View source for Italian resistance movement

{{Short description|Italian combatant organizations opposed to Nazi-Fascism}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox War Faction
| name             = Italian resistance
| native_name      = {{native name|it|Resistenza italiana}}
| result           = [[Liberation Day (Italy)|Liberation of Italy]]
| war              = The [[Italian campaign (World War II)|Italian campaign]] of [[World War II]]; involvement of Italian army and partisan units in Yugoslavia, Greece, Albania, and France
| image            = [[File:Flag of Italian Committee of National Liberation.svg|250px|border]][[File:Gruppo partigiano Filipponi - Sarnano.jpg|250px|border]]
| caption          = Flag of the [[National Liberation Committee]] and a group of Italian partisans
| active           = 8 September 1943 – 25 April 1945
| ideology         = {{ubl|[[Patriotism]]|[[Anti-fascism]]|[[Anti-Nazism]]}}
'''Factions:''' {{ubl|[[Communism]]
|[[Socialism]]
|[[Anarchism]]
|[[Republicanism]] 
|[[Liberalism]]
|[[Liberal socialism]]
|[[Christian democracy]]
|[[Catholic resistance to Nazi Germany#Nazi allies|Catholic anti-Nazism]]
|[[Catholic social teaching|Catholic anti-fascism]]
|[[Christian socialism|Catholic socialism]]
|[[Social liberalism]]
|[[Social democracy]]
|[[Monarchism]]}}
| position         = [[Big tent]]
| motives          = Liberation of Italy from Nazism and Fascism
| leaders          = * [[Ivanoe Bonomi]]
* [[Alcide De Gasperi]]
* [[Pietro Nenni]]
* [[Palmiro Togliatti]]
* [[Ugo La Malfa]]
* [[Ferruccio Parri]]
| clans            = 
| headquarters     = [[Rome]]
| area             = [[Kingdom of Italy]]
| size             = 
| partof           = 
| predecessor      = 
| successor        = 
| allies           = {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Italy}} [[Kingdom of the South|Italy]]<br />[[Allies of World War II|Allies]]
| opponents        = {{flagcountry|Nazi Germany}}<br />{{flag|Italian Social Republic}}
| status           = 
}}

The '''Italian Resistance''' ({{langx|it|Resistenza italiana}} {{IPA|it|reziˈstɛntsa itaˈljaːna|}}), or simply ''La'' {{lang|it|Resistenza}}, consisted of all the [[Italy|Italian]] [[Resistance during World War II|resistance groups]] who fought the occupying forces of [[Nazi Germany]] and the fascist collaborationists of the [[Italian Social Republic]] during the [[Second World War]] in [[Italy]] from 1943 to 1945. As a diverse [[anti-fascism|anti-fascist]] and anti-Nazist movement and organisation, the {{lang|it|Resistenza}} opposed Nazi Germany and its Fascist [[puppet state]] regime, the Italian Social Republic, which the Germans created following the Nazi German invasion and [[military occupation]] of Italy by the {{lang|de|[[Wehrmacht]]}} and the {{lang|de|[[Waffen-SS]]}} from 8 September 1943 until 25 April 1945.

General underground Italian opposition to the [[Kingdom of Italy under Fascism (1922–1943)|Fascist Italian government]] existed even before World War II, but open and armed resistance followed the German invasion of Italy on 8 September 1943: in Nazi-occupied Italy, the Italian Resistance fighters, known as the {{lang|it|partigiani}} ([[Partisan (military)|partisans]]), fought a {{lang|it|guerra di liberazione nazionale}} ('national liberation war') against the invading German forces; in this context, the anti-fascist {{lang|it|partigiani}} of the Italian Resistance also simultaneously participated in the [[Italian Civil War]], fighting against the [[Italian Fascist]]s of the collaborationist [[Italian Social Republic]].

The Resistance was a diverse coalition of various Italian political parties, independent resistance fighters and soldiers, and [[Italian partisan brigades|partisan brigades and militias]]. The modern [[Italy|Italian Republic]] was declared to be founded on the struggle of the Resistance: the [[Constituent Assembly of Italy|Constituent Assembly]] was mostly composed of representatives of the parties that had given life to the  Italian Resistance's [[National Liberation Committee]]. These former Italian Resistance fighters wrote the [[Constitution of Italy]] at the end of the war based on a compromissory synthesis of their Resistance parties' respective principles of [[democracy]] and [[anti-fascism]].<ref>G. Bianchi, ''La Resistenza'', in: AA.VV., ''Storia d'Italia'', vol. 8, pp. 368–369.</ref>

==Background==
[[File:Flag of the Arditi del Popolo Battalion.svg|thumb|left|Flag of ''[[Arditi del Popolo]]'', an axe cutting a ''[[fasces]]''. ''Arditi del Popolo'' was a militant anti-fascist group founded in 1921 in Italy.]]
The Italian Resistance has its roots in [[anti-fascism]], which progressively developed in the period from the mid-1920s, when weak forms of opposition to the [[Fascist Italy (1922-1943)|fascist regime]] already existed, until the beginning of [[World War II]]. Furthermore, in the memory of the partisan fighters, especially those of communist and socialist inspiration, the memory of the ''[[Biennio Rosso]]'' and of the violent struggles against the [[Squadrismo|fascist squads]] in the period 1919–1922, considered by some exponents of the left-wing parties (among which [[Palmiro Togliatti]] himself) a true "civil war" in defence of the popular classes against the reactionary forces.{{sfn|Pavone|2006|pp=256-257}}
[[File:Carlo Rosselli 1.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|[[Carlo Rosselli]]]]

In Italy, Mussolini's [[Italian Fascism|Fascist]] regime used the term ''anti-fascist'' to describe its opponents. Mussolini's [[secret police]] was officially known as the [[Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Anti-Fascism]]. During the 1920s in the [[Kingdom of Italy]], anti-fascists, many of them from the [[labor movement]], fought against the violent [[Blackshirts]] and against the rise of the fascist leader Benito Mussolini. After the [[Italian Socialist Party]] (PSI) signed a [[Pact of Pacification|pacification pact]] with Mussolini and his [[Fasci Italiani di Combattimento|Fasces of Combat]] on 3 August 1921,<ref>Charles F. Delzell, edit., ''Mediterranean Fascism 1919–1945'', New York: Walker and Company, 1971, p. 26</ref> and trade unions adopted a legalist and pacified strategy, members of the workers' movement who disagreed with this strategy formed ''[[Arditi del Popolo]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://library.fes.de/libalt/journals/swetsfulltext/17283245.pdf |title=Working Class Defence Organization, Anti-Fascist Resistance and the Arditi Del Popolo in Turin, 1919–22 |access-date=23 September 2021 |archive-date=19 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319044401/https://library.fes.de/libalt/journals/swetsfulltext/17283245.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Italian General Confederation of Labour]] (CGL) and the PSI refused to officially recognize the anti-fascist militia and maintained a non-violent, legalist strategy, while the [[Communist Party of Italy]] (PCd'I) ordered its members to quit the organization. The PCd'I organized some militant groups, but their actions were relatively minor.<ref>[https://library.fes.de/libalt/journals/swetsfulltext/17283245.pdf Working Class Defence Organization, Anti-Fascist Resistance and the Arditi Del Popolo in Turin, 1919–22] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319044401/https://library.fes.de/libalt/journals/swetsfulltext/17283245.pdf |date=19 March 2022 }}, Antonio Sonnessa, in the ''[[European History Quarterly]]'', Vol. 33, No. 2, 183–218 (2003)</ref> The Italian anarchist [[Severino Di Giovanni]], who exiled himself to Argentina following the 1922 [[March on Rome]], organized several bombings against the Italian fascist community.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://anarchist_century.tripod.com/timeline.html |title=Anarchist Century |publisher=Anarchist_century.tripod.com |access-date=7 April 2014}}</ref> The Italian liberal anti-fascist [[Benedetto Croce]] wrote his ''[[Manifesto of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals]]'', which was published in 1925.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bruscino |first=Felicia |date=25 November 2017|title=Il Popolo del 1925 col manifesto antifascista: ritrovata l'unica copia |url=https://www.ultimavoce.it/il-popolo-manifesto-antifascista/ |access-date=23 March 2022|website=Ultima Voce |language=it-IT}}</ref> Other notable Italian liberal anti-fascists around that time were [[Piero Gobetti]] and [[Carlo Rosselli]].<ref>James Martin, 'Piero Gobetti's Agonistic Liberalism', ''History of European Ideas'', '''32''', (2006), pp. 205–222.</ref>
[[File:Matteotti.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.6|[[Giacomo Matteotti]]]]

After the murder of the socialist deputy [[Giacomo Matteotti]] (1924) and the decisive assumption of responsibility by Mussolini, the process of [[Totalitarianism|totalitarianization]] of the State began in the [[Kingdom of Italy]], which will give rise to ever greater control and severe persecution of opponents, at risk of imprisonment and confinement.

