Florence War Cemetery

• Country Italy
• Total identified casualties 1616 Find these casualties
• Identified casualties from Second World War
• GPS Coordinates Latitude: 43.77016, Longitude: 11.34284

Location information

If travelling by road, from the A1 Rome to Milan exit at Firenze Sud. Go along the ringroad and take direction Pontassieve. The cemetery is a further 2km, on the right hand side. If travelling by train , from the main station (Santa Maria Novella) take bus A14 to 'Girone' and get off at the terminal. The cemetery is 50 metres ahead on the main street. Cemetery address: Via Aretina, 38 - 50061 Girone Compiobbi (FI) Tuscany. GPS Co-ordinates: Latitude: 43.769756, Longitude: 11.342584

Visiting information

Florence War Cemetery is in the Tuscany region of Italy.

ARRIVAL

Routes to the cemetery are signposted.

PARKING

There is a large car park located approximately 100m from the main entrance gate. The car park is flat with a gravel surface and a pathway leads from the car park into the main area of the cemetery through the staff access entrance gate.

Additional on street parking is available within 100 metres of the cemetery.

ACCESS, LAYOUT & MAIN ENTRANCE

The cemetery is rectangular shaped with a Cross of Sacrifice close to the main entrance.

The Main Gate of the cemetery is approximately 2.5 metres wide and is locked outside of gardeners working hours. (see below)

A viewing platform is accessed up a central staircase above the shelter building surrounded by a low wall.

The entrance down into the cemetery from the gates is via two separate stone staircases leading down to the Cross of Sacrifice area. A shelter sits between the two staircases behind the Cross. Two steps lead down from the Cross of Sacrifice area into the cemetery.

There are a few level changes within the cemetery where the only access is via steps to access the main part of the cemetery. Additionally, there are some areas where the ground level varies, but routes around the burial area are flat, level and predominantly grass.

To the right of the main burial area is a second section containing 83 headstones, this section sits diagonally to the right of the main burial section.

The shelter behind the Cross of Sacrifice holds the Register Box and contains a stone bench incorporated into the wall.

A Stone of Remembrance stands towards the rear of the cemetery.

There are several stone benches situated around the cemetery.

ALTERNATIVE ACCESS

Alternative access into the cemetery is possible through a service gate on the side of the cemetery (from the parking area).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The cemetery may be visited at any time. Please note that the main gates and service area gates are kept locked outside the gardening staff's working hours which are as follows:

Winter: 0800 hrs to 1200 hrs 1300 hrs to 1530 hrs

Summer: 0730 hrs to 1200 hrs 1300 hrs to 1600 hrs

The gates are locked with a padlock. Use code “1221" and press the button on the lock to access through the service entrance or the Main Gate.

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 positions known as the Trasimene, Arezzo, Arno and Gothic Lines. Florence, which was taken by the Allied forces on 13 August 1944, was the centre of the Arno line and the point from which the attack on the German Gothic Line defences in the Apennines was launched.

The site for the war cemetery was selected in November 1944 for burials from the hospitals established in and around Florence but the greater part of those buried here lost their lives in the fighting in this area from July to September 1944.

After the war, 83 graves were moved into the cemetery from nearby Arrow Route Cemetery, when it proved impossible to acquire the site in perpetuity. Most of these burials were from the fighting in the Apennines during the winter of 1944-1945.

Florence War Cemetery now contains 1,632 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War.