Credits: Giorgio Galeotti, CC BY 4.0
Where are we?
We are at Futa German Military Cemetery
Inaugurated in 1969 and featuring a large memorial, it hosts about 30,800 German soldiers who fell during the fighting on the Gothic Line.
The Futa Pass in the Tuscan-Romagna Apennines has always been an important route for communication. During the Second World War, some of the most important fortifications of the Gothic Line were established there. Thousands of German soldiers died there before the Allied breakthrough in September 1944, in addition to the battles for the liberation of Bologna in April 1945.
In 1955, an agreement was made between Italy and the Federal Republic of Germany for the final disposal of the bodies of German soldiers who had died on Italian territory. In 1959, the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (Association for German War Graves) commissioned architect Dieter Oesterlen to design a large cemetery, which was inaugurated on 28th June 1969. There, the remains of German soldiers from various cemeteries in the area were transported and exhumed.
Today, the military cemetery covers an area of 12 hectares with around 30,800 German fallen soldiers buried there. More than 16,000 grey granite slabs are divided into 72 sections; at the highest point is a pyramid-shaped central monument, below which the honorary cemetery can be found, a crypt containing 397 graves.
Facility or museum: yes
Geographic location: Firenzuola (FI), Tuscany
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