The anti-fascists therefore organized themselves clandestinely in Italy and abroad, creating with great difficulty a rudimentary network of connections, which however did not produce significant practical results, remaining fragmented into small uncoordinated groups, incapable of attacking or threatening the regime, if some attacks carried out in particular by anarchists are excluded. Their activity was limited to the ideological side; the production of writings was copious, particularly among the anti-fascist exile communities, which however did not reach the masses and did not influence public opinion.{{sfn|Colombo|1979|pp=332-338}}

[[Concentrazione Antifascista Italiana]] ({{langx|en|Italian Anti-Fascist Concentration}}), officially known as Concentrazione d'Azione Antifascista (Anti-Fascist Action Concentration), was an Italian coalition of Anti-Fascist groups which existed from 1927 to 1934. Founded in [[Nérac]], France, by expatriate Italians, the CAI was an alliance of non-communist anti-fascist forces (republican, socialist, nationalist) trying to promote and to coordinate expatriate actions to fight fascism in Italy; they published a propaganda paper entitled ''La Libertà''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pugliese |first1=Stanislao G. |last2=Pugliese |first2=Stanislao |title=Fascism, Anti-fascism, and the Resistance in Italy: 1919 to the Present |date=2004 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-7425-3123-9 |page=10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sDyqHO2LVosC&pg=PA10 |access-date=11 June 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Tollardo |first1=Elisabetta |title=Fascist Italy and the League of Nations, 1922–1935 |date=2016 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-349-95028-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A6JlDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA152 |page=152 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Scala |first1=Spencer M. Di |title=Renewing Italian Socialism: Nenni to Craxi |date=1988 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-536396-8 |pages=6–8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c8gGaCQDLUsC&pg=PA6 |access-date=11 June 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Flag of Giustizia e Liberta.svg|thumb|Flag of [[Giustizia e Libertà]], an anti-fascist movement active from 1929 to 1945]]

[[Giustizia e Libertà]] ({{langx|en|Justice and Freedom}}) was an Italian [[anti-fascist]] [[resistance movement]], active from 1929 to 1945.<ref name=jam>James D. Wilkinson (1981). ''The Intellectual Resistance Movement in Europe''. Harvard University Press. p. 224.</ref> The movement was cofounded by [[Carlo Rosselli]],<ref name=jam/> [[Ferruccio Parri]], who later became [[Prime Minister of Italy]], and [[Sandro Pertini]], who became [[President of Italy]], were among the movement's leaders.<ref>Stanislao G. Pugliese (1999). ''Carlo Rosselli: socialist heretic and antifascist exile''. Harvard University Press. p. 51.</ref> The movement's members held various political beliefs but shared a belief in active, effective opposition to fascism, compared to the older Italian anti-fascist parties. ''Giustizia e Libertà'' also made the international community aware of the realities of fascism in Italy, thanks to the work of [[Gaetano Salvemini]].

Some historians{{sfn|Pavone|2006|p=307}}{{sfn|Colombo|1979|pp=338–339}} have also underlined how the Resistance movement may have had links with the [[Spanish Civil War]], in particular with those who had served in the [[International Brigades]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://zinternational.zcommunications.org/Italy/rosselli-radio-barcellona.htm|title=Oggi in Spagna, domani in Italia|access-date=28 May 2020|archive-date=27 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121227043228/http://zinternational.zcommunications.org/Italy/rosselli-radio-barcellona.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Many Italian anti-fascists participated in the [[Spanish Civil War]] with the hope of setting an example of armed resistance to [[Francisco Franco|Franco]]'s dictatorship against Mussolini's regime; hence their motto: "Today in Spain, tomorrow in Italy".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.collettiva.it/rubriche/buona-memoria/2023/05/07/news/_oggi_in_spagna_domani_in_italia_-2984121/|title=Oggi in Spagna, domani in Italia|access-date=12 May 2023|language=it}}</ref>

== {{anchor|Resistance by the Italian Armed Forces}}Resistance by the Italian Armed Forces ==
{{See also|Italian Co-belligerent Army|Italian Co-belligerent Navy|Italian Co-belligerent Air Force}}

=== In Italy ===
==== Rome ====
[[File:Granatieri a Porta san Paolo 1943.jpg|thumb|Italian soldiers preparing to clash with the Germans at [[Porta San Paolo]] in [[Rome]], 10 September 1943]]
[[File:Lapide Porta San Paolo.jpg|thumb|Commemorative plaque for those killed in the battle of Porta San Paolo in Rome (10 September 1943)]]

Armed resistance to the German occupation following the [[Armistice of Cassibile|armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces]] of 3 September 1943 partially began with Italian regular forces: the [[Italian Armed Forces]] and the [[Carabinieri]] [[military police]]. The period's best-known battle broke out in [[Rome]] the day the armistice was announced. [[Regio Esercito]] units such as the [[Sassari Mechanized Brigade|Sassari Division]], the [[Granatieri di Sardegna]], the [[10 Motorised Division Piave|Piave Division]], the [[132nd Armoured Division Ariete|Ariete II Division]], the [[131 Armoured Division Centauro|Centauro Division]], the [[103rd Motorised Division Piacenza|Piacenza Division]] and the [[7 Infantry Division Lupi di Toscana|"Lupi di Toscana" Division]] (in addition to Carabinieri, infantry and coastal artillery regiments) were deployed around the city and along surrounding roads.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tuttostoria.net/storia-contemporanea.aspx?code=653|title=L'8 settembre 1943|access-date=20 September 2023|language=it}}</ref>

Outnumbered German [[Fallschirmjäger (World War II)|Fallschirmjäger]] and [[Panzergrenadier]]e were initially repelled and endured losses, but slowly gained the upper hand, aided by their experience and superior [[Panzer]] component. The defenders were hampered by a number of facts: Allied support was cancelled at the last minute since the Fallschirmjäger took the U.S. [[82nd Airborne Division]] [[drop zone]]s ([[Brigadier General]] [[Maxwell D. Taylor]] had crossed enemy lines and gone to Rome to personally supervise the operation); [[House of Savoy|King]] [[Victor Emmanuel III of Italy|Victor Emmanuel III]], Marshal [[Pietro Badoglio]] and their staff fled to [[Brindisi]], which left the generals in charge of the city without a coordinated defence plan; <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.focus.it/cultura/storia/8-settembre-armistizio-guerra-civile|title=8 settembre 1943: l'armistizio che divise l'Italia e portò alla guerra civile|access-date=20 September 2023|language=it}}</ref> also the absence of the Italian Centauro II Division, composed primarily of ex-[[Blackshirts]] and not trusted, with its German-made tanks, contributed to the defeat of the Italian forces by the Germans.

