Mausoleo delle Fosse Ardeatine

Southern Rome

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This mausoleum is dedicated to the victims of Rome’s worst WWII atrocity. Buried here, outside the Ardeatine Caves, are 335 Italians shot by the Nazis on 24 March 1944. Following the massacre, ordered in reprisal for a partisan attack, the Germans used mines to explode sections of the caves and bury the bodies. After the war, the bodies were exhumed, identified and reburied in a mass grave under a huge concrete slab and sculptures.

The site also has a small museum dedicated to the Italian Resistance; doors close 15 minutes before the rest of the site. The Mausoleo delle Fosse Ardeatine is a 10-minute walk west from the Catacombe di San Callisto and is easily included on an Appian Way outing.

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