The Gothic Line

The memorial of Faggiaccia

On 11 November 1944, at La Faggiaccia on the way to the Saltello Pass, three German other ranks surprised five women on their way back from Tuscany, and after a short exchange of words they killed them in cold blood. The women's bodies, hurriedly buried, were exhumed in July 1946. In the exhumation report, the Carabinieri police record that the women had gone to Tuscany either to visit their husba...

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Sant’Annapelago

On 30 July 1944 the Germans began preparations for their attack on the Montefiorino Liberated Zone, approaching it from two directions, from Sassuolo, and also from Pievepelago, where the aim was to occupy Sant’Annapelago and proceed towards Piandelagotti to take out the partisan defences just above Cadagnolo and Ca’ Marmocchio, and also at Medolo di Roccapelago. The Germans positioned artille...

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Museo delle mummie

The Museum, housed in the Castle, contains about four hundred mummified bodies found in the crypt of the Church of San Paolo in 2011. It also includes the exhibition “Sulle orme di Obizzo da Montegarullo. Assalti ai castelli del Frignano nella cronica di Giovanni Sercambi (1392 - 1396)”, with an account of warfare in the local area in the late 14C.

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Ponte Modino

In April 1945, preparing to withdraw, the Germans set charges on all the bridges, and on 20 April they blew up the hydroelectric power station at Sagradino (San Michele). The bridges were saved by Mons. Luigi Bernardi, who managed to persuade the German soldier assigned to blow them up to set off a heap of bullets instead of the charges of dynamite. A few days later the same soldier deserted and j...

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Pievepelago

In mid June 1944, a unit of the Feldgendarmerie (2./Einsatz-Kommando Oberführer SS Bürger) took over the town's former Carabinieri station, while eight soldiers were posted to Sant’Andrea Pelago, taking turns to guard the Tavernaro Bridge (on the main via Giardini road). The bridge had been blown up by partisans and patched up a few days earlier. The unit took part in all the search and round-...

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Sant’Andrea Pelago

Father Antonio Galli's diary entry for 28 July 1944 reads: “Two of the four anti-aircraft batteries to be positioned up here have arrived: one has been installed at Lazze, above Modino […] and the other at Pianagrande, above Sant’Andrea Pelago. Each battery consists of four 88 millimetre guns and four twenty millimetre machine guns." On 27 October one of the two Sant’Andrea Pelago anti-air...

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The Cerreta monument

In the two attacks on two German vehicles at Cerreta, on the via Giardini (25 and 26 June 1944), the partisans killed one soldier and injured another. On the afternoon of 26 June, the Felgendarmerie organised a round-up operation to take hostages to carry their weapons and ammunition in preparation for the attack they were planning against Piandelagotti, occupied by the partisans. The German colum...

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Marina di Magrignana

This small hamlet at the foot of Monte Cimone was constantly a key location, both for the partisans and for the retreating Germans. Armando's partisans passed through here at the end of May 1944 after the battle at Capanna Tassoni. More partisans came this way after the retreat from Montefiorino (August 1944); after crossing the main Via Giardini at Groppo (Riolunato), they continued to the town o...

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San Domenico Monastery

The parish priest of Montecreto, Father Ercole Bertolani, is remembered for his efforts to protect his parishioners from the effects for the war and for saving several Jews. In spring 1944 he concealed Jewish refugees from Sestola in the monastery, and lodged four more, natives of the former Yugoslavia, with the family which lived at Ca’ Borra. Father Bertolani not only provided the refugees wit...

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Museo della Comunità “La Casa dei Leoni di Pietra”

The Montecreto Community Museum, opened in 2012 but officially inaugurated in 2014, houses the “Frignano in guerra 1943-45” exhibition, a large, fascinating collection of items relating to the Second World War donated by local people. The Museum also contains the originals of the two lions on the Strettara bridge, as well as two permanent exhibitions: “Le pietre iscritte di Rovinamala” on ...

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Strettara hydroelectric power station

Built between 1917 and 1920 near the historic Strettara bridge, it houses two 6,000 HP turbines generating a total power of 6 MW. It is supplied by the Riolunato reservoir. A witness recalls that early in April 1945, German soldiers called at the nearby homes and warned the residents to open their windows because there was going to be a "big boom”; shortly afterwards, an explosion demolished the...

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The Lastranera copper mines

The native copper mines near Ca’ Marsilio and Ca’ Gabriele were worked mainly during the Second World War. In 1939, 22 men were employed there, mining about 500 tons of material. A year later, the mines were taken over by a new company, which sunk new shafts and extended the tunnels, increasing output. In 1942 the business was sold to Fiat. During the War years, the zone became the operations ...

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Monte Penna at Acquaria

After attacking the airport at Pavullo and carrying off machine guns from the planes in the hangar, Armando's partisan formation retreated to Monte Penna at Acquaria; the group also included the partisans from the "Bozzi" formation, from Pistoia. Armando chose Monte Penna because from the summit there is a good view of all its slopes and surroundings. On the morning of 28 April, a German column le...