By 10 September, the Germans had penetrated downtown Rome and the [[21st Infantry Division Granatieri di Sardegna|Granatieri]] (aided by civilians) made their last stand at [[Porta San Paolo]]. At 4 pm, General [[Giorgio Calvi di Bergolo]] signed the order of surrender; the Italian divisions were disbanded and their troops taken prisoner. Although some officers participating in the battle later joined the resistance, the clash in Rome was not motivated by anti-German sentiment so much as the desire to control the Italian capital and resist the disarmament of Italian soldiers. Generals [[Raffaele Cadorna Jr.]] (commander of Ariete II) and [[Giuseppe Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo]] (later executed by the Germans) joined the underground; General [[Gioacchino Solinas]] (commander of the Granatieri) instead opted for the pro-German [[Italian Social Republic]].<ref>{{cite book| last = Sanna| first = Daniele| title = Da Porta San Paolo a Salò. Gioacchino Solinas comandante antitedesco| publisher = AM&D| year = 2005| isbn = 88-86799-86-1}}</ref>

==== Piombino ====
[[File:Panorama porto di piombino.JPG|thumb|View of the harbour of Piombino in 2012]]

One of the most important episodes of resistance by Italian Armed Forces after the armistice was the [[Piombino#World War II|Battle of Piombino]] in [[Tuscany]].<ref name="iltirreno">{{cite web|url=http://ricerca.gelocal.it/iltirreno/archivio/iltirreno/1998/09/13/LB601.html|title=Nell'anniversario della battaglia di Piombino, uno storico racconta perché la città merita l'onorificenza La medaglia d'oro, dopo 55 anni "Il massimo riconoscimento va concesso per ristabilire la verità" – Il Tirreno|access-date=25 April 2017|archive-date=17 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217104507/https://ricerca.gelocal.it/iltirreno/archivio/iltirreno/1998/09/13/LB601.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> On 10 September 1943, during [[Operation Achse]], a small German flotilla, commanded by [[Kapitänleutnant]] Karl-Wolf Albrand, tried to enter the harbour of Piombino but was denied access by the port authorities.<ref name="iltirreno"/> General and Fascist official [[Cesare Maria De Vecchi]] in command of the Italian [[215th Coastal Division (Italy)|215th Coastal Division]] ordered the port authorities to allow the German flotilla to enter, against the advice of [[Commander]] Amedeo Capuano, the Naval commander of the harbour.<ref name="iltirreno"/><ref name="larepubblica">{{cite web|url=http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2000/10/08/piombino-citta-di-eroi.html|title=Piombino città di eroi – la Repubblica.it|date=8 October 2000 |access-date=25 April 2017}}</ref><ref name="toscanaoggi">{{cite web|url=http://www.toscanaoggi.it/Cultura-Societa/8-settembre-43-la-breve-illusione-di-pace|title=8 settembre '43: la breve illusione di pace|date=September 2003 |access-date=25 April 2017}}</ref> Once they entered and landed, the German forces showed a hostile behaviour, and it became clear that their intent was to occupy the town; the local population asked for a resolved reaction by the Italian forces, threatening an insurrection, but the senior Italian commander, general Fortunato Perni, instead ordered his tanks to open fire on the civilians – an order the tankers refused. Meanwhile, De Vecchi forbade any action against the Germans.<ref name="iltirreno"/><ref name="larepubblica"/><ref name="toscanaoggi"/> This however did not stop the protests; some junior officers, acting on their own initiative and against the orders (Perni and De Vecchi even tried to dismiss them for this), assumed command and started distributing weapons to the population, and civilian volunteers joined the Italian sailors and soldiers in the defense.<ref name="iltirreno"/><ref name="larepubblica"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://leg15.camera.it/organiparlamentari/ufficiopresidenza/leg13/_view.asp?id=38|title=Interventi del Presidente – La Camera dei Deputati|access-date=25 April 2017}}</ref>

A battle broke out at 21:15 on 10 September, between the German landing forces (who aimed to occupy the town centre) and the Italian coastal batteries, tanks of the [[19th Armored Battalion "M.O. Tumiati"|XIX Tank Battalion "M"]], and civilian population.<ref name="larepubblica"/><ref name="iltirreno"/><ref name="toscanaoggi"/> Italian tanks sank the German torpedo boat ''TA11'';<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/6064.html|title=FR L'Iphigénie of the French Navy - French Torpedo boat of the La Melpoméne class - Allied Warships of WWII - uboat.net|access-date=25 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/43-09.htm|title=Seekrieg 1943, September|access-date=25 April 2017}}</ref> Italian artillery also sank seven [[Marinefährprahm]]e, the [[Péniche (barge)|péniche]]s ''Mainz'' and ''Meise'' (another péniche, ''Karin'', was scuttled at the harbour entrance as a [[blockship]]) and six [[Luftwaffe]] service boats (''Fl.B.429'', ''Fl.B.538'', ''Fl.C.3046'', ''Fl.C.3099'', ''Fl.C.504'' e ''Fl.C.528''), and heavily damaged the torpedo boat ''TA9'' and the steamers ''Carbet'' and ''Capitano Sauro'' (former Italian ships).<ref name="hma">{{cite web|url=http://www.forum-marinearchiv.de/smf/index.php?topic=5964.0|title=Penische fates|access-date=25 April 2017}}</ref> ''Sauro'' and ''Carbet'' were scuttled because of the damage they had suffered.<ref name="hma"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?162882|title=Wrecksite – Carbet.|access-date=25 April 2017}}</ref> The German attack was repelled; by the dawn of 11 September 120 Germans had been killed and about 200–300 captured, 120 of them wounded.<ref name="toscanaoggi"/> Italian casualties had been 4 killed (two sailors, one [[Guardia di Finanza]] brigadier, and one civilian) and a dozen wounded;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comune.piombino.li.it/epress/archivio16_epress-contenuti_0_38491_0_6.html|title=-La Nazione – Piombino – Taglio del nastro per la banchina "Giorgio Perini"|date=26 July 2012|access-date=25 April 2017|archive-date=30 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630011258/http://www.comune.piombino.li.it/epress/archivio16_epress-contenuti_0_38491_0_6.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marinaiditalia.com/public/uploads/2013_12_38.pdf|title=Marinai d'Italia|access-date=25 April 2017}}</ref> four Italian [[submarine chaser]]s (''VAS 208'', ''214'', ''219'' and ''220'') were also sunk during the fighting.<ref name="hma"/> Later in the morning, however, De Vecchi ordered the prisoners to be released and had their weapons returned to them.<ref name="larepubblica"/><ref name="iltirreno"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/de-vecchi-cesare-maria_(Dizionario-Biografico)/|title=De Vecchi, Cesare Maria in "Dizionario Biografico"|access-date=25 April 2017}}</ref> New popular protests broke out, as the Italian units were disbanded and the senior commanders fled from the city; the divisional command surrendered Piombino to the Germans on 12 September, and the city was occupied.<ref name="larepubblica"/><ref name="toscanaoggi"/><ref name="iltirreno"/> Many of the sailors, soldiers and citizens who had fought in the battle of Piombino retreated to the surrounding woods and formed the first partisan formations in the area.<ref name="larepubblica"/> For the deeds of its citizens, the town received a gold medal for Military Valour from the [[President of the Italian Republic]] [[Carlo Azeglio Ciampi]].

=== Outside Italy ===
[[File:Napolitano cefalonia.jpg|thumb|right|The [[President of the Italian Republic]] [[Giorgio Napolitano]] during his speech held in [[Cefalonia]] on 25 April 2007 in memory of the [[massacre of the Acqui Division]]]]

In the days following 8 September 1943 most servicemen, left without orders from higher echelons (due to Wehrmacht units ceasing Italian radio communications), were disarmed and shipped to POW camps in the [[Third Reich]] (often by smaller German outfits). However, some garrisons stationed in occupied Greece, Albania, Yugoslavia and Italy fought the Germans. Admirals [[Inigo Campioni]] and [[Luigi Mascherpa]] led an attempt to defend [[Battle of Rhodes (1943)|Rhodes]], [[Battle of Kos (1943)|Kos]], [[Battle of Leros|Leros]] and other [[Dodecanese]] islands from their former allies. With reinforcements from [[Special Air Service|SAS]], [[Special Boat Service|SBS]] and [[British Army]] troops under the command of Generals Francis Gerrard Russell Brittorous and [[Robert Tilney]], the defenders held on for a month. However, the [[Wehrmacht]] took the islands through air and sea landings by infantry and Fallschirmjäger supported by the [[Luftwaffe]]. Both Campioni and Mascherpa were captured and executed at [[Verona]] for high treason.

