Ghotic Line 1945. History, Memory and Territory
We return to the footsteps of Italian History by remembering those who fought on the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines battlefields.
We will do it together with the 122 descendants of the US 10th Mountain Division veterans, who after six years return to Italy to visit the places where their fathers or grandfathers fought between the winter and spring of 1945, flanked by the soldiers of the 1st Brazilian Infantry Division.
We present the program of events to be held between 6 and 11 June to which we have given a substantial contribution in terms of organization.
In particular, on the morning of June 6 the benches placed along the path that leads to the top of Monte Belvedere from via Calcinara will be inaugurated, offered and made available to visitors by the 10th Mountain Divison Descendant and the Tenth Mountain Division Foundation. In the afternoon, a new and original monument will be inaugurated at the entrance to the town of Querciola. Colonel Sérgio Alexandre de Oliveira, Military Attaché of the Brazilian Embassy in Italy, will be present at the visit to the FEB monument at the Guanella di Gaggio Montano on June 7. He will illustrate the history of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force in the battles between the winter and spring of 1945, alongside the soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division.
On June 9, on the day of the visit to Castel d'Aiano, a monument will be inaugurated in Santa Lucia at the base of Monte Pigna to celebrate the breakthrough of the German lines in the bloody offensive of April 14, 1945. On June 11, in the presence of the Consul General of the United States Consulate in Florence, Ms Ragini Gupta, Colonel Sérgio Alexandre de Oliveira, Military Attaché of the Brazilian Embassy in Italy, civil and military authorities, will be presented in Montese in national premiere, the TV miniseries MOUNTAINMEN. Gothic Line 1945. Filmed between March 2022 and January 2023 in the territories between Gaggio Montano, Montese and Castel d'Aiano, it will be screened in English-American during an event reserved for descendants of veterans of the 10th Mountain Division and authorities.
The official social channels of the TV miniseries, Mountainmen. Gothic Line 1945 have been made.
Yep!!! The social channels of the TV mini series, Mountainmen. Gothic Line 1945 have been created.
Trailer, curiosities, behind-the-scenes photos are published on Facebook and Instagram.
A year of new initiatives
In January of this year, the shooting of the Mountain Men miniseries, which began in March 2022, ended. A project by Luciano La Valle, produced by the Il Trebbo Association and the Museum, with the support of the 10th Mountain Division Foundation and 10th Mountain Division Descendants. Thanks also to the Unione dei Comuni dell'Appennino Bolognese and to the Municipalities of Lizzano in Belvedere, Montese, Castel d'Aiano, Gaggio Montano, San Marcello Pistoiese and Prunetta's Pro Loco.
THE PROJECT
Seen through the eyes of a group of soldiers from Company G of the 85th Regiment of the US 10th Mountain Division, the story begins with the Division’s arrival in Italy in January 1945 until the end of the war.
Based entirely on real events and documented through the memories of still living veterans, this miniseries narrates the important battles that led to the breaking of the German front in the central sector of the Gothic Line, in the upper Apennines between the provinces of Bologna, Modena, and Pistoia, signalling the end of the Second World War in Italy.
The trilogy of the U.S. 10th Mountain Division in Italy.
1945. The U.S. 10th Mountain Division in Italy
Then and Now
By Davide Mori and Giovanni Sulla in collaboration with Andrea and Giuliano Gandolfi, Curators of the Museum System of Iola di Montese.
Second 2022 extended edition of the book with photographs of places and people compared between 1945 and nowadays, along the advance of the U.S. 10th Mountain Division’s soldiers in Italy. This edition has been extended with 12 new pages of unpublished photographs of places of yesterday and nowadays.
Gothic Line Bloody Red - third extended edition
1945. Photos and memories of U.S. 10th Mountain Division
in Italy
Third edition
By Andrea and Giuliano Gandolfi
The third edition of the book Gothic Line Bloody Red, published in Montese (Modena) in July 2022 by the publisher Il Trebbo, has been expanded to 216 pages. adding a further chapter of letters sent by a soldier to his wife in America in which the fears, anxieties and uncertainty of the future are perceived. The book also includes a chapter with photographs and related geotags of the main monuments and plaque dedicated to the 10th Mountain Division and, in particular, to some of its soldiers.
The spirit of this book, the first edition was published in 2016 ten years after the previous publication In My Father’s Foxholes and Footsteps, is focusing on the memories and photos by Cruz Rios, Company K, 87th Regiment, US 10th Mountain Division in 1943/1945, follows the same motivations.
Gothic Line Bloody Red takes life from another collection of color photographs which crossed the atlantic Ocean thanks to Stephanie, wife of William Ferguson in force, in 1945, to the medical detachment of 2nd Battalion, 86th Regiment which allowed us to use them for this book, and Val Rios.
The book In my Father's foxholes and footsteps
“Life must be understood backwards; but it must be lived forward.”
(Kierkegaard)
“We can only be free when everyone is.”
(Hegel)
The Second World War has produced an infinite number of books, black and white films, images and documentaries. The heroic moments of those who survived, those dying and of those who died are catalogued by war correspondents, whose work was to astonish through their photographs.
Cold images of how war is.
We feel that, for the first time, this book offers testimonial from both ordinary soldiers who fought on our land and of the people they encountered, witnessed through the eyes of the men who found themselves risking their lives in a foreign land, far away from home and among unknown customs and cultures.
