Historical Museum of the Resistance

On the 19^th September 1991 the Tuscan Regional Centre for the Resistance Movement chose S. Anna di Stazzema as seat of the Historical Museum of the "Resistenza". A visit gives an essential, though thorough and historically documented panorama of Versilia's contribution to the Liberation War and at the same time aims at stimulating a reflection on the values that gave rise to the "Resistenza". The space of the museum is imagined as a single entity in its double nature of exposition and monumental charnel-house at the top of the Cava hill. The latter possesses a 12 metre high stone tower with four arches: a paved path leads up to the monument through an area of thick undergrowth, the so called "macchia mediterranea". At its base are the remains of the 560 civilians murdered by German troops on the 12^th of August 1944 and a memorial stone preserves the names of those who could be identified. Along the path leading up to the monumental charnel-house the Stations of the Cross are presented parallel to the events of those days in S. Anna and its surroundings with 14 pairs of sculptured bronze panels inserted along the sides of the path.