On 13 September 1943, the [[33rd Mountain Infantry Division Acqui|Acqui Division]] stationed in [[Cefalonia]] chose to defend themselves from a German invasion during ongoing negotiations. After a ten-day battle, the Germans executed 5,155 officers and enlisted men in retaliation.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YpRt-k0VDEEC&dq=Divisione+Acqui+Cefalonia+5155&pg=PA261|first=Bruno|last=Vespa|title=Il cuore e la spada|page=261|year=2010|publisher=Mondadori|language=it|isbn=978-8852017285}}</ref> Those killed in the [[massacre of the Acqui Division]] included division commander General [[Antonio Gandin]]. On 1 March 2001, the [[President of the Italian Republic]] [[Carlo Azeglio Ciampi]] visited Cefalonia, giving a speech underlining how "their conscious choice [of the Acqui Division] was the first act of the ''Resistenza'', of an Italy free from fascism".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rainews24.rai.it/it/news_print.php?newsid=5806|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120909232837/http://www.rainews24.rai.it/it/news_print.php?newsid=5806|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 September 2012|title=Cefalonia. Ciampi: "Qui cominciò la Resistenza"|website=rainews24.rai.it|access-date=23 April 2010|language=it}}</ref>

Other Italian forces remained trapped in Yugoslavia following the armistice and some decided to fight alongside the local resistance. Elements of the [[1st Alpine Division Taurinense|Taurinense Division]], the [[19th Infantry Division Venezia|Venezia Division]], the [[28 Infantry Division Aosta|Aosta Division]] and the [[155 Infantry Division Emilia|Emilia Division]] were assembled in the Italian Garibaldi Partisan Division, part of the [[Yugoslav partisans|Yugoslav People's Liberation Army]]. When the unit finally returned to Italy at the end of the war, half its members had been killed or were listed as missing in action.

On 9 September 1943, [[Bastia]], in [[Corsica]], was the setting of [[Action off Bastia|a naval battle between Italian torpedo boats and an attacking German flotilla]]. It was one of the few successful Italian reactions to [[Operation Achse]], and one of the first acts of resistance by the Italian armed forces against [[Nazi Germany]] after the [[armistice of Cassibile]].

=== Italian military internees ===
{{Main|Italian military internees}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J30385, Italienische Kriegsinternierte werden Zivilarbeiter.jpg|thumb|Prison camp for Italian military after the armistice of 8 September 1943, German propaganda photo]]

Italian soldiers captured by the Germans numbered around 650,000–700,000 (some 45,000 others were killed in combat, executed, or died during transport), of whom between 40,000 and 50,000 later died in the camps. Most refused cooperation with the Third Reich despite hardship, chiefly to maintain their oath of fidelity to the King. Their former allies designated them ''Italienische Militär-Internierte'' ("Italian military internees") to deny them [[prisoner of war]] status and the rights granted by the [[Geneva Convention]]. Their actions were eventually recognized as an act of [[unarmed resistance]] on a par with the armed confrontation of other Italian servicemen.<ref>{{cite book| last = Natta| first = Alessandro| title = L'altra Resistenza. I militari italiani internati in Germania| publisher = Einaudi| year = 1997| isbn =978-8806143145}}</ref>

After disarmament by the Germans, the Italian soldiers and officers were confronted with the choice to continue fighting as allies of the German army (either in the armed forces of the [[Italian Social Republic]], the German puppet regime in northern Italy led by Mussolini, or in Italian "volunteer" units in the German armed forces) or, otherwise, be sent to detention camps in Germany. Those soldiers and officials who refused to recognize the "republic" led by Mussolini were taken as civilian prisoners too. Only 10 percent agreed to enroll.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://thestillmanexchange.com/2017/03/26/the-forgotten-italian-military-internees-of-wwii/ |title=The Forgotten Italian Military Internees of WWII &#124; the Stillman Exchange |access-date=2018-04-14 |archive-date=2018-06-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617093201/https://thestillmanexchange.com/2017/03/26/the-forgotten-italian-military-internees-of-wwii/ |url-status=usurped }}</ref>

The Nazis considered the Italians as traitors<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dz-ns-zwangsarbeit.de/en/exhibitions/between-two-stools/|title = Home|publisher=NS Zwangsarbeit}} {{deadlink|date=March 2025}}</ref> and not as prisoners of war. The former Italian soldiers were sent into [[unfree labour|forced labour]] in war industries (35.6%), [[heavy industry]] (7.1%), mining (28.5%), construction (5.9%) and agriculture (14.3%). The working conditions were very poor. The Italians were inadequately fed or clothed for the German winter. Many became sick and died. The death rate of the military internees at 6-7% was second only to that of [[Soviet prisoners of war]] although much lower.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gerlach |first=Christian|authorlink=Christian Gerlach |year=2016 |title=The Extermination of the European Jews |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-70689-6|pages=235–236}}</ref>

==Resistance by Italian partisans ==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-568-1537-04, Italien, Rom, erschossene Italiener.jpg|thumb|alt=Bodies of uniformed men on a sidewalk|Italians shot by invading Germans in [[Barletta]] during the Resistance, 12 September 1943]]
[[File:Quattrogiornate.jpg|thumb|Italian partisans celebrating the liberation of Naples after the [[Four Days of Naples]] (27–30 September 1943) during the liberation of the city from German occupation]]
[[File:Partigiani Ossola.jpg|thumb|Some members of the Italian resistance in [[Ossola]], 1944]]

In the first major act of resistance following the German occupation, Italian partisans and local resistance fighters liberated the city of [[Naples]] [[Four days of Naples|through a chaotic popular rebellion.]] Naples was the first of the major European cities to rise up against the German occupation, and successfully at that.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.senato.it/documenti/repository/leggi_e_documenti/raccoltenormative/27%20-%20Consulta%20Nazionale/Commissioni%20Riunite/Finanze%20e%20tes.-Ricostruz.%20lav.pubbl.%20e%20comun/07%20marzo%201946.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408040932/http://www.senato.it/documenti/repository/leggi_e_documenti/raccoltenormative/27%20-%20Consulta%20Nazionale/Commissioni%20Riunite/Finanze%20e%20tes.-Ricostruz.%20lav.pubbl.%20e%20comun/07%20marzo%201946.pdf|url-status=dead|title=Senato.it – Resoconto sommario della seduta del 7 marzo 1946, pag.336|archivedate=8 April 2014}}</ref> The people of Naples revolted and held strong against Nazi occupiers in the last days of September 1943. The popular mass uprising and resistance in Naples against the occupying Nazi German forces, known as the [[Four days of Naples]], consisted of four days of continuous open warfare and guerrilla actions by locals against the Nazi Germans. The spontaneous uprising of Neopolitan and Italian Resistance against German occupying forces (despite limited armament, organization, or planning) nevertheless successfully disrupted German plans to deport Neopolitans en masse, destroy the city, and prevent Allied forces from gaining a strategic foothold.

Elsewhere, the nascent movement began as independently operating groups were organized and led by previously outlawed political parties or by former officers of the [[Royal Italian Army (1940–1946)|Royal Italian Army]]. Many partisan formations were initially founded by soldiers from disbanded units of the [[Royal Italian Army]] that had evaded capture in [[Operation Achse]], and were led by junior Army officers who had decided to resist the German occupation; they were subsequently joined and re-organized by Anti-Fascists, and became thus increasingly politicized.<ref>Giuseppe Fioravanzo, ''La Marina dall'8 settembre 1943 alla fine del conflitto'', p. 424.</ref>

Later the [[Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale]] (Committee of National Liberation, or CLN), created by the [[Italian Communist Party]], the [[Italian Socialist Party]], the [[Partito d'Azione]] (a [[republicanism|republican]] [[liberal socialism|liberal socialist]] party), [[Christian Democracy (Italy)|Democrazia Cristiana]] and other minor parties, largely took control of the movement in accordance with King [[Victor Emmanuel III]]'s ministers and the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]]. The CLN was set up by partisans behind German lines and had the support of most groups in the region.<ref>The Italian Army 1940–45 (3) Osprey Men-at-Arms 353 {{ISBN|978-1-85532-866-2}}</ref>
 
The main CLN formations included three politically varied groups: the communist ''[[Brigate Garibaldi]]'' (Garibaldi Brigades), the ''[[Giustizia e Libertà]]'' (Justice and Freedom) Brigades related to the Partito d'Azione, and the socialist ''[[Brigate Matteotti]]'' ([[Giacomo Matteotti|Matteotti]] Brigades). Smaller groups included [[Christian democracy|Christian democrats]] and, outside the CLN, [[Monarchism|monarchists]] such as the ''[[Brigate Fiamme Verdi]]'' (Green Flame Brigades) and ''[[Clandestine Military Front|Fronte Militare Clandestino]]'' (Clandestine Military Front) headed by Colonel Montezemolo. Another sizeable partisan group, particularly strong in Piedmont (where the [[Fourth Army (Italy)|Fourth Army]] had disintegrated in September 1943), were the "autonomous" (''autonomi'') partisans, largely composed of former soldiers with no substantial alignment to any anti-Fascist party; an example was the ''1° Gruppo Divisioni Alpine'' led by [[Enrico Martini]].

