Joanne's long walks: Via Romea Germanica Day 94: Santa Sofia

PROMEMORIA
Ci sono cose da fare ogni giorno:
lavarsi, studiare, giocare,
preparare la tavola a mezzogiorno.
Ci sono cose da fare di notte:
chiudere gli occhi, dormire,
avere sogni da sognare,
Ci sono cose da non fare mai:
né di giorno né di notte,
né per mare né per terra,
per esempio, la guerra.

(There are things to be done every day,

things like washing, study, and play,

or setting the table at midday.

There are things to be done at night:

closing your eyes, sleeping, and dreaming.

Then there are things you should never do:

Not by day, nor at night,

Not at sea, nor ashore,

And one of these is war.)

- children's poem by Gianni Rodari, quoted at Passo Carnaio

July 25, 1944 was a hot, sunny day at the Carnaio Pass. At around 8:00 AM, German and Italian soldiers began searching for 30 men to kill in retaliation for the taking of hostages by Resistance fighters.

At about 5:30 AM, the soldiers set the first house on fire: the Carnaio.

Between 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM, 13 more houses were burned, and all their inhabitants brought together under an old oak tree: a total of 62 prisoners, including men, women and children.

At 11:00 AM, the last three houses in the Tramonte area were set on fire. About half an hour later, the parish priest, Don Ilario Lazzaroni, brought the last sacraments to the prisoners. At approximately 2:00 PM, the priest attempted to reach the German command to plead for the prisoners' lives, but was shot dead in the middle of the field.

Around 5:00 PM, a number of prisoners locked up in the San Piero nursery school were released; but the soldiers continued to round up more men.

At 8:00 PM, news arrived that the hostages had been found. At approximately 8:30 PM, the men rounded up in the morning were killed, except for a very elderly man, pardoned at the last minute.) The children and women were released.

At approximately 9:00 PM, the Germans transported 21 prisoners to the Carnaio Pass. A young man from San Piero in Bagno who jumped from the truck in an attempt to escape was brutally hanged from a telephone pole.

At approximately 9:30 PM, all the remaining prisoners were shot. In the dusk, two prisoners managed to dive into the thick woods and save themselves at the very last minute. The night mercifully received the blood of all the others: 27 innocent victims.

(As told by M.B., a survivor of the incident)

The victims of the massacre are recalled with a monument in a memorial park at the top of the Carnaio Pass, the highest point we reached today: 800 metres above sea level.

We started out at an elevation of only 250 metres, in Santa Sofia. It was market day - it seems to have been market day in every town I've been through this week! - and I bought some cheese and fruit before leaving the town and beginning the long climb up to the pass.

Santa Sofia in the morning

Today we largely disregarded the official Via Romea Germanica route and walked on quiet mountain roads. The official route left Santa Sofia on one such road, SP77, and we felt so comfortable walking on it that we decided to stay on the road instead of turning off onto the path. There were very few cars, so we continued following mountain roads, some gravel but mostly paved, sometimes coinciding with the official Via Romea route and sometimes not. Walking on a road meant we could proceed at a steady pace, without worrying about mud, wet grass, brambles, stinging nettles, dogs or cows: though we saw plenty of all of these along the way, they did not interfere with our progress. There was very little traffic, and the views were amazing; on the way down, after the pass, we were able to cut two or three kilometres off the official route by walking down the road passing through the hamlet of San Paolo.

Down in the valley, we stopped in San Piero di Bagno to pick up some snacks and then walked four kilometres along the cycling path beside the road to Bagno di Romagna.

Originally named Oppidum Balnei, Bagno di Romagna is a spa town founded by the Romans on a site already inhabited by the Umbri. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the town was destroyed by the Ostrogoths in A.D. 540. A Benedictine monastery was founded in the area in the 9th century, and the town began to grow and flourish again. The city was surrounded with walls in the late 14th century, when a market area was established in what is now San Piero dei Bagni. Historically a place of passage between the Po Valley plains to the north and Tuscany and Umbria to the south, the two towns have grown considerably since the beginning of the industrial age, as the population abandonded rural and mountainous areas in favour of the industrialised valleys. Bagno di Romagna is now an important centre of tourism for its spas and its vicinity to the natural beauty of the mountains.

Tourism means hotels, and there are plenty of places to eat and sleep in Bagno. We chose Ca' Serafina, an inexpensive B&B in the main square which you can book online and check into by an automated process. And you have an oversized garden gnome right outside your door! We considered going to a spa, but it would have cost the same price as our room to spend only two hours... and anyway, we were so tired after spending a chilly, windy day walking up and down hills that we probably would have fallen asleep sitting in warm water 😅

We did, however, find the energy to move as far as the pub next door for a beer before the evening was out!