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Roncoscaglia

The hostages captured in Sestola on the morning of 4 July 1944 reached the bridge known as “del Prete” (the Priest's bridge), which the partisans had blown up on 20 June. The Germans made the hostages get off the truck and repair the bridge. Amongst them was Father Crovetti, who had managed to escape the search in Sestola but who had given himself up when the word reached him that if he did no...

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Sestola

The Castle at Sestola houses two museums. The first, in what was once the Palazzo del Governo, or Governor's Quarters, dedicated to Mechanical musical instruments, contains 120 mechanical musical instruments built from the early 17C to the present day. Many of the instruments on show are in working order and can be heard during guided visits. The second museum, of Mountain Life, is in the top part...

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Corso Libertà

During the first phase of Operation Encore, while the American mountain troops were mounting their attack on Riva Ridge, allied aircraft bombed Fanano, Sestola and Pavullo. On 20 February 1945, at around eight o'clock in the morning, two bombs dropped by the fighter-bombers killed three women and a man, and the next day another woman, an evacuee from Prato, was killed.

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Sestola

On 17 June 1944 the partisans of the local formation known as “Tommasino's" unit occupied the town of Sestola and disarmed the National Guard station in the Castle; they then destroyed the Fascist headquarters and appointed a young lad as Mayor instead of the old Fascist "Podestà" During the second ten days of June the partisans asked the soldiers they had captured to desert and join their rank...

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Serretta di Canevare

On 9 October 1944, Fernando Turchi (“Bocca”), deputy commander of the Fanano formation, decided to attempt to reach Armando, thinking that he was still in the Pratignano area. He joined some friends in Fanano and set out, but they were stopped and arrested just below the town. Taken before the German command, they were interrogated and shortly afterwards the others were released, but Turchi wa...

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Fanano

On 10 April 1944, Easter Monday, Armando's partisans occupied Fanano and attacked the Carabinieri barracks, where there were also eight members of Mussolini's National Guard. After a fight lasting about twenty minutes, the partisans broke into the barracks, immobilised the Carabinieri and guardsmen and took away clothing, documents, weapons and ammunition. The National Guardsmen were stripped to t...

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Parco Resistenza

On 20 April 1945, the Folloni Brigade of the Modena Armando Division entered the town unopposed. The Germans had withdrawn, blowing up the cliff above the main road to block the road to vehicles. A few days after the partisans, the African-American infantry of the 92nd American "Buffalo" division passed through the town heading for Sestola and Pavullo. The people of Fanano were amazed to see that ...

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Monument at Carbonile

During the fighting at Rocchetta-Trentino on 11-12 August 1944 arising from the "Belvedere" search and round-up operation, four partisans were captured and taken to Fanano for interrogation. They were hanged at Carbonile and their bodies left exposed as a warning. It is believed that these partisans were using false names, and all attempts to trace their families have been in vain. On 12 August se...

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Monument at Villaggio Artigiano

On 25 August 1944, twenty-three men were taken prisoner in a search and round-up operation at Monzone (Pavullo nel Frignano) and, after being paraded through the streets of Pavullo, were transferred to Fanano. On 30 August, five partisans from Pavullo were taken to what is now the Fanano industrial estate and lined up on the edge of the escarpment, then shot. One managed to escape by throwing hims...

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Capanna Tassoni

On 16 May 1944 Armando's partisans occupied Fanano, set fire to the Fascist headquarters, destroyed the conscription lists at the town registry office, and took wheat and cheese from the official stores and distributed some of it to the townspeople. They also emptied the coffers of the bank and the post office before taking eight hostages, including a woman and the town's Fascist ruling council, i...

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Monte Serrasiccia

In his memoires, Brazilian General João Batista Mascarenhas de Moraes, Commander in Chief of the FEB (Força Expedicionária Brasileira), states that Monte Serrassiccia was the highest point defended by the Brazilian troops. Early in March 1945, the Brazilian forces relieved the American mountain troops and took over the defence of this position together with Armando's partisans. The Germans atta...

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Pizzo di Campiano

During the night between 18 and 19 February 1945, in accordance with the plan for Operation Encore the American troops of A Company of the 86th Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division attacked this German stronghold, but encountered much stronger resistance than they had been led to expect. Therefore, on the evening of 19 February B company, which had occupied Monte Cappel Buso, had to move to Pizz...

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Trignano

On 24 September 1944 the Germans captured seven men near Pistoia, forced them to carry munitions to Montese and then released them. The seven men, relieved to have got away, stayed together and headed towards Trignano, intending to cross the watershed ridge by way of the valley of Ospitale, which was considered safer. However, when they reached the outskirts of Trignano they came across a group of...

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Montese and its Museo storico

The town's medieval castle houses the History Museum of Montese, dedicated to historic settlements in the area and the local culture. The largest section covers the 2nd World War and the fighting on the Gothic Line nearby. The main room, in particular, houses showcases and display cases containing objects and clothing issued to the soldiers, as well as finds from the area. A special area is dedica...

