The German cemetery of Futa
A dignified memorial in Alto Mugello, dedicated to the soldiers who died during the Second World War
Straddling the border between Tuscany and Emilia Romagna, on the ridge of the Tuscan-Romagna Apennines, an intimate and recollective place can be found in the typically mountainous landscape of Alto Mugello.
At an altitude of over 900 metres above sea level, on a summit next to the Futa Pass, a mountain pass belonging to the municipality of Firenzuola, stands the austere memorial to the German soldiers who died in Italy during the Second World War: the German military cemetery of Futa (the Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof Futapass in German).
Erected close to the Gothic Line, the defensive line created by the Germans, that wound mainly along the Apennine ridges from Massa to Pesaro, was inaugurated in 1969. It is the largest cemetery, among those in Italy, built by the German humanitarian association Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, an organisation for the maintenance and honouring of its soldiers who died in the war. The project was entrusted to the architect and engineer Dieter Oesterlen of Hanover.
A large monumental space that unwinds into a spiral-like path following the natural course of the mountainous relief, with vast terraces destined for burial areas, crypts and commemorative works. A memorial housing 16,000 granite slabs in memory of 30,683 German soldiers who fell on Italian soil.
A solemn location surrounded by Appenine nature, aiming not to celebrate but to remember; to recall the events that shocked humanity, with a warning that they should never happen again.
