Italian WWII sites/memorials
 

I have done a bit of searching around the internet but can't find any information about WWII sites/memorials in Italy. <BR><BR>Has anyone visited any? Know of a site where I can further research this?

I've used this site ti help locate a relatives grave outside of Rome in an american cemetery<BR><BR>http://battlefieldsww2.50megs.com/ww2_links.htm

Travelgirl: There are a number of sites in and around Anzio,the Italian equivalent of the D-Day landings in Normandy. There are both British and American cemeteries and a museum (though it's about the most difficult museum to find in all of Italy and doesn't seem to have anything remotely like regular hours).<BR><BR>Also, if you go to google and type in Italy WWII sites, you'll get plenty of information.

Hi Trav,<BR> If you are going to Venice, there is in the ghetto a memorial to Italian Jews who were deported to Nazi camps by the Fascists.

There is an American cemetary just south of Florence. I believe it is located on S222, the primary road leading into Chianti. The cemetary is very much like the one in Normandy, France but smaller. Well worth a visit.

Travelgirl - What about Monte Cassino between Rome and Naples?<BR><BR>Steve

Hi - there are a few memorials in Sicily. We drove to Pachino (southeast corner) where the British and Canadian forces landed. There were no memorials we could find, but we had a pretty good idea where the landing took place so went to that beach. My father in law was part of the landing so we brought him a bag of sand from the beach. Here's a web site re the Canadian/British landing:<BR><BR>http://www.45thdivision.org/sicily.htm<BR><BR>The American forces landed to the west in Gela - here's a web site re Sicily and the Italian campaign from the US 83rd Division:<BR><BR>http://www.4point2.org/hist-83.htm<BR><BR>There's a Canadian Cemetary in Agira, and we saw several German &quot;pill boxes&quot; near Selinunte, but overall the memorials/sites are not as overt as in northern Europe.<BR><BR><BR>

I visited the American Cemetery in Nettuno, an easy 45 minute train ride to the coast from Rome. It is quite overwhelming. If you have Fred Platkin's book, he touts a restaurant in Nettuno which I also visited in February. Yum, yum.

I visited Monte Cassino last Oct. My father fought and was wounded there. He lost his best friend there. The Abby was very beautiful sitting atop the hill. The British Commonwealth Cemetary was a very somber experience for me. My father is no longer with us, but somehow I felt his presence there. I took a tour from Sorrento, which also included Caserta.

I'm not entirely sure this is a WWII memorial -- since I seem to recall the soldier wearing a WWI &quot;doughboy-style&quot; helmet -- and it's nothing major but, although simple, it's one of the most moving war memorials I've seen in Europe. <BR><BR>We happened to be in Cortona on Liberation Day -- April 25th -- last year. If you visit Cortona, go to the main public park which overlooks the valley to the south of town. There you will find a statue of a dead soldier being cradled in the arms of an angel. <BR><BR>

The only WWII American Military Cemetary (or so we were told) is in Nettuno, there is a train from Rome, and I don't remember how far the cemetary is from the train station. There is a small museum.

One source that might not seem directly relevant to what you're looking for is the factsheets on Italy at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site(http://www.cwgc.org/publications.htm. Scroll down to &quot;Cemeteries and memorials in Italy). British and Commonwealth/Empire dead were rarely brought home in WW2, so the Commonwealth grave network in Italy covers all the battle sites where the British etc fought. This doesn't cover EVERY site where the US or Poles fought, but my understanding is that there were few battles that didn't have some British/Canadian/Oz/Kiwi/Indian etc involvement.<BR>In any case, if you've never seen a Commonwealth war graveyard, you've missed one of the most moving sites in the world.Steel yourself before going in. They're not remotely gruesome (the absolute reverse in fact), but seeing so many immaculately cared-for graves of boys aged 20 is heart-wrenching.

Also suggest you read War in the Val D'Orcia.

Thanks for this fantastic information. We now have plans to go at the very least to see Monte Cassino and any sites on Sicily.<BR><BR>I have to dig out my 'World At War' DVD's and rewatch the episode on the Italian front.

Go to www.abmc.gov. This is the website for the American Battle Monuments Commission. You can look up information on American cemeteries in Europe and elsewhere from WWI and WWII.