next to the temples, so that anyone passing by in a carriage could admire them up close.In fact, when the Allied beachhead was consolidated, the archaeological area housed a field hospital and a microwave transmission, just a few metres from the temples, during the operations linked to the Salerno landings.General Clark established his home at Villa Salati, not far from today's Via Magna Grecia.Finally, the construction of an airstrip not far away from the archaeological area led to the discovery of the first signs of ‘Gaudo culture’. These were some graves and, probably, some grave goods, mainly ceramics.

Operation Avalanche in the archeological zone

Set up in 2012 on the initiative of the association 'Parco della Memoria della Campania', the museum is located on the eastern outskirts of the city of Salerno and it is dedicated to Operation Avalanche and the fighting between the Anglo-Americans and Germans that took place from 9 September 1943, and to the historical phase in which Salerno was chosen as the capital of liberated Italy, between 11 February and 15 July 1944. Intended by the Allies as the third phase of the Italian campaign, after the landings in Sicily in July 1943 and in Calabria on 3 September, the landing at Salerno led to the establishment of a bridgehead aimed at the conquest of the southern areas of the peninsula and, first and foremost, Naples. The museum is home to a permanent exhibition on Operation Avalanche that occupies several pavilions rented by the Campania Region. The exhibits, from the collection of the 'Parco della memoria della Campania' association, number around 200, including posters, flyers, uniforms, helmets, flags, weapons, as well as various Italian, Allied and German military equipment, and are accompanied by a number of wall panels illustrating the historical phases, including those relating to the period of Salerno as capital city. The collection continues outside, where other memorabilia is placed, including an M4 Sherman tank, two pieces of Italian anti-aircraft artillery, a landing pontoon and a plumbed railway car, used by the Nazis to deport Italian Jews to concentration camps, added to the exhibition (only temporarily) on Remembrance Day on 27 January 2013. The wagon, a rare reminder of WWII, was one of those heading to Auschwitz. Several dozen deportees were crammed inside who, due to the poor conditions, often died during the journey. The museum is frequently visited not only by school groups, but also by associations and tourists, and it is often the site of official visits by representatives of the NATO armed forces. Private visits by relatives of Anglo-American soldiers who took part in the landing are also very frequent. The museum can only be visited by appointment.

Museum of the Landing and Salerno Capital

The Museum of Remembrance and Peace in Campagna is located at the end of a town road that climbs up the hill from the centre of the town. Its fairly isolated location led to the convent being designated as an ideal location for internment. The museum tour is developed on the two different levels of the building, inside which there is a porticoed courtyard typical of 16th-century convents. In the neighbouring church of St. Bartholomew, the Dominican friar Giordano Bruno celebrated his first mass, which is why the convent also houses the headquarters of the 'G. Bruno' cultural association on the second and top floor. Four 'emotional rooms' have been set up on the ground floor, where visitors can learn about the history of deportations, the war and some of the Campagna internees through projections, photographs and documents.The permanent exhibition on the first floor of the building tells the story of Giovanni Palatucci, Police Commissioner of Rijeka during the deportation years, and of Giuseppe Maria Palatucci, bishop of the town of Campagna during the same period. The route runs along an exhibition of photographic panels that also recount the history of the Shoah with documents and images. The photo gallery is located in the corridors of the first floor. The visitor will find displays narrating Palatucci's life, from his first photos in Montella, in the province of Avellino, to documents on the enactment of racial laws, from maps of internment camps in Italy, to concentration and extermination camps in Europe. Documents testifying to the collaboration between the nephew (Police Commissioner) and his uncle (Bishop), between the bishop and the Holy See in favour of the Jews conclude the tour. The most significant part is that which aims to reconstruct, at least in part, the daily life of the internees. Three rooms have been set aside for this purpose: the Camerata, the Synagogue and the Hall of Names - escape route. The dormitory and synagogue contain objects of daily life and furnishings for prayer times. The names, surnames, nationalities and professions of some of the Jews interned in Campagna are displayed on one of the walls of the small room. A combination of light and shadow inside this room is meant to symbolise salvation, as the window that represented the escape route for interned Jews is also located here. These three rooms are enriched by a 'soundscape' that is supposed to recall the sounds of internment.