The RAVENNA WAR CEMETERY is located just outside the hamlet of Piangipane, a small town north-east of Ravenna and towards Ferrara.
In 1945, this place was chosen to bury the fallen of the battlefields, who gave their lives for the liberation of this territory.
The design, conceived by Rudyard Kipling, is identical to that of the cemeteries for the fallen of the World War II located throughout Europe.
A neoclassical entrance loggia houses the crypt with the register of the names. In the centre, there is a large monument with the cross and the iron sword.
The tombstones, all alike and in white marble, in addition to the data on the fallen soldiers, bear in some cases short epitaphs dictated by family members.
The war for the liberation of Ravenna
Between the summer of 1943 and the spring of 1944, the Romagna region was on the war front.
British Marshal Alexander’s 8th Army, made up of contingents from 26 nations (from Canada to India, from Poland to Brazil), faced the Nazi-Fascist troops, and was supported by the decisive help of the partisan formations and the local population.
Ravenna was conquered in the first days of December 1944 by Canadian troops. Before moving to the north-west of Europe, one of the tasks of the Canadian Corps was to free the area between Ravenna and the Valleys of Comacchio.
From the battles of Rimini and Ravenna, to the battles of the Valleys and the liberation of Alfonsine, there were thousands of civilian and military victims in the conflict.
The fallen of the battlefields on the Senio river were buried in the cemetery of Piangipane, along with the soldiers of the 10th Indian and New Zealand Division.
The Ravenna War Cemetery hosts a total of 988 burials: 438 Canadians, 250 British, 120 Indians, 96 New Zealanders, 11 South Africans, 6 Australians, 2 from other countries and 33 volunteer soldiers of the Jewish Brigade, formed in September 1944 and composed mainly of volunteers from Palestine.
