Villanova Canadian War Cemetery
- Country Italy
- Total identified casualties 211 Find these casualties
- Identified casualties from Second World War
- GPS Coordinates Latitude: 44.45139, Longitude: 12.05167
Location information
Villanova lies in the Commune of Bagnacavallo in the Province of Ravenna. Take autostrada A14, Bologna-Ancona, and branch off to Ravenna. Turn left along the SS16 towards Ferrara and at 7.5 kilometres, at the village of Mezzano, turn left to Villanova, about 4 kilometres. If travelling by train, the nearest station is Mezzano but there is no taxi service from there. Taxi's are available however, from Ravenna train station. Cemetery address: Via Chiesa 11 - 48020 Bagnacavallo (RA) Emilia Romagna. GPS Co-ordinates: Latitude: 44.45150, Longitude: 12.05180.
Visiting information
ARRIVAL
The route to the cemetery is signposted.
PARKING
Parking is at the side of the road (Via della Chiesa) in a car park in front of the municipal cemetery, 135 metres northwest from the main entrance of the CWGC cemetery.
A tarmac footpath runs along the side of the main road to the entrance of the CWGC cemetery. The footpath is level with the road and is delineated by a white painted line. The footpath is approximately 1.2 metres wide.
The ground is flat and firm with a tarmac surface. There are access covers and drainage grilles located along the length of the path.
ACCESS, LAYOUT AND MAIN ENTRANCE
The cemetery runs parallel to the main road, the main entrance is at the halfway point of the cemetery.
The cemetery is rectangular and is surrounded by a one-metre-tall hedge.
The main entrance is comprised of two brick and stone low walls, with a wide metal entrance gate, approximately seven metres wide in between.
The central part of the entrance has a double leaf latched metal gate, approximately 1.8 metres wide and 1.2 metres tall, which opens inwards into the cemetery. Flat marble black and white paving begins at the junction of the entrance, level with the tarmac, and extends ten metres into the cemetery, surrounding a small shelter building (tempietto). The paving is level with the surrounding grass inside the cemetery.
The Register Box is inside the tempietto. A single step up from three open sides of the tempietto leads inside. The is a stone bench on the rear exterior side of the tempietto.
The Cross of Sacrifice is in the centre of the cemetery opposite the main entrance. There are two timber benches located against the rear hedge boundary facing the Cross of Sacrifice.
The internal paths are grass, the ground is flat and firm.
An information sign is mounted on an internal wall at the entrance of the cemetery.
ALTERNATIVE ACCESS
The main entrance is step-free into the site.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The cemetery is permanently open.
History information
On 3 September 1943 the Allies invaded the Italian mainland, the invasion coinciding with an armistice made with the Italians who then re-entered the war on the Allied side.
Following the fall of Rome to the Allies in June 1944, the German retreat became ordered and successive stands were made on a series of defensive lines. In the northern Appenine mountains the last of these, the Gothic Line, was breached by the Allies during the Autumn campaign and the front inched forward as far as Ravenna in the Adratic sector, but with divisions transferred to support the new offensive in France, and the Germans dug in to a number of key defensive positions, the advance stalled as winter set in.
The site of this cemetery was chosen by the 5th Canadian Armoured Division for battlefield burials. It was in the vicinity of Villanova that troops of this Division succeeded in establishing a bridgehead over the River Lamone in the night 10/11 December 1944. West of this bridgehead there was heavy fighting in the following days, when attempts were made to cross the three canals that run from Faenza to the sea. From 12 to 15 December, the Lanark and Renfrew Scottish Regiment and the 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards suffered heavily in these attempts, and 85 of the burials in the cemetery come from these two regiments. Others include those killed in the advance to the final line held by the Canadians on the River Senio before they left Italy in February 1945.
Villanova Canadian War Cemetery contains 212 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War.