Sacrario ai Caduti di Marzabotto

The Marzabotto War Memorial Shrine is a crypt completed in 1961 beneath the parish church of Santi Giuseppe e Carlo, commemorating victims of the Monte Sole massacres and the two world wars.

Why it matters

The shrine preserves the memory and remains of civilians killed in the 1944 massacres and soldiers who died in the First and Second World Wars. It forms an urban memorial complement to the sites of Monte Sole.

What to notice

Plaques along the loculi record victims' names and ages, while other panels remember unidentified dead. The shrine contains works by artist Stella Angelini, including an altar painting, a gold-leaf triptych and bronze compositions about war, the massacre and the Resistance.

Context and history

Nazi units killed civilians across Marzabotto, Monzuno and Grizzana Morandi beginning on 29 September 1944. The crypt holds the remains of 778 civilian victims and 404 soldiers from the two world wars, including some unidentified dead. Marzabotto received the Gold Medal for Military Valour in 1949; the shrine was completed in 1961.