Relations among the groups varied. For example, in 1945, the Garibaldi partisans under [[Yugoslav Partisans|Yugoslav Partisan]] command [[Porzûs massacre|attacked and killed]] several partisans of the [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] and ''azionista'' [[Osoppo]] groups in the [[province of Udine]]. Tensions between the Catholics and the Communists in the movement led to the foundation of the ''Fiamme Verdi'' as a separate formation.<ref>Charles T. O'Reilly; ''Forgotten Battles: Italy's War of Liberation, 1943–1945''; Lexington Books; 2001; p. 218</ref>

A further challenge to the 'national unity' embodied in the CLN came from [[anarchism|anarchists]] as well as dissident-communist Resistance formations, such as Turin's ''Stella Rossa'' movement and the ''[[Movimento Comunista d'Italia]]'' (Rome's largest single anti-fascist force under Occupation), which sought a revolutionary outcome to the conflict and were thus unwilling to collaborate with 'bourgeois parties'.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Bandiera Rossa nella Resistenza romana|last = Corvisieri|first = Silverio|publisher = Samona e Savelli|year = 1968|location = Rome}}</ref>

=== Partisan movement ===
{{See also|Italian partisan brigades}}
[[File:Italian-social-republic-and-civil-war.svg|thumb|left|Map of the [[Italian Social Republic]] (RSI). Its territory (marked in green) was the theatre of the Italian resistance. In grey are the territories of the [[Kingdom of Italy]].]]

[[Rodolfo Graziani]] estimated the partisan strength at around 70,000–80,000 by May 1944.<ref name=RMG>{{cite book|title=Mussolini: The Last 600 Days of Il Duce |first=Roger |last=Moseley |year=2004 |place=Taylor Trade Publishing}}</ref> Some 41% in the Garibaldi Brigades and 29% were Actionists of the ''Giustizia e Libertà'' Brigades.<ref name=JIG>{{cite book|title=Die Juden und der Widerstand gegen den Faschismus in Italien: 1943–1945 |first=Silvano |last=Longhi |year=2010 |place=Berlin}}</ref> One of the strongest units, the 8th Garibaldi Brigade, had 8,050 men (450 without arms) and operated in the [[Romagna]] area.<ref name=RMG/> The CLN mostly operated in the [[Alps|Alpine]] area, [[Apennine Mountains|Apennine]] area and [[Po Valley]] of the [[Italian Social Republic|RSI]], and also in the German [[Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral|''OZAK'']] (the area northeast of the north end of the [[Adriatic Sea]]) and ''[[OZAV]]'' (Trentino and South Tyrol) zones.<ref name=RMG/> Its losses amounted to 16,000 killed, wounded or captured between September 1943 and May 1944.<ref name=RMG/> On 15 June 1944, the General Staff of the ''[[Esercito Nazionale Repubblicano]]'' estimated that the partisan forces amounted to some 82,000 men, of whom about 25,000 operated in [[Piedmont]], 14,200 in [[Liguria]], 16,000 in the [[Julian March]], 17,000 in [[Tuscany]] and [[Emilia-Romagna]], 5,600 in [[Veneto]], and 5,000 in [[Lombardy]].<ref>Roberto Battaglia, ''Storia della Resistenza italiana'', pp. 336–339.</ref> Their ranks were gradually increased by the influx of young men escaping the Italian Social Republic's draft, as well as from deserters from the RSI armed forces.<ref name="auto">Giuseppe Fioravanzo, ''La Marina dall'8 settembre 1943 alla fine del conflitto'', p. 433.</ref> By August 1944, the number of partisans had grown to 100,000, and it escalated to more than 250,000 with the final insurrection in April 1945.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4XqXnuKJphsC&pg=PA77|title=Resistenzialismo versus Resistenza|first=Giovanni Di|last=Capua|date= 2005|publisher=Rubbettino Editore|isbn=9788849811971|via=Google Books}}</ref> The Italian resistance suffered 50,000 fighters killed throughout the conflict.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/italian-resistance-fighters-persevere |title=This Day in History – 9/6/1944 – Italian resistance fighters persevere |publisher=History.com |access-date=2013-12-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020234742/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/italian-resistance-fighters-persevere |archive-date=20 October 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>"World War II: the Encyclopedia of the War Years, 1941–1945" p. 360</ref>

{{multiple image | direction = vertical | width = 170 | footer = | image1 = An Italian partisan in Florence, 14 August 1944. TR2282.jpg | alt1 = | caption1 = An Italian partisan in [[Florence]] on 14 August 1944 | image2 = Alfredo Sforzini.jpg | alt2 = | caption2 = Partisan Alfredo Sforzini }}

Partisan unit sizes varied, depending on logistics (such as the ability to arm, clothe and feed members) and the amount of local support. The basic unit was the ''squadra'' (squad), with three or more squads (usually five) forming a ''distaccamento'' (detachment). Three or more detachments made a ''brigata'' (brigade), of which two or more made a ''divisione'' (division). In some places, several divisions formed a ''gruppo divisione'' (divisional group). These divisional groups were responsible for a ''zona d'operazione'' (operational group).

While the largest contingents operated in mountainous districts of the Alps and the [[Apennine Mountains]], other large formations fought in the [[Po River]] flatland. In the large towns of northern Italy, such as [[Piacenza]], and the surrounding valleys near the [[Gothic Line]]. [[Montechino Castle]] housed a key partisan headquarters. The ''[[Gruppi di Azione Patriottica]]'' (GAP; "Patriotic Action Groups") commanded by the Resistance's youngest officer, Giuseppe "Beppe" Ruffino, carried out acts of [[sabotage]] and [[guerrilla warfare]], and the ''Squadre di Azione Patriottica'' (SAP; "Patriotic Action Squads") arranged [[strike action]]s and propaganda campaigns. As in the [[French Resistance]], women were often important members and couriers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=3545899820741 |title=H-Net Review: Andrea Peto on Women and the Italian Resistance, 1943–45 |publisher=msu.edu |work=[[H-Net]] |access-date=2013-12-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206100139/http://www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=3545899820741 |archive-date=6 December 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Like their counterparts elsewhere in Europe, Italian partisans seized whatever arms they could find. The first weapons were brought by ex-soldiers fighting German occupiers from the [[Regio Esercito]] inventory: [[Carcano]] rifles, [[Beretta M1934]] and [[Beretta M1935|M1935]] pistols, [[Bodeo M1889]] revolvers, [[SRCM Mod. 35|SRCM]] and [[OTO Mod. 35|OTO]] hand grenades, and [[Fiat–Revelli Modello 1935]], [[Breda 30]] and [[Breda M37]] machine guns. Later, captured [[Karabiner 98k|K98k]]s, [[MG 34]]s, [[MG 42]]s, the iconic [[Stielhandgranate|potato-masher grenade]]s, [[Luger pistol|Lugers]], and [[Walther P38]]s were added to partisan kits. Submachine guns (such as the [[MP 40]]) were initially scarce, and usually reserved for squad leaders.

Automatic weapons became more common as they were captured in combat and as the Social Republic regime soldiers began defecting, bringing their own guns. [[Beretta Model 38|Beretta MAB]]s began appearing in larger numbers in October 1943, when they were spirited away ''en masse'' from the [[Beretta]] factory which was producing them for the Wehrmacht. Additional weapons (chiefly of British origin) were airdropped by the Allies: [[PIAT]]s, [[Lee–Enfield]] rifles, [[Bren light machine gun]]s and [[Sten gun]]s.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite book| last = Balbo| first = Adriano| title = Quando inglesi arrivare noi tutti morti| publisher = Blu Edizioni| year = 2005| isbn = 88-7904-001-4}}</ref> U.S.-made weapons were provided on a smaller scale from the [[Office of Strategic Services]] (OSS): [[Thompson submachine gun]]s (both M1928 and M1), [[M3 submachine gun]]s, [[United Defense M42]]s, and folding-stock [[M1 carbine]]s. Other supplies included explosives, clothing, boots, food rations, and money (used to buy weapons or to compensate civilians for confiscations).

