Has anyone visited the Ardeatine Caves, about 3 km outside central Rome adjacent to the St. Sebastian Catacombs? Please share your experience. I assume a taxi is needed. Also seeking feedback about the other sites related to Italy's involvement in WW II. I searched online but can not find a WW II historian who offers a tour of these critical sites.
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The owner of our B&B in Salerno did some research on Operation Avalanche and found a few things:
The Museum of Operation Avalanche in Eboli is small, but very interesting. Robert Capa came ashore with the Allies, and you can see many of his photos there. The town of Eboli is lovely and well worth a visit. I believe there is a train from Salerno to Eboli, but our B&B host drove us there. https://www.moamuseum.it/moamuseum/
At the time of our trip, the WWII museum in Salerno was closed for renovation.
You can find a German bunker on the beach at Paestum, as well as an old watch tower a few yards inland that was repurposed by the Germans. https://www.liberationroute.com/pois/1226/coastal-defence-post
Our host also located the area on the Rapido River where Mark Clark sent the battle weary 36th Infantry to attack the Germans. Unfortunately, we ran out of energy before running out of things to see on that day.
We had a hard time finding information, let alone guides, for WWII sites in Italy. I tried to find any kind of guide for a day trip to Anzio - the only one I could find was prohibitively expensive.
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Washington DC
28247 posts
I went to the museum in Eboli last year. It's a bit of a walk (partly uphill) from the Eboli train station. There might be a bus that would get you at least part of the way, but the walk wasn't a problem for me. There's someone (I suspect a volunteer) who speaks English and will probably give you a bit of a tour. He's more likely to be there in the morning, I think. He was leaving as I was arriving, so he gave me a quick orientation and set me up to watch the video (either subtitled or dubbed; I don't remember). It was a worthwhile stop for me, even without his presence for the rest of the visit.
Right in Rome: Museo Storico della Liberazione, Via Tasso 145. It's the former Gestapo headquarters, near San Giovanni in Laterano. The exhibition is small but good. It was free as of February 2023. Check the hours carefully; I think it takes a long afternoon break. www.museoliberazione.it
There's an exhibition space in the Jewish Ghetto, the Casina dei Vallati, that has exhibitions related to the Holocaust. There was just one set up at the time of my visit, but there seem to be a couple of additional ones now. https://www.museodellashoah.it/tipo_mostra/insede/
Elsewhere in Italy:
World War II museum in Catania, Sicily. I missed this, but I read about it later on this forum.
BZ '18-'45 in Bolzano. The focus here is really on the inter-war period, but there's some material on WWII. I found it quite interesting. The museum is across the river, west of the city center; it's easily walkable from the archaeology museum housing Otzi, the Iceman.