Futa Germanic Military Cemetery

The cemetery stands in the area where the defensive works of the Gothic Line were located and was the scene of the battles fought for its breakthrough.

The work was carried out from 1961 onwards, after an agreement between Italy and the Federal Republic of Germany in 1955, which was later rectified by Italy in 1957. The cemetery was officially opened on 28 June 1969. It is the work of architect Dieter Oesterlen and occupies an area of 12 hectares, housing over 30,000 bodies of German soldiers who fell in northern Italy. The design takes the form of a two-kilometre-long spiral that rises up around the mountain, allowing a 360-degree view of the landscape until it suddenly stops in front of a truncated pyramidal wall on which a terrace rises. A sort of sail is grafted onto it, appearing as a broken wing pointing skywards.

Two crypts are also located on the summit. The first one opens to the west with three ribbon windows and is meant to commemorate the many fallen soldiers still missing, whereas the second one houses the funerary tombstones from the pre-existing Cervia military cemetery.