=== Countryside ===
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| caption1 = Resistance monument in Rubiana, in the [[Alps]] (2008)
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The worst conditions and fighting took place in mountainous regions. Resources were scarce and living conditions were terrible. Due to limited supplies, the resistance adopted [[guerrilla warfare]]. This involved groups of 40–50 fighters ambushing and harassing the Nazis and their allies. The size of the brigades was reflective of the resources available to the partisans. Resource limits could not support large groups in one area. Mobility was key to their success. Their terrain knowledge enabled narrow escapes in small groups when nearly surrounded by the Germans. The partisans had no permanent headquarters or bases, making them difficult to destroy.<ref name=behan/>

The resistance fighters themselves relied heavily on the local populace for support and supplies. They would often barter or just ask for food, blankets and medicine. When the partisans took supplies from families, they would often hand out [[promissory notes]] that the peasants could convert after the war for money. The partisans slept in abandoned farms and farmhouses. One account from Paolino 'Andrea' Ranieri (a [[political commissar]] at the time) described fighters using donkeys to move equipment at night while during the day the peasants used them in the fields. The Nazis tried to split the populace from the resistance by adopting a [[reprisal]] policy of killing 10 Italians for every German killed by the Partisans. Those executed would come from the village near where an attack took place and sometimes from captive partisan fighters.

The German punishments backfired and instead strengthened the relationship. Because most resistance fighters were peasants, local populations felt a need to provide for their own. One of the larger engagements was the battle for [[Monte Battaglia]] (lit. "Battle Mountain"), a [[Summit|mountaintop]] that was a part of the Gothic Line. On 26 September 1944, a joint force of 250 Partisans and three companies of U.S. soldiers from the [[88th Infantry Division (United States)|88th Infantry Division]] attacked the hill occupied by elements of the German 290th Grenadier Regiment. The Germans were caught completely by surprise. The attackers captured the hill and held it for five days against reinforced German units, securing a path for the Allied advance.

=== Urban areas ===
Resistance activities were different in the cities. Some Italians ignored the struggle, while others organized, such as the Patriotic Action Squads and issued propaganda. Groups such as the Patriotic Action Groups carried out military actions. A more expansive support network was devised than in the countryside. Networks of [[safe house]]s were established to hide weapons and wounded fighters. Only sympathizers were involved, because compulsion was thought to encourage betrayal. People largely supported the resistance because of economic hardships, especially inflation. [[Pasta]] prices tripled and bread prices had quintupled since 1938; hunger unified the underground and general population.<ref name=behan/>

=== Female partisans ===
{{See also|Women's Defense Groups}}
[[File:Carla Capponi.png|thumb|[[Carla Capponi]], a vice-commander in the Gruppi di Azione Patriottica (GAP)|alt=|upright]]
Women played a large role. After the war, about 35,000 Italian women were recognised as female ''partigiane combattenti'' (partisan combatants) and 20,000 as ''patriote'' (patriots); they broke into these groups based on their activities. The majority were between 20 and 29. They were generally kept separate from male partisans. Few were attached to brigades and were even rarer in mountain brigades. Female countryside volunteers were generally rejected. Women still served in large numbers and had significant influence.<ref>Slaughter, Jane. ''Women and the Italian Resistance: 1943–1945''. Denver, CO: Arden, 1997. Print.</ref>

The groups were formed collaboratively by women from diverse political backgrounds. Prominent participants included communists Giovanna Barcellona, [[Lina Fibbi]], [[Marisa Diena]], and Caterina Picolato; socialists [[Laura Conti]] and [[Lina Merlin]]; actionists Elena Dreher and [[Ada Gobetti]];  as well as women associated with the [[Giustizia e Libertà]] (Justice and Freedom) movement. Republican and Catholic women, along with those without prior political or ideological commitments, also joined. These groups predominantly operated in the northern midlands of Italy. Scholars attribute this geographic spread to the influence of local women's clothing, which fostered individual initiative and civic awareness.<ref>{{cite book |title=Marina Addis Saba, Partigiane. Tutte le donne della resistenza, Milan, Mursia Editore, 1998, pp. 40–50| ISBN =88-425-2299-6}}</ref>

Initially, the women's groups aimed to support resistance efforts in auxiliary roles.<ref name=doc>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mymovies.it/film/2016/nomedibattagliadonna/|title=Nome di battaglia donna|last=MYmovies.it|website=MYmovies.it|language=it|access-date=2020-03-30}}</ref> However, they quickly assumed leadership responsibilities in areas such as information dissemination, propaganda, issuing orders, and handling ammunition. Some women even directly engaged in armed resistance as "gappistas".<ref name=doc/><ref>{{cite book |title=Gabriella Bonansea, Donne nella resistenza, in Enzo Collotti, Renato Sandri, Fediano Sessi (edited by), Dizionario della Resistenza, Turin, Einaudi, 2000, p. 272.}}</ref> [[Ada Gobetti]] was among the first to criticize the use of the term "assistance" in the group's name.<ref>{{cite book |title=Patrizia Gabrielli, Il 1946, le donne, la Repubblica, Rome, Donzelli, 2009, pp. 45–46.}}</ref> In 1944, the organization's objectives were reformulated to prioritize activities that broadly promoted women's emancipation.<ref>{{cite book |title=Franca Pieroni Bortolotti, Le donne della Resistenza antifascista e la questione femminile in Emilia (1943–45), in Donne e Resistenza in Emilia-Romagna, vol. 2, Milan, evangelist, p. 77.}}</ref>

=== 1944 uprising ===
{{See also|Italian partisan republics}}
[[File:I "tre Martiri" (Mario Cappelli, Luigi Nicolò, Adelio Pagliarani).jpg|thumb|Three Italian partisans executed by public hanging in [[Rimini]], August 1944]]

During the summer and early fall of 1944, with Allied forces nearby, partisans attacked behind German lines, led by CLNAI. This rebellion led to [[Provisional government|provisional]] partisan governments throughout the mountainous regions. [[Ossola]] was the most important of these, receiving recognition from Switzerland and Allied consulates there. An intelligence officer told Field Marshal [[Albert Kesselring]], Germany's commander of occupation forces in Italy, that he estimated German casualties fighting partisans in the summer of 1944 amounted to 30,000 to 35,000, including 5,000 confirmed killed.<ref name=CTR>{{cite book|title=Forgotten Battles: Italy's War of Liberation, 1943–1945 |first=Charles |last=O'Reilly |year=2001 |place=Oxford}}</ref> Kesselring considered the number to be exaggerated, and offered his own figure of 20,000:  5,000 killed, between 7,000 and 8,000 missing / "kidnapped" (including deserters), and a similar number seriously wounded. Both sources agreed that partisan losses were less.<ref>{{cite book |title=Italy's Sorrow: A Year of War, 1944–1945 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U2_rs1bh1Z4C&pg=PA303 |location=New York |publisher=St. Martin's Press |date=2008 |page=303 |isbn=9781429945431}}</ref> By the end of the year, German reinforcements and Mussolini's remaining forces crushed the uprising.

