Field of Glory at the Monumental Cemetery

As early as 1945, Musocco Cemetery housed the graves of partisans at field number 64. After the war, the Comitato Onoranze Caduti per la Libertà (Committee for Honouring the Fallen for Liberty), chaired by Antonio Greppi (the first Mayor of liberated Milan), was entrusted with the task of carrying out an initial restoration.

A competition was won by architect Umberto Comolli, who designed a light-coloured stone monument, flanked by six side panels on which the names of the fallen soldiers were inscribed. The foundation stone of the monument was laid on 25 April 1948 and a commemorative parchment was placed inside: "On the initiative of the Comitato Onoranze Caduti per la Libertà di Milano e Provincia (Committee for Honouring the Fallen for Freedom of Milan and Province), the first stone of the Monument was laid today, 25 April 1948, in remembrance of those who heroically sacrificed their lives for Italy and Freedom. 1922-1945."

The field was laid out with small slabs as gravestones on the ground, accompanied by the name of the deceased, a photo and the date of death. The inauguration took place on 6 November 1949. In 1997, the field was renovated: the graves on the ground were replaced by uniform grey stone and red porphyry memorial stones, and stone backdrops were placed with commemorative inscriptions and the names of both Milanese soldiers who fell in the struggle for liberation and those deported to concentration camps.

The Comolli monument became a sort of stage for Marino Mazzacurati's large bronze sculpture of the Partisan who was shot, and a copy of the work has been standing in the Villetta cemetery in Parma since 1968.

The sculpture was requested on loan by the Milan Triennale for the exhibition 'The Reasons for Freedom', held from 25 April to 20 May 1995. The following year, the Coordination of the Regional Committees of Lombardy asked for a copy for the Campo della Gloria. The inauguration took place on 24 April 1997.

Today, a series of commemorative plaques, comprising more than 4,000 names, makes Campo 64 the memorial site of Milan's struggle against all forms of oppression, tracing an ideal thread from the Five Days of 1848 to WWII and celebrating resistance against all forms of oppression.