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Lastra Bianca and Montello

This area was an important German defensive position on the north-western slopes of the Apennines, within the third line of the Gothic Line system. Monte Buffone and the surrounding heights were also part of this stronghold.
The main fortifications, which have been cleared and are accessible to visitors, are next to the rocky cliffs of Lastra Bianca, on the northern slopes of Monte Montello...

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Iola di Montese and the Museo di Iola Memorie d’Italia

Subdivided into sixteen rooms on different themes, arranged on three floors with a total area of about 600 m2, the History Museum at Iola, near Montese, offers an intriguing insight into the daily lives of both civilians (collection of items from the local area) and soldiers during the War years. The “Memorie d’Italia” houses an impressive display of equipment, including photographs and vari...

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Monte della Torraccia

In the first phase of Operation Encore, after bloody combat the Americans of the 10th Mountain Division, with air and artillery support, took the summit of Monte della Torraccia in the afternoon of 24 February 1945. Some remains of the fortifications of the second line of the German Gothic Line defensive system, of which Monte della Torraccia was one of the strategic heights, are still visible tod...

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Ronchidoso

The local Giustizia e Libertà partisan brigade was founded in the buildings adjoining the chapel (dedicated to emigrants from the area) in June 1944. In autumn 1944, when the German unit which had massacred civilians at Ca' Berna reached the area (28 September), some shots were fired at the troops by a partisan and one soldier was injured. Between 28 and 30 September that same unit, probably assi...

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Castelluccio di Moscheda

During spring 1944 the woodlands around the village of Castelluccio initially offered refuge to young men fleeing conscription, after which, in the summer, the Germans arrived and began to build the first secondary defences in the area of the Gothic Line. Between 30 September and 1 October 1944 Castelluccio was also caught up in the Ronchidoso massacre, when three young men, one of them a partisan...

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Monte Belvedere

Monte Belvedere was the main stronghold on the second line of defences within the Gothic Line which, in the Apennine area on the border between the provinces of Modena and Bologna, extended along the ridges to Vergato, dominating the Reno Valley and above all highway 64. It was here that, after establishing the Liberated Zone and the Modena Armando Division, Armando's partisans provided the Allies...

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Ca’ di Julio

Just before the attack on the Monti della Riva, or Riva Ridge, the American mountain troops of B Company, belonging to the first battalion of the 86th regiment of the 10th Mountain Division, sheltered in the homes of the families of this hamlet, and at Pianacci. On the night of 18 February 1945, the soldiers began the long climb up the steep path to Monte Cappel Buso, guided by local people, some ...

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Poggiolforato in the Dardagna Valley

The "Bozzi" partisan formation, of men from the Pistoia area, was founded at Poggiolforato in autumn 1943. The valley of the River Dardagna also saw the formation of the groups, called “Pisacane”, “Ca’ Berna” (later the 63rd “Bolero”), “Slit”, “Toti” and others.
This area was also involved in the Ca' Berna massacre. When the Germans came into the village, they rounded ...

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Ca’ Berna

On 27 September 1944, when a German unit descending from the ridge at Lake Scaffaiolo reached Ca’ Berna a volley of 12 shots were fired at it by three partisans, although none of the troops was wounded. Even though his unit suffered no losses, the commandant ordered a reprisal in which 29 people were killed. In the evening, the unit reached Vidiciatico, where it rounded up a large number of host...

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Vidiciatico

After occupying Lizzano in Belvedere and establishing the Belvedere Liberated Area, on 16 October 1944 Armando's partisans decided to liberate Vidiciatico as well. In the short fight to take the town, a civilian was killed. The Germans attempted to retake the town several times (for the last time on 28 October), but to no avail. The town was also the starting point for the various attempts to take...

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Villa Faccetta Nera

It was in this house that Armando established his Command Post in autumn 1944, after the local partisans had occupied the town on 2 October 1944. The first town council was established in the nearby Town Hall, and the former sanatorium became the partisan hospital, treating all those wounded in military operations. The Farneti hotel, facing the pinewood by the church, became the base of the Oss (O...

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Pianaccio and the partisans

During their move to the Belvedere area (end of September 1944), Armando's partisans stayed here, to eat and rest before setting off the next day, for Castelluccio di Porretta. Pianaccio is also the birthplace of famous journalist Enzo Biagi, a partisan in the Giustizia e Libertà formation and at that time editor of the "Patriot" newspaper.
In 2011 the Local Authority founded the Centro Do...

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Monteacuto delle Alpi

As part of the search and round-up operations organised by the German troops after General Crisolli was killed in an ambush by the partisans, on 16 September 1944 a vast operation was launched in the area around Orsigna (San Marcello Pistoiese). A column climbed up from Monteacuto delle Alpi and managed to locate four Tuscan partisans. In the fighting which followed, one of them died and two were ...

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