The Partisans' Church at Pasquilio

During WWII, the municipality of Montignoso was identified as the town crossed by the western front of the Gothic Line. The civilian population endured dreadful months of shelling and round-ups, which resulted in death, hunger and destruction. It was also the first town to be liberated in the Province of Massa Carrara. On 8 April 1945, the Allied offensive started from its mountains and gradually spread to the rest of the towns. After passing the hamlets of S. Eustachio and Cerreto, visitors arrive in the locality of Pasquilio, at an altitude of about 800 metres. The Monument to the Apuan Patriots can be seen at Termo. Built by the partisan commander Mario Angelotti 'Contegiò', the work consists of five marble blocks from Mount Carchio.

Continuing along the road to reach the steps that lead to the Tricolour Church. Conceived at the end of 1943 to help and support partisan activities and as a vow of unity and peace for the terrible suffering caused by the war, the project was presented to the same fascist authorities by Don Millo Nicoli, parish priest of Sant'Eustachio and later chaplain of the Apuan patriots, Pietro Del Giudice, a Dominican friar and later commander of the partisan group, and other Resistance members through fund-raising. The cornerstone was laid on 1 April, and the ceremony was attended by numerous families and citizens, as well as by some partisan exponents hidden in the crowd while a company of Montignoso's Republican National Guard kept the area under control. The unwitting protection provided by the fascists to the initiative resulted in the name of the structure as 'Chiesetta delle beffe'. On 5 April 1945, the final Allied offensive began on the western front of the Gothic Line: the Japanese-American forces of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, starting from the village of Azzano near Seravezza, with the support of the Apuan Patriots, conquered the ridge between the Folgorito and Carchio mountains. Three days later Montignoso was liberated.