In their attempts to suppress the resistance, German and Italian Fascist forces (especially the SS, [[Gestapo]], and paramilitary militias such as [[Xª Flottiglia MAS (Repubblica Sociale Italiana)|Xª MAS]] and [[Black Brigades]]) committed war crimes, including [[summary execution]]s and systematic reprisals against the civilian population. Resistance captives and suspects were often tortured and raped. Some of the most notorious mass atrocities included the [[Ardeatine massacre]] (335 Jewish civilians and political prisoners executed without a trial in a reprisal operation after a resistance bomb [[Via Rasella attack|attack]] in Rome), the [[Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre]] (about 560 random villagers brutally killed in an anti-partisan operation in the central mountains), the [[Marzabotto massacre]] (about 770 civilians killed in similar circumstances), the [[Ossola]] massacre (24 partisans murdered during their retreat from [[Croveo]] to Switzerland) and the [[Salussola massacre]] (20 partisans murdered after being tortured, as a reprisal). In all, an estimated 15,000 Italian civilians were deliberately killed, including many women and children.<ref>{{cite web|author=Gia Marie Amella|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/08/11/wus.italy.war.crimes/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140519143355/http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/08/11/wus.italy.war.crimes/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 May 2014 |title=Hidden archive exposes WWII slaughters - CNN.com |publisher=CNN |access-date=2014-05-19}}</ref>

<gallery>
File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-476-2051-39A, Italien, Rom, erhängte Frau, deutsche Soldaten.jpg|A woman executed by public hanging in a street of [[Rome]], early 1944
File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-477-2106-08, Bei Mailand, Soldat Zivilisten kontrollierend.jpg| German soldier examining the papers of an Italian civilian outside of [[Milan]] (1944)
File:Santanna tafel des kreuzweges.JPG|The [[Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre]] memorial relief
File:Fidenza cippo alla memoria Amilcare Dallagherarda Fausto Fornaciari.jpg|Memorial stone in [[Soragna]] for two Italian partisans – killed in 1944
</gallery>

===Civil war===
{{See also|Italian Social Republic|Italian Civil War}}
Although other European countries such as [[Norway]], the [[Netherlands]], and [[France]] also had partisan movements and [[Wartime collaborationism|collaborationist]] governments with [[Nazi Germany]], armed confrontation between compatriots was more intense in Italy, making the Italian case unique.{{sfn|De Felice|1995|p=22}} In 1965, the definition of "civil war" was used for the first time by fascist politician and historian [[Giorgio Pisanò]] in his books,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.istitutobiggini.it/storia_pisano.pdf|title=Storia della guerra civile in Italia}}</ref><ref>See the books from Italian historian [[Giorgio Pisanò]] ''Storia della guerra civile in Italia'', 1943–1945, 3 voll., Milano, FPE, 1965 and the book ''L'Italia della guerra civile'' ("Italy of civil war"), published in 1983 by the Italian writer and journalist [[Indro Montanelli]] as the fifteen volume of the ''Storia d'Italia'' ("History of Italy") by the same author.</ref> while [[Claudio Pavone]]'s book ''Una guerra civile. Saggio storico sulla moralità della Resistenza'' (''A Civil War. Historical Essay On the Morality Of the Resistance''), published in 1991, led to the term "[[Italian Civil War]]" being used more frequently by Italian and international<ref>See as examples the [http://www.societasalutediritti.com/rassegnastampa/20052507MILZAPIERRE.htm interview] to French historian [[Pierre Milza]] on the ''Corriere della Sera'' of 14 July 2005 (in Italian) and the [https://archive.today/20120904173354/http://www.ifz-muenchen.de/index.php?id=280&type=1&L=3class=l lessons] of historian [[Thomas Schlemmer]] at the University of Munchen (in German).</ref>{{sfn|Payne|2011|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=zP4ikZ_o3V8C&pg=PA202 202]}} historiography.

=== Foreign contribution ===
[[File:Arcevia monumento al partigiano.jpg|thumb|185px|Partisan monument ([[Arcevia]]) with Italian and Yugoslav names]]

Not all resistance members were Italians; many foreigners had escaped [[POW]] camps or joined guerrilla bands as so-called "military missions". Among them were Yugoslavs, Czechs (deserters from the [[Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia]] army, in Italy for guard/patrol duty in 1944), Russians, Ukrainians, Dutch, Spaniards, Greeks, Poles, German defectors and deserters disillusioned with [[Nazism]]<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book| last = Incerti| first = Matteo| title = Il Bracciale di Sterline – Cento bastardi senza gloria. Una storia di guerra e passioni| publisher = Aliberti Editore| year = 2011| isbn = 978-88-7424-766-0}}</ref> and Britons and Americans (ex-prisoners or advisors deployed by the SAS, [[Special Operations Executive|SOE]] and [[Office of Strategic Services|OSS]]). Some later became well-known, such as climber and explorer [[Bill Tilman]], reporter and historian [[Peter Tompkins]], former [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] pilot [[Count Manfred Beckett Czernin]], and architect [[Oliver Churchill]]. [[George Dunning (author)|George Dunning]] recorded his experiences of fighting with the partisans in his book "Where bleed the many".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dunning|first1=George|title=Where bleed the many|url=https://archive.org/details/wherebleedmany0000dunn|url-access=registration|date=1955|publisher=Elek Books Limited|location=London}}</ref>

=== {{anchor|Other resistance activities}}Aid networks ===
[[File:Père Marie-Benoît.jpg|right|thumb|Father [[Maria Benedetto]]]]

Another task carried out by the resistance was assisting escaping POWs (an estimated 80,000 were interned in Italy until 8 September 1943),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/prisoners-war-1939-1953.htm |title=British prisoners of the Second World War and the Korean War |website=The National Archives |access-date=19 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130616114325/http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/prisoners-war-1939-1953.htm |archive-date=16 June 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> to reach Allied lines or Switzerland on paths previously used by smugglers. Some fugitives and groups of fugitives hid in safe houses, usually arranged by women (less likely to arouse suspicion). After the war, Field Marshal [[Harold Alexander]] issued a certificate to those who thereby risked their lives.

[[Italian Jews]] were aided by [[DELASEM]], a network extending throughout occupied Italy that included Jews and Gentiles, [[Roman Catholic]] clergy, faithful/sympathetic police officers and even some German soldiers. DELASEM operated in Rome until the liberation under the leadership of the Jewish delegates Septimius Sorani, Giuseppe Levi, and the [[Order of Friars Minor Capuchin|Capuchin]] Father [[Maria Benedetto]]. Since Jews were considered "enemy aliens" by the Social Republic regime, they were left with little or nothing to live on, and many were deported to Nazi concentration and extermination camps where about 7,000 died. DELASEM helped thousands of Jews by offering food, shelter and money. Some of its members would later be designated [[Righteous Among the Nations]]. {{Clear}}

== Liberation ==

=== 1945 uprising ===
[[File:01 partigiani a milano1.jpg|thumb|Italian partisans in Milan during the liberation of the city, April 1945]]
[[File:Monumento ai Caduti Montù Beccaria.jpg|thumb|Monument to the fallen at the burial place of partisans killed on 26 April 1945, at [[Montù Beccaria]] (2007)]]

On 19 April 1945, the CLN called for an insurrection (the 25 April uprising). In [[Bologna]], the occupying Nazi German forces and their few remaining Italian Fascist allies were openly attacked by Italian partisans on 19 April, and by 21 April, the city of Bologna was liberated by the partisans, the [[Italian Co-Belligerent Army]], and the [[Polish II Corps]] under Allied command; [[Parma]] and [[Reggio Emilia]] were later freed on 24 April by the Italian Resistance and then the advancing Allied forces. [[Turin]] and [[Milan]] were liberated on 25 April through a popular revolt and Italian Resistance insurrection following a [[general strike]] that commenced two days earlier; over 14,000 German and Fascist troops were captured in [[Genoa]] on 26–27 April, when General Günther Meinhold surrendered to the CLN.<ref>[[Basil Davidson]], ''Special Operations Europe: Scenes from the Anti-Nazi War'' (1980), pp. 340/360</ref> The forces of German occupation in Italy officially capitulated on 2 May. Fascists attempted to continue fighting, but were quickly suppressed by the partisans and the Allied forces.

