Pievecchia commemorazione caduti 8 giugno 1944

Pievecchia

The Pievecchia villa, a building representing the prevailing trends of Florentine architecture in the second half of the 19th century, is annexed to the Grignano Farm since 1999 and is named after the medieval parish church which rises next to it.

From the mid-17th century to the mid-18th century the main body of the villa was in the hands of the Vallombrosa abbots, later passing to the Archbishopric of Florence. After 1860 the villa was confiscated by the Italian State and put on sale; it was bought by Agostino Tesei, an Elban navy general whose family kept the farm until 1916, the year when it started passing through several hands, up to the current owner who started its renovation several years ago, restoring it to its former glory.

It was the sad scene, on June 8 1944, of the slaughter of fourteen citizens by the nazifascist occupiers after a group of Partisans coming from Monte Giovi, having broken into the barracks of the national social republic guard of Pontassieve, seized weapons and ammunitions, pulling back aboard a truck and with a few carabinieri joining the partisan patrol. On the way back, the partisans stopped at the Pievecchia and came upon two German soldiers in one of the houses. A fight ensued in which one of the two soldiers was killed, while the other one fled. In the retaliation that followed, the Germans rounded up all the men and killed them with machine gun shots in the garden of the town's villa.

On the outside wall, next to the holes made by the bullets which slaughtered the 14 civilians, stand the commemorative plaques.
Due to these tragic events, the Bronze Medal of Civil Merit was bestowed to the Banner of the Municipality of Pontassieve; it was awarded in 2005 by then President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.

 

Photo credits:
Points of interest
Poligono GEO

Pievecchia

Pievecchia

Pievecchia, Pontassieve

Details
Comune
City:
Pontassieve 
Address
Address:
Pievecchia, Pontassieve
Accessibilita
Accessibility:  general