THE MONUMENTS MEN TOUR BY DR. DANILA BRACAGLIA

Join us as we trace the path of masterpieces, work of arts, archives rescued by the Monuments Men belonging to Montecassino and Naples.  In 1943 to protect Italian art from both bombings and Nazi greed, the Allies created a special unit of unlikely soldiers -- museum directors, artists, teachers and art historians whose mission, was to "minimize damage” to Europe's single greatest concentration of art, architecture and history from the ravages of war. After the Allied landing in Salerno, 9th September 1943, there was concern about the fate of the cultural heritage involved in the conflict. Some safe sites had already been identified, including the Abbey of Montecassino, where the works of art could be safely stored.