The Editorial Team
The Column of Freedom 2026 brought the charm of historic military vehicles back onto the roads, turning the journey into a great moment of remembrance, participation and sharing. Flatbeds and car transporters, coming from north and south, began to converge on Fidenza, marking the start of a new edition of the event.
The departure is always a special moment. The vehicles are prepared, the crews gather, the backpacks are ready and the atmosphere immediately becomes that of a great collective adventure. It is not only a matter of historic vehicles on the move. It is a community that takes to the road again to bring back to life a memory made of engines, landscapes, encounters and stories.
Day 1 – Departure and first stops in Emilia
The first day saw the Column move through the Emilia stages, with the passage through Fidenza and Fontanellato, where the evocative castle provided the backdrop for the historic vehicles.
It was a day of departure, encounters and preparation. The crews shared the pleasure of the road and of reenactment, in an atmosphere of curiosity and participation. The stop in Fontanellato also offered a moment of rest and refreshment, much appreciated by the participants.
There was also a personal and cheerful note: Andrea’s return to the road, a Jeep enthusiast, after a forced break for technical reasons. An eagerly awaited presence, warmly welcomed, which perfectly reflects the spirit of the Column. Passion, perseverance and the desire to share a common experience.
Day 2 – From the Apennines to La Spezia
The second day took the Column towards the Apennines and then in the direction of Liguria. At Cravilla, amid mountains and sunshine, the historic vehicles stopped for a well-deserved lunch, before setting off again towards La Spezia.
The entry into the Ligurian city was one of the most intense moments of the event. Behind tanks and heavy vehicles, the Column paraded between two wings of crowd, welcomed with enthusiasm by adults and children alike. A warm participation, which transformed the reenactment into a collective moment of celebration and remembrance.
La Spezia represented one of the main stops of the event. The welcome received confirmed how these events can still speak to local communities, bringing together a passion for historic vehicles, the history of the Liberation and the desire to remember.
Day 3 – Return and conclusion of the event
The third day brought the Column’s route to a close, with the return towards the inland area and Emilia. After the emotion of the arrival in La Spezia, the journey took on the character of a return, with the crews once again playing the leading role on the roads crossed by the historic vehicles.
The concluding phase also confirmed the deeper meaning of the event. The Column is not merely a parade. It is a shared journey, built through stops, landscapes, encounters and testimonies. Each vehicle tells a story. Each crew helps keep it alive.
Bill Cline at MUGOT, following in the footsteps of his father William
In the context of the initiatives and meetings linked to the memory of the Italian Campaign, MUGOT also had the pleasure of welcoming Bill Cline, son of Captain William Cline, company commander of the 758th Light Tank Battalion, a unit attached to the 92nd Infantry Division “Buffalo”, which played a leading role in the Allied advance in Tuscany and Liguria and in the entry into La Spezia.
For Bill Cline, they were two intense, emotional and deeply moving days. The visit represented not only a return to the places of the Italian Campaign, but also a way to rediscover, through the landscape, the memories and the people he met, an important part of his family history.
Particularly significant were his words: “My father used to tell me to return to Italy because there were so many good people. And he was right.”
MUGOT thanks Bill Cline for his visit and for sharing this personal memory, which once again confirms how the events of 1944-1945 continue to live on in the families of veterans and in the places crossed by the war.
Thanks also to Marcello for the information shared about William Cline.
Memory is on the road
The Column of Freedom is not merely a gathering of historic vehicles. It is a concrete way to bring memory back to places, cities and people.
Between Emilia, the Apennines, Liguria and MUGOT, the 2026 edition once again confirmed the strength of an event capable of bringing together passion, history and popular participation.
Historic vehicles catch the eye. The stories they carry with them help us better understand the past. And it is precisely in this encounter between emotion, memory and outreach that the Column continues to find its deepest meaning.
