Italy's WWII sites focus of researcher's guide

A frequent visitor to Italy, Anne Saunders was struck by the fact that of all the travel guides available to prospective tourists, rarely could anything be found on sites commemorating World War II.

"As it turned out, there wasn't one at all," says Saunders, a research associate with the Department of Classics at the College of Charleston. "One could find books on Normandy and D-Day, of course, but there was nothing comparable for Italy. The problem was that there was so little information about them."

She determined to rectify the oversight. The result is "A Travel Guide to World War II Sites in Italy: Museums, Memorials and Battlegrounds," recently released by Travel Guide Press.

"When you go to Italy, the emphasis is so much on antiquities. No tour guide ever discusses 20th-century Italy. But this war really shaped modern Italian politics in all kinds of ways, though my book is not a political or accusatory book in any way. The chief memorials that tourists go to are in Rome, Florence and Lucca. It seemed fitting to do a book revealing these less conventional sites to a larger readership."

Saunders believes the Italian campaign is the least well-known of those conducted by American armed forces in Europe in World War II.

"Tens of thousands of Americans died there, and there are two large cemeteries: in Nettuno near Rome and the other just outside of Florence. But I was really trying to be comprehensive with the book, to look at all aspects of the war, not just the fighting but the effects on Italian civilians as well. People simply are not aware of how many died there and how great the suffering was."

Saunders, who has begun speaking to school groups on the subject of her book, also deals with the Italian resistance movement.

"People know of the Resistance in France, yet few know that its counterpart in Italy was so helpful in hastening the end of the war."

Saunders has taught at the college since 1984. For the past five years, her research has focused on modern Italy, with an interest in World War II an outgrowth of reading the memoirs of various Allied soldiers, a biography of Mussolini and the works of Primo Levi. Though she has published numerous articles in academic journals, this is her first general-interest book.

"A Travel Guide to World War II Sites in Italy" carries visitors to more than 100 venues, many of which honor the 60,000 Allied soldiers who perished in combat, as well as the 252,000 wounded or missing in action. Among the many sites and monuments covered in the book are the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and memorial at Nettuno, the marble statue in the National Park of Peace at Sant'Anna di Stazzema (near Lucca), the Beachhead Museum and harbor memorials at Anzio, the Abbey of Monte Cassino and a large white abstract sculpture dedicated to Allied soldiers that stands in the mountains in the village of Gaggio Montano near Bologna.

One memorial, 30 minutes east of Anzio near the town of Latina, harbors the nation's largest World War II museum, its several acres covered by 10 buildings and several outdoor exhibits. In four of the buildings, life-size models of the combatants stand in settings that represent battles in North Africa, Sicily, Cassino, Anzio and Nettuno. Audio and visual effects enliven these displays.

"Postwar reconstruction and development today conceal much of the devastation that Italy suffered during the Second World War," Saunders says. "However, the effects of the war still are commemorated throughout the country."

Also included in the book are complete site descriptions, maps and driving aids, relevant websites, notes on which sites offer tours in English, a list of hotels and historical summaries of the Italian campaign and the events that both preceding its onset and set the stage.

For more information, visit www.travelguidepress.com.

Reach Bill Thompson at bthompson@postandcourier.com or 937-5707.