Castel San Niccolò

The memorial stone is on the right-hand side of the road leading from Pagliericcio to Cetica, near Pratarutoli, in a small hollow near a bend. It is dedicated to Giuseppe and Gino Municchi, father and son, who were shot here on June 29th 1944 by the Germans of the II Battalion of the III Regiment of the "Brandenburg" Division during the battle of Cetica, fought against the partisans of the XXII Garibaldi Brigata "Lanciotto". The memorial is a truncated marble column to which ceramic photographs in a bronze oval of the two Fallen are attached. The column stands on a rectangular marble base on the front of which is the epigraph, in bronze lettering in relief. The names of the victims, their age and date of death are given. The whole memorial stands on a stone slab lying on top of the plinth. The plinth, trapezoidal in shape and rectangular in plan, is made of stone blocks placed one on top of the other.

The broken column symbolises two young lives violently cut off.

Edited by the Istituto Comprensivo Dovizi Bibbiena: The Cetica/Pratarutoli action was carried out by special units of the Wehrmacht as part of a pre-planned operation (KTB 10 7) in an unjustified reprisal by the second Battalion of the third Brandenburg. This battalion was marching towards Strada in Casentino to reinforce Battalion 594, the one that would attack the partisans of Cetica on June 29th. It then went on to Pratomagno in pursuit of the partisan Brigade “Lanciotto” led by General Potente. The reprisal was provoked by the kidnapping of General Oberst Gablenz of the Infanterie-Division, commander of Battalion 534, on June 26th.