April 25, the memory shared along the partisan paths and in the symbolic places of the Resistance - Lifestyle

"Surrender or perish!"

was the password intimated by the partisans on April 25, 1945.

A year later, after the war, that was the date indicated as the feast to celebrate the Liberation of Italy, symbol of the resistance struggle of the partisan forces in the Second World War after 8 September 1943 during the Nazi occupation and the fascist government of the Republic of Salò.

It is a founding date to remember, a day of celebration but also of political controversy.

There are many symbolic places of the Italian Resistance to visit with the children in tow, telling them what was happening in Italy a few decades ago, drawing up the stories of a past that every family keeps, memories of difficult times to evoke to tell them about that generation for which - using the words of Piero Calamandrei father of the country -

.".

There is a need for a shared memory to be handed down to the youngest and it must be done quickly,

Educating young people in the values ​​of peace

, routes scattered throughout Italy is important.

In the mountains, for example, where rallies in the form of trekking have been held for years, where you walk along the Sentieri Partigiani - such as those organized by the Sentieri Resistenti association, connecting some of the many places of memory scattered throughout the Alps in the province of Turin , winding through the Graian and Cottian Alps, in stages between the upper Canavese with the valleys of Lanzo, val Susa, val Sangone, val Chisone, val Germanasca and Bargese.

Or in the partisan paths of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines.

Only by going back to the places can we understand the desire for justice that drove the partisans to fight.

Listen to the places to understand the choice to become a partisan, the suffering it entailed, the fear of death, the hopes for a different future, made up of equality.

A dream to be built with the power of reason and solidarity that was born from a group of free men and women.

At the end of the war, over 185,000 partisan fighters were recognized, including 35,000 women, with nearly 29,000 dead, including 683 women.

The Historical Institute of the Resistance of Reggio Emilia has produced a guide of stories, paths and memories, of 15 itineraries and every year it organizes exciting visits to the Reggio Emilia mountains together with the partisan witnesses of the places that were the scene of actions of the Resistance, of clashes and of Nazi and Fascist reprisals.

Visits that, like today, attract many people and not only Italians and are always sold out.

The itineraries throughout Italy are innumerable, remaining in the area of ​​the Istoreco paths but in the Bassa, there is April 25th at Casa Cervi,

a symbolic place of the Resistance, the farmhouse between the Municipalities of Gattatico and Campegine, inhabited by the family of anti-fascist sharecropper farmers.

During the war, the house was a point of reference and of concrete help for anti-fascists, draft dodgers, and for those who opposed the war. In December 1943, the seven sons of Alcide Cervi (father Cervi , spared martyrdom, wrote the heartbreaking story of the family in 'My seven children', Einaudi).

Having become a "Museum for the history of peasant movements, anti-fascism and resistance in the countryside", Casa Cervi continues to be an exciting place to visit, a heritage of shared memory and has for many years been a forge of remembrance and school initiatives for the future.

the farmhouse between the Municipalities of Gattatico and Campegine, inhabited by the family of anti-fascist sharecropper farmers.

During the war, the house was a point of reference and of concrete help for anti-fascists, draft dodgers, and for those who opposed the war. In December 1943, the seven sons of Alcide Cervi (father Cervi , spared martyrdom, wrote the heartbreaking story of the family in 'My seven children', Einaudi).

Having become a "Museum for the history of peasant movements, anti-fascism and resistance in the countryside", Casa Cervi continues to be an exciting place to visit, a heritage of shared memory and has for many years been a forge of remembrance and school initiatives for the future.

the farmhouse between the Municipalities of Gattatico and Campegine, inhabited by the family of anti-fascist sharecropper farmers.

During the war, the house was a point of reference and of concrete help for anti-fascists, draft dodgers, and for those who opposed the war. In December 1943, the seven sons of Alcide Cervi (father Cervi , spared martyrdom, wrote the heartbreaking story of the family in 'My seven children', Einaudi).

Having become a "Museum for the history of peasant movements, anti-fascism and resistance in the countryside", Casa Cervi continues to be an exciting place to visit, a heritage of shared memory and has for many years been a forge of remembrance and school initiatives for the future.

inhabited by the family of anti-fascist sharecropper farmers.

During the war, the house was a point of reference and of concrete help for anti-fascists, draft dodgers, and for those who opposed the war. In December 1943, the seven sons of Alcide Cervi (father Cervi , spared martyrdom, wrote the heartbreaking story of the family in 'My seven children', Einaudi).

Having become a "Museum for the history of peasant movements, anti-fascism and resistance in the countryside", Casa Cervi continues to be an exciting place to visit, a heritage of shared memory and has for many years been a forge of remembrance and school initiatives for the future.

inhabited by the family of anti-fascist sharecropper farmers.

