San Marino. Friday an evening dedicated to the Gothic Line
Friday at the Customs Social Center, the historian Andrea Santangelo will present the book “Going for the Gothic Line”.
The initiative is carried out by the Don Quixote cultural association, with the patronage of Giunta di Castello di Serravalle.
The volume (Il Mulino editions, 2021), will be presented Friday 13 May 2022 at 9 pm at the Dogana Social Center.
The Gothic Line – the articulated German defense system which barred access to the Po Valley to allies from Southern Italy – it was the scene, between the spring of 1944 and the summer of 1945, of enormous war tragedies.
Of the 320 kilometers of wall that started from Pesaro and ended in Marina di Massaare suggested five itineraries conducted following the chronology of events.
From the great battle for Rimini to the strange war in the wetlands of Ravenna and Ferrara; from the bloody memories for the liberation of Bolognese and Imolese to the Garfagnana, the area of the last German and Fascist offensive, to the terrible Nazi-fascist massacres of Sant’Anna di Stazzema Monte Sole.
Enriched by historical testimonies of those who still keep a vivid memory of it, the volume is an ideal viaticum also for those who intend to undertake the journey in one of the most fascinating Apennine landscapes.
The events of the Second World War also saw the Republic of San Marino and the Rimini area as protagonists.During the presentation of the book, the influence that the extreme proximity of the German defensive system, the Gothic Line, the passage of the front and the presence of those involved had also had for our territory.
The tough guy is mainly remembered bombing which struck the Republic on June 26, 1944, in particular the railway line existing then, and which caused 63 deaths.
The San Marino residents also hosted during the war years more than 50,000 displaced persons coming from Rimini and the surrounding area.
Another key episode for the Titan is the battle of Monte Pulito, a clash between the German forces and the British army, where the Gurkha soldiers, chosen from among the population of Nepal and northern India, were mainly involved.
In memory of the battle and the heroic deeds of the soldier Gurkha SehrBahadurThapa, who died heroically in an attempt to save the lives of his wounded comrades, a memorial stone was erected in the Castle of Faetano.
An aid to the story of the events together with Andrea Santangelo, also the historical memories of the San Marino Emiliano Della Balda.
Moderated by Angelica Bezziccari
Graphics and photography by Luca Zonzini
Library by the Cosmo Library
The author
Andrea Santangelo
Archaeologist and military history expert, he has directed some editorial series and edited the technical data sheets of the 30 volumes of the series Wide-angle The Wars in Historypublished by Corriere della Sera.
In the field of military history, he has collaborated with trade magazines and has been a speaker at conferences and lectures in various historical dissemination contexts, including the Gubbio Medieval Festival and the Rimini Ancient World Festival.
His works deal mainly with historical military history and the lives of characters. Topics are recurring the Second World War in Africa and on the Gothic Line, the First World War and the military of the Renaissance which in 2018 also saw him exhibit the Fornovo camp on Rai Storia.
In 2018 with his book Italy goes to war (Longanesi) won the Cerruglio Prize, national literary prize for topical non-fiction, for the ‘History’ section.
With the writer and journalist Lia Celi he wrote the biographies of some famous people, deepening less known aspects and debunking commonplaces that have altered their image over time, figures such as Lucrezia Borgia, Giacomo Casanova and Caterina de ‘Medici.
For the Resto del Carlino he writes articles on history and current affairs related to the city of Rimini, where he lives.
He has published “Eccentrici in guerra” (Utet, 2017), “Italy goes to war” (Longanesi, 2017), “The two lives of Lucrezia Borgia” (with Lia Celi, Utet, 2019), “Generals and battles of Gothic Line »(Bookstones, 2019),« The battle of El Alamein »(Il Mulino, 2020).