The Gothic Line is the line along which the war front run in Italy during the last stages of World War II. It developed for 320 km from Massa-Carrara to Rimini along the Apennine ridge: in the north, the Germans and in the south, the Alleys. The Nazis exploited the harshness of the mountains as a natural defensive front fortified with stones, wood, ditches, mine fields, and bunkers for the artillery, in order to slow down the advance of the Alleys, landed in 1943 in the south of Italy and gradually approaching.
The Gothic Line, along which still today it is possible to see the signs of the fortifications and war surplus, was attacked by the Alleys in September 1944. However, it was broken through only in February 1945, thanks to the partisan groups supporting the Alleys.
As a matter of fact, the Partisans began to gather on September 8th, 1943 in the forests of the Apennines to organize the Resistance movement, moving along the trails that today have been transformed into thematic itineraries and Memory trails. Among them, we recall for their sacrifice: Cervi brothers, killed on November 28th,1943 by order of the Fascists in Reggio; don Pasquino Borghi, parish priest of Coriano Tapignola, in the Municipality of Villa Minozzo, arrested and then shot in Reggio on January 30th, 1944 for welcoming and concealing scattered soldiers and Partisans; the victims of the massacres of Cervarolo and Villa Minozzo; the dead of the battle of Cerrè Sologno, in the Municipality of Villa Minozzo.
Further info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_Line
