Commemorative complex
The massacre on 20 March 1944
After the battle of Cerrè Sologno, the German authorities decided that more systematic repression was needed. On 20 March 1944, assisted by the National Guard stationed at Reggio Emilia, a unit of the Herman Göring division, which had already committed the massacre at Monchio, carried out a search and round-up operation at the hamlets of Civago and Cervarolo, sacking and torching homes. Four men were killed at Civago; at Cervarolo the twenty-four victims were executed in the yard in the middle of the houses.
A memorial was erected to the victims of 20 March in the cemetery at Cervarolo; the yard where the massacre took place was restored to a design by architect Osvaldo Piacentini, after which three plaques and a shrine were installed there.
