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FABIO TONCELLI

ByFABIO TONCELLI

SD CinematograficaLungotevere delle Navi, 19 - 00196 RomaTel. +39-063215114 - Fax +39-06 64520220 www.sdcinematografica.it

RUNNING TIME: __________________ 52 minutiFORMAT__________________________ HD CAM

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15 February 1944 is a glorious day incentral Italy.The sky is limpid and thereis not a cloud on the horizon. TheBenedictine abbey of Monte Cassino,halfway between Rome and Naples,gleams majestically in the sun.The abbey is one of the most importantmonuments in the whole ofChristianity. It is here that Westernmonasticism was born. Over the cen-turies, a collection of works of art of in-calculable value has been accumulated:paintings and frescoes by Titian,Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci andTintoretto, as well as marvellous archi-tectural works and sacred art, statuesand thousands of mediaeval books andmanuscripts, including the very firstdocument in the Italian language.From the top of the hill, its historicwalls dominate the entire valley of theLiri River. It has been here for over1400 years, inhabited by monks whohave lived according to the Benedictinerules since it was founded by StBenedict himself.In less than two hours, it will no longerexist.Why did the Allied forces during theSecond World War decide to bombthe Abbey of Monte Cassino withsuch unprecedented violence? Who took this decision?Was the destruction of one of theworld’s most important artistictreasures correct from a militarypoint of view?Or was it unnecessary?Or even worse: was it a mistake thatfavoured the enemy and cost thelives of thousands of Allied soldiers?Was the destruction of Monte Cassinoand act of war or a criminal act?On the eve of the 65th anniversary,with the mountain still covered in signsreading: “No entry: danger, mines!”the truth is emerging about the de-struction of the abbey and the terriblebattle that was fought to conquer it.Thebattle resulted in one of the worst mas-sacres of the Second World War, withthe death of 50,000 from the multina-tional contingent of the Allied forces,20,000 German soldiers,plus thousandsof Italian civilians, in a battle that wenton well into the spring.

For the first time, complete archivefootage of the first and subsequentbombardments taken from a variety ofperspectives shows the infernal bomb-ing of the monastery almost as it hap-pened.Spectacular computer reconstructionsillustrate the dynamics of the destruc-tion wrought by the aerial and landbombing.German archive footage allows us torelive the battle from inside the abbeyand describes how many works of artwere saved by moving then secretly tothe Vatican. New research shows thereal contents of the agreement reachedbetween the Abbot in charge of themonastery and the German forces de-ployed on the mountain, who were, in-credibly, led by a lay Benedictine andlover of classical art,who had studied atOxford and then became a general inHitler’s army.Historical reconstructions and originaltestimonies from the survivors guide usthrough the various phases of the bat-tle, a real hell on earth, which lasted, invarious phases, for no less than fourmonths, until the Polish contingent fi-nally managed to conquer the abbey,now abandoned by the Falschirmjager,the elite German paratroopers, the so-called “green devils”.Was it really necessary to conquerMonte Cassino to free the road for theconquest of Rome? Why did the Anziolandings not avoid a bloodbath atMonte Cassino? Why didn’t the Allieshead immediately for Rome? This engrossing narration will recon-struct all the political and military back-ground behind the dreadful stalemateof the Anglo-American military cam-paign in Italy in the winter of 1944, thedramatic leadership errors and the mu-tual lack of trust between the Alliedpartners.Our original research will finally revealthat the tragic fate of the abbey andtens of thousands of men was deter-mined by the stubbornness of one man,by an ancient book printed in the 700sand by an incredible intelligence mis-take on the part of the Allies in inter-preting three simple letters: A B and T.The truth is both shocking and dramat-ically plausible.

Monte Cassinodestroyed

Ivan Basso

Inside the abbey

Monte Cassino destroyed