THE LIBERATION OF SICILY & ITALY IN WWII, 1943-44

The HUSKY Landings and Initial Fights

• Breakfast and load luggage and check-out of hotel.
• Depart lodgings and drive southwest from Catania into the American landing zone.
• Visit the landing beaches of George Patton’s US 7th Army, with the Ranger Battalions and the 3rd Infantry Division at Licata and Gela. The Sicily invasion was the war’s largest in numbers of men landed on D-Day.
• Walk the Gela streets and waterfront where Colonel Darby and his Rangers hunted German tanks.
• Lunch on your own in Gela.
• In the afternoon visit the 1st Infantry Division’s inland battle site at Casteluccio di Gela.
• We will visit sites of the American advance inland, including Jim Gavin and the 505th PIR holding the key Ponte Dirillo Bridge and Biazza Ridge. Some of the stiffest fighting for the 82nd Airborne in the entire war! The 45th Infantry Division also saw hard action nearby at Piano Lupo.
• Drive through the mountains to Siracusa in the British and Canadian zone. Siracusa is famed for its millennia of history. A crossroads of empires.
• Social hour at the hotel.
• Dinner on your own in one of the many wonderful restaurants in Old Town Siracusa.
• Hotel: Ortea Palace by Autograph Collection (or similar).

The British Landings OR Ancient Siracusa, and on to Taormina

• Breakfast, checkout of hotel and load luggage on bus.
• Choice of two itineraries this morning:
  • Visit British Commando and glider battle sites at Ponte Grande Bridge and on the Maddalena Peninsula as the British and Canadians attempt to gain a foothold. Visit the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery. - OR -
  • Explore the fascinating Old Town of Siracusa and the ancient Greek and Roman sites on the outskirts of town, including the Ear of Dionysius and amphitheatre.
• After lunch on your own, drive north along the British 8th Army route to the strategic Catania Plain, the focus of the British advance.
• Visit the incredible dayslong battle site at Primosole Bridge, perhaps the toughest British action in the war.
• Drive to the slopes of Mount Etna and visit the acclaimed Firriato vineyards for wine-tasting, and to learn about the viticulture of Sicily, all while perched on Mt Etna with an overview of the Catania Plain and the sea.
• Then, we continue to Taormina, a magical town on cliffs above the sea, famed for its arts, cuisine and nightlife; playground of the stars. Our hotel is the elegant 5-star The Ashbee in central Taormina. Housed in the beautifully updated Villa San Giorgio, a masterpiece of the English Architect Charles Robert Ashbee, who was a significant and influential representative of the Arts & Crafts Movement.
• Evening and dinner on your own in glorious Taormina with views over the ocean and Mt Etna.
• Hotel: 5-star The Ashbee Taormina (or similar).

Operation AVALANCHE, Magna Graecia, and Wine

• Breakfast and check out of lodgings.
• Explore the landing beaches of Mark Clark’s US 5th Army, especially the 36th Division at Paestum in Operation AVALANCHE.
• Visit other crucial small-unit battles sites including the Tobacco Factory complex, and the tough fight in the clouds at Altavilla with elements of the 82nd Airborne and 36th IDs.
• On return to Paestum, we will visit the ancient Greek ruins there. This Magna Graecia site is one of the oldest, largest and best-preserved in the ancient world. Older than the Parthenon atop Athens’ Acropolis!
• Lunch on your own at the ancient site at one of the several nearby restaurants.
• Group wine-tasting tour and dinner at Azienda Agricola Marino, an award-winning winery in the Campania region. “For three generations, the Marino family has cultivated a true passion for wine in Agropoli, in the Cilento National Park, with a profound respect for nature and tradition. Founded in the 1970s by Lorenzo Marino and his son Raffaele, the vineyard has become a symbol of winemaking excellence in Campania.” (or similar).
• Check in to hotel in Pompeii.
• Hotel: MGallery Habita 79.

The Spectacular Amalfi Coast & Chiunzi Pass

• Breakfast.
• Drive up the coast past Salerno and then turn west on the hairpin road out to Amalfi and Ravello.
• Afternoon on your own to explore this incredible town and its amazing environs. The Amalfi Coast is another famed playground of the stars. Lunch on your own in Amalfi.
• Examine the incredible Ranger defense at the rugged Chiunzi Pass.
• Return to Pompeii with dinner on your own.
• Hotel: MGallery Habita 79.

The Battles at the GUSTAV Line and Cassino, & On to Rome

• Breakfast and load luggage and check-out of hotel.
• Depart for San Pietro Infine and Cassino.
• At San Pietro Infine, we will observe the brutal fight against a formidable enemy and equally formidable terrain. The 36th Division sustained many losses but took the town (though totally destroyed and this day a national park). Famed war correspondent Ernie Pyle wrote his most eloquent dispatch about this fight – “The Death of Captain Waskow.” John Huston made an acclaimed war documentary during the battle.
• Our next stop is the Rapido River crossings at Sant Angelo in Theodice. The battle here, to break the stalemate at Cassino, resulted in one of the bloodiest setbacks of the war in Italy.
• Box lunch along the riverside.
• In the rebuilt city of Cassino, we will discuss the four attacks by Americans, New Zealanders, Indians and finally Poles to capture the high ground behind.
• We will visit the amazing Abbey of Monte Cassino, one of the most important sites in all Christendom (the home of the Patron Saint of all Europe – Saint Benedict) and one that dominates the road to Rome. Its destruction by allied bombing remains one of the most controversial decisions of the entire war.
• We will also experience the nearby Polish Cemetery where we can observe the final fight up the forbidding terrain resulting in its capture.
• On our way into Rome, we will visit St Paul’s Gate, site of Rome’s June 1944 liberation by the US-Canadian 1st Special Service Force, as well as battles against the Germans by Italians in September 1943.
• Check-in to lodgings.
• Dinner on your own in Rome.
• Hotel: 5-Star Eitch Borromini, located on the beautiful Piazza Navona (or similar).

Operation SHINGLE, Breaking the Line, & the Liberation of Rome

• Breakfast.
• Walk through central Rome to Via Rasella, site of April 1944 Resistance attack. Discuss the operation and subsequent events.
• Our next stop will be the moving Ardeatine Cave Massacre site and memorial. Italian civilians were brutally murdered here in April 1944 by German SS in retaliation for a partisan ambush in Rome.
• Drive to Nettuno beachfront.
• In the pre-dawn darkness of January 22, the Ranger Force landed at Anzio and quickly seized the vital port, spearheading the invasion in Operation SHINGLE, an attempt to turn the Germans out of their Gustav Line positions. The main American force landed at nearby Nettuno and we will visit the beach.
• Visit the nearby Sicily-Rome American Cemetery where more than 7,000 Americans lie in a spectacularly beautiful resting place maintained by the American Battlefields Monuments Commission.
• Group lunch in Aprilia at the wonderful El Asador Argentinian restaurant.
• Our next stop is one of the most pivotal actions for the Rangers in WWII. At Cisterna, on January 30th, Darby’s Ranger force faced overwhelming odds in a fierce battle that few survived. The remains of the 1st, 3rd and 4th Battalions were dismantled and the survivors sent back stateside to train new Rangers.
• Continuing back to Rome, we will follow the May 1944 breakout from the beachhead by MG Lucian Truscott’s VI Corps.
• In the early evening, we will visit the vibrant Jewish Quarter.
• Final group dinner and farewells.
• Hotel: Eitch Borromini.