During the war, the house was a point of reference and of concrete help for anti-fascists, draft dodgers, and for those who opposed the war. In December 1943, the seven sons of Alcide Cervi (father Cervi , spared martyrdom, wrote the heartbreaking story of the family in 'My seven children', Einaudi).

Having become a "Museum for the history of peasant movements, anti-fascism and resistance in the countryside", Casa Cervi continues to be an exciting place to visit, a heritage of shared memory and has for many years been a forge of remembrance and school initiatives for the future.

and for those who opposed the war, in December 1943, the seven sons of Alcide Cervi were sacked and shot (father Cervi, spared martyrdom, wrote the poignant story of the family in 'My Seven Children', Einaudi).

Having become a "Museum for the history of peasant movements, anti-fascism and resistance in the countryside", Casa Cervi continues to be an exciting place to visit, a heritage of shared memory and has for many years been a forge of remembrance and school initiatives for the future.

and for those who opposed the war, in December 1943, the seven sons of Alcide Cervi were sacked and shot (father Cervi, spared martyrdom, wrote the poignant story of the family in 'My Seven Children', Einaudi).

Having become a "Museum for the history of peasant movements, anti-fascism and resistance in the countryside", Casa Cervi continues to be an exciting place to visit, a heritage of shared memory and has for many years been a forge of remembrance and school initiatives for the future. 

In Rome, among the many possible places,

, an area between Casilina and Tuscolana, considered a den of partisans and saboteurs during the months of the Nazi occupation (to escape in those times they said 'either go to the Vatican or go to the Quadraro'), in short, a rebel community.

To the point that on 17 April 1944 the entire population of the area was rounded up by the SS, aided by the Koch gang, by more than 2,000 people (more than in the Ghetto roundup the year before), half of whom were deported as 'Hitler's slaves' in Germany and only a few hundred returned alive.

The entire village, today largely intact with low houses and no master plan, was awarded the gold medal for civil value.

Recognition in memory also awaited for Don Gioacchino Rey, the priest of the local church of S. Maria del Buon Consiglio,

who offered himself to the Germans in place of the roundups and acted as a link with the organizations of the Resistance.

The urban art of the artist David Diavù Vecchiato has created a mural inside the Quadraro tunnel in commemoration of the deportation of the inhabitants in '1944.

And here are

Piazza Quattro Giornate, Naples -

so called in memory of the insurrections that broke out in the Campania capital between 27 and 30 September 1943, which went down in history with the name of the Four Days of Naples.

The revolutionary episode earned the population the Gold Medal for military valor, since the insurrection allowed the Allied forces to find, upon their arrival on 1 October 1943, a city already free from German occupation thanks to the courage of the inhabitants.

Shrine of the Fosse Ardeatine, Rome

- created in memory of the cruel massacre perpetrated by the Nazis in Rome on March 24, 1944 in the pozzolana quarries in via Ardeatina.

Despite its simplicity, the work conveys feelings of dismay and indignation.

Overall, the shrine includes the caves where the massacre took place, the mausoleum where the bodies rest and a group of sculptures symbolizing the 335 martyrs.

Cassibile, Sicily

- the small fraction of Syracuse is famous for the signing of the historic armistice signed secretly on 3 September 1943, with which the Kingdom of Italy put an end to hostilities against the Allies.

The "Stone of Peace" was immediately placed in the exact place of the signature, subsequently stolen.

Today, thanks to the commitment of the Lamba Doria association, a new plaque has been repositioned in memory of this important historical page, albeit not exactly in the place of the signature, where a resort now stands. 

the Veneto region offers various museums for history enthusiasts of the last century.

The Museum dedicated to Agostino Piol, Gold Medal to the Resistance, is located in the municipality of Limana and contains a rich photographic repertoire.

Also not to be missed are the Museum of the Risorgimento and the Resistance in Vicenza and the National Museum of Internment, based in Padua, where the harrowing experience of the deportations to Nazi concentration camps is told through images and historical material. 

every year the Festa Popolare di Resistenza takes place here, under the banner of good music, stands and entertainment for the little ones.

The anniversary is so heartfelt that, a few years ago, the Commissioner who administered the municipality notified the Anpi of the disapproval of

for its "too divisive" character, banning it.

The episode unleashed a heated controversy and ended with the agreement that the middle school of Alassio would decide which songs to play. 

inaugurated on 31 October 1959, it was wanted by the mayor Giuseppe Dozza, who gave the task to Piero Bottoni, a leading exponent of Rationalism in Italy and close to the positions of Le Corbusier.

The monument, circular in shape, was built so that whoever looks at it can go "underground with the dead", to use Bottoni's words.

Those dead who fought for freedom now rest in niches placed along the inner walls of the work, which in the center has a tub containing water and five symbolic figures projecting from the bottom upwards.

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