The European Commission has awarded Sant'Anna di Stazzema (Lucca) the 'European Heritage Label 2023' The village was the scene of the Nazi-fascist massacre on 12 August 1944 in which over 500 people died. "It is a key place in our history which has had an impact, with its suffering, in the fundamental process of formation of the common European identity", says Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano.
The Martyrs Association is among the liveliest voices of this memory with itineraries, events, exhibitions such as the last one last March dedicated to the women of the massacre: 258, of which 43 were girls. Three of they received the Gold Medal for Civil Merit for the acts of heroism carried out during the Massacre. The Peace Park represents a significant and well-conceived site for discuss political conflicts and promote European values, says the European Commission in its reasons for awarding the award to the village. It is "a place of remembrance that commemorates the suffering suffered by civilian populations during wars"