The Memorie d'Italia Museum, founded in 1999 thanks to the brothers Andrea and Giuliano Gandolfi, is part of the Iola di Montese Museum System of, founded in 2010, which included the Raccolta di Cose Montesine.
The Memorie d'Italia Museum is made up of a series of thematic collections, which contain around 4,000 original objects from the Second World War era, spread over 4 of the 12 rooms of the former rectory in the hamlet of Iola a Montese, in the province of Modena.
The experience is completed by some paths that cross the battlefields where Allied and German soldiers fought in the months between 1944 and 1945 on the second and last line of resistance of the Green Line, better known as the Gothic Line.
The museum overlooks the town square, at an altitude of 920 metres above sea level, next to the church built in 1635.
Hospitality is provided by the large car parks and nearby farmhouses, one of which is just a short walk away.
The MEMORIE D'ITALIA collections are divided into different rooms dedicated to the armies thet were present in the area at the time:
- US Army, 10th Mountain Division
- Força Expedicionária Brasileira (FEB) 1st Infantry Division and Força Aerea Brasileira (FAB)
- Royal Italian Army and the Italian Social Republic
- Wehrmacht - Heer: the 232nd Infantry Division and 114th Jager Division.
A display case contains some items supplied to the British army.
All the objects, grouped by type, represent what was available to the soldiers at the front. On display are uniforms, decorations, badges, weapons, everyday items, emergency items and various types of clothing and accessories.
The collections, which highlight the technical features and the quality of the means including comfort, available up to the front line of combat, are aimed at understanding the logistics was behind the fighters on the various battlefields according to the axiom that wars are won by the army which has the most motivated men and the best logistics.
The museum has been officially recognised by the Association of the Descendants of the 10th Mountain Division which organises the return to the battlefields of the upper Tuscan-Emilian Apennines every three years: the next tour is scheduled for September 2025 and will be another date to remember the fighting of the 5th Allied Army which, in this area, led to the breakthrough of the German defences by the soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division.
The Brazilian soldiers of the F.E.B. repleced the American in the rear after the conquest of Monte Castello and Montese.
In the rooms dedicated to the history of our country there are also books, school reports and school objects from the1920s.
The museum is surrounded by the battlefields which between 1944 and 1945 were stained with blood of soldiers and the civilian during one of the coldest and snowiest winters in living memory.
Today the GOTHIC LINE PATHS cross these battlefields and follow the ridges and woods where the trenches and walkways of the opposing armies are still visible and where it is still possible to find some relics of the war. A path of reflection among centuries-old chestnut trees and memories that fade withtime.
Between 1944 and 1945, the Green Line II ran along the hills overlooking the country, the second deep resistance line of the German army, originally better known as the Gothic Line and renamed the Grune Line (Green Line) in mid-1944,.
Next to the building that houses the museum, a path with equipment begins to run for about 800 metres along the ridge of Mount Terminale.
On 3 March 1945, the soldiers of the 86th Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division, having conquered the mountain, descended towards the town of Jola to liberate it from the German troops. In 2011 on the summit, near a small oratory and along the ridge, the trenches and an observatory where the soldiers of both sides took shelter and from which they fought.
At the foot of the hill, on the basis of the testimony of those who were there at the time, a shelter was reconstructed in 2013, used by the inhabitants of the town to protect themselves from the heavy bombardments, especially artillery, from both sides.
The main itinerary, which starts from the car park in the village square, run along a ridge for about 16 km, towards Monte della Torraccia, Ronchidoso up to the summit of Monte Belvedere. The journey takes about 6 hours.
On both sides and along the long stretches that cross the woods, there are traces of the battles that took place 80 years ago.