Ponzalla (FI) // CDRS Historical Research and Documentation Center

Gotica Toscana APS is a social promotion association committed to enhancing the memory of the events of September 1944, with particular attention to the battles of Passo del Giogo between the Allies and Axis troops. Within Gotica Toscana operates the CDRS – Historical Documentation and Research Centre, dedicated to research, remembrance and the dissemination of the events of the Second World War, with a focus on the municipality of Scarperia e San Piero and along the Gothic Line. It recovers relics from the battlefield, establishes contact with the families of veterans, fallen soldiers and missing servicemen, and manages MUGOT – Museum of the Gothic Line of Ponzalla, which displays relics, weapons and equipment collected in the area. The association also has agreements with municipalities for the maintenance of bunkers and installations along a stretch of at least 5 km on the ridge around Passo del Giogo. These installations can be visited by appointment and form part of a series of themed hiking routes that can be combined with a visit to MUGOT. Gotica Toscana also maintains the monuments dedicated to the 363rd Infantry Regiment of the 91st Division and to the 338th Infantry Regiment of the American 85th Division. For many years it has also been involved in the organisation of historical re-enactment events, which have taken shape in major initiatives such as “Un Tuffo nella Storia” and “The Column of Freedom”; the latter event is organised in collaboration with other associations and with HMV Italia, whose branch is located at the association’s headquarters in Ponzalla.