The April insurrection brought to the fore issues between the resistance and the Allies.<ref name=ginsborg>{{cite book |last=Ginsborg |first=Paul |title=A History of Contemporary Italy |publisher=Penguin Book |date=1990 |pages=57–70}}</ref> Given the revolutionary dimension of the insurrection in the industrial centres of Turin, Milan, and Genoa, where concerted factory occupations by armed workers had occurred, the Allied commanders sought to impose control as soon as they took the place of the retreating Germans. While the Kingdom of Italy was the de facto ruler of the south, the National Liberation Committee, still embedded in German territory, existed as a populist organization which posed a threat to the monarchy and property owners in post-war Italy. However the [[Italian Communist Party|PCI]], under directives from Moscow, enabled the Allies to carry out their program of disarming the partisans and discouraged any revolutionary attempt at changing the social system. Instead, the [[Italian Communist Party|PCI]] emphasized national unity and "progressive democracy" in order to stake their claim in the post-war political situation. Despite the pressing need to resolve social issues which persisted after the fall of fascism, the resistance movement was subordinated to the interests of Allied leaders in order to maintain the status quo.<ref name=ginsborg/>

=== Revenge killings ===
[[File:Walter Audisio senato.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Walter Audisio]], the Italian partisan believed to [[Death of Benito Mussolini|have executed Benito Mussolini]]<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lampredi |first=Aldo |date=20 April 2008 |title=Così fucilammo Mussolini e la Petacci |language=it |work=Patria Indipendente |url=https://anpi.it/media/uploads/patria/2008/4/20-24_Relazione_Lampredi.pdf |access-date=2 November 2022}}</ref>]]

A score-settling campaign ({{langx|it|resa dei conti}})<ref name="Foot">{{cite book|first=John |last=Foot|title=Italy's Divided Memory|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DSnFAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA179|year=2009|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]|isbn=978-0-230-10183-8|chapter=The Resistance|pages=176–179}}</ref> ensued against pro-German collaborators, thousands of whom were rounded up by the vengeful partisans. Controversially, many of those detainees were speedily [[court martialed]], condemned and shot, or killed without trial. Minister of Interior [[Mario Scelba]] later put the number of the victims of such executions at 732, but other estimates were much higher. Partisan leader [[Ferruccio Parri]], who briefly served as Prime Minister after the war in 1945, said thousands were killed.<ref>See the [http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/1997/novembre/15/DOPOGUERRA_giorni_della_vendetta_co_0_9711154587.shtml interview] with Ferruccio Parri, on "[[Corriere della Sera]]" 15 November 1997. (in Italian)</ref> Some partisans, such as perpetrators of the [[Schio massacre]], were tried by an Allied Military Court.<ref name="Foot" />

During the waning hours of the war, Mussolini, accompanied by Marshal Graziani, headed to Milan to meet with Cardinal [[Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster]]. Mussolini was hoping to negotiate a deal but was given only the option of [[unconditional surrender]]. His negotiations were an act of betrayal against the Germans. When confronted about this by Achille Marazza, Mussolini said, "They [the Nazis] have always treated us as slaves. I will now resume my freedom of action." With the city already held by resistance fighters, Mussolini used his connections one last time to secure passage with an escaping German convoy on its way to the [[Brenner Pass]] with his mistress [[Claretta Petacci]].<ref name=behan>Behan, Tom. ''The Italian Resistance: Fascists, Guerrillas and the Allies''. London: Pluto, 2009. Print.</ref> 
[[File:Mussolini e Petacci a Piazzale Loreto, 1945.jpg|thumb|The dead body of [[Benito Mussolini]], [[Claretta Petacci]] and other executed fascists by Italian partisans on display at [[Piazzale Loreto]] square in [[Milan]], April 1945]]

On the morning of 27 April 1945, Umberto Lazzaro (''nom de guerre'' 'Partisan Bill'), a partisan with the 52nd Garibaldi Brigade, was checking a column of lorries carrying retreating SS troops at [[Dongo, Lombardy]], near the Swiss border. Lazzaro recognized and arrested Mussolini. The task of executing Mussolini was, according to the official version, given to a 'Colonel Valerio' (identified as [[Walter Audisio]]) and the bodies of Mussolini and Petacci were later brought to Milan and hung upside down in the [[Piazzale Loreto]] square. Eighteen executed prominent Fascists (including Mussolini, [[Fernando Mezzasoma]], [[Luigi Gatti (politician)|Luigi Gatti]], [[Alessandro Pavolini]] and [[Achille Starace]]) were displayed in the square; this place was significant because the bodies of 15 executed enemies of Mussolini's regime had been displayed in this square the previous year.

The total number of victims of the anti-fascist movement remains unclear; it is estimated that between 12,000 and 26,000 people were killed, usually in extrajudicial executions. The outburst was particularly violent in the northern provinces; according to statistics provided by the Ministry of Interior, some 9,000 people were killed there during April and May 1945 only. Proportionally, the scale of vengeance killings was much greater than in Belgium and significantly above that recorded in France.<ref>Keith Lowe, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=5sKNeVcOH3wC&q=Belgium Savage continent]'', London 2012, {{ISBN|9780241962220}}</ref>

Some historians who have dealt with the civil war in Italy have also taken into consideration the phenomenon of post-war violence, placing the end of the civil war beyond the official end of the Second World War in Europe. Therefore, for them, it is not easy to identify a real end date of the phenomenon, which slowly faded away. Some have proposed the [[Togliatti amnesty]] of 22 June 1946 as the end of the civil war.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2008/luglio/30/TOGLIATTI_GUARDASIGILLI_AMNISTIA_CRITICATA_DEL_co_9_080730070.shtml|title=Togliatti Guardasigilli, l'amnistia criticata del 1946|access-date=14 February 2022|language=it}}</ref>

=== Casualties ===
According to a book published in 1955 by an Italian ministerial committee on the tenth anniversary of the Liberation, casualties in Italy among the Resistance movement amounted to 35,828 partisans killed in action or executed, and 21,168 partisans mutilated or left disabled by their wounds.<ref name="auto"/> Another 32,000 Italian partisans had been killed abroad (in the Balkans and, to a lesser extent, in France).<ref name="auto"/> 9,980 Italian civilians had been killed in reprisals by the German and Fascist forces.<ref name="auto"/> In 2010, the ''Ufficio dell'Albo d'Oro'' of the Italian Ministry of Defence recorded 15,197 partisans killed; however, the ''Ufficio dell'Albo d'Oro'' only considered as partisans the members of the Resistance who were civilians before joining the partisans, whereas partisans who were formerly members of the Italian Armed Forces (more than half those killed) were considered as members of their armed force of origin.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Multari |first=Massimo |title=Seconda Guerra MondiaIe - I Caduti Del Fronte Orientale |url=https://www.campagnadirussia.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/I_caduti_del_fronte_orientale.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802012428if_/http://www.campagnadirussia.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/I_caduti_del_fronte_orientale.pdf |archive-date=2020-08-02 |website=CAMPAGNADIRUSSIA.info}}</ref>

=== Liberation Day ===
{{main|Liberation Day (Italy)}}
[[File:Festa della Liberazione - Florence, Italy - 25 April 2009.jpg|thumb|alt=Smiling older man in a parade, holding a decorated Italian flag|The 64th anniversary of the liberation of Italy in [[Florence]] (25 April 2009)]]
[[File:2013-04-25 Porta san Paolo Roma.jpg|thumb|The 68th anniversary of the liberation of Italy at [[Porta San Paolo]] in [[Rome]] (25 April 2013)]]

Since 1946, 25 April has been officially celebrated as [[Liberation Day (Italy)|Liberation Day]], also known as the Anniversary of the Resistance. It is a national holiday that commemorates the victory of the Italian resistance movement against [[Nazi Germany]] and the [[Italian Social Republic]], [[puppet state]] of the Nazis and [[rump state]] of the fascists, during the [[liberation of Italy]] and the  [[Italian Civil War]] during [[World War II]]. The date was chosen by convention, as it was the day of the year 1945 when the [[National Liberation Committee]] of Upper Italy (CLNAI) – whose command was based in Milan and was chaired by [[Alfredo Pizzoni]], [[Luigi Longo]], [[Emilio Sereni]], [[Sandro Pertini]], and [[Leo Valiani]] (present among others the designated president [[Rodolfo Morandi]], [[Giustino Arpesani]], and [[Achille Marazza]]) – proclaimed a general insurrection in all the territories still occupied by the Nazi-fascists, indicating to all the partisan forces active in Northern Italy that were part of the Volunteer Corps of Freedom to attack the fascist and German garrisons by imposing the surrender, days before the arrival of the Allied troops. "Surrender or die!" was the rallying call of the partisans that day and those immediately following.

Since then, public events in memory of the event, like marches and parades, have been organized annually in all Italian cities – especially in those decorated with military valour for the war of liberation. Among the events of the festival program, there is the solemn homage, by the [[President of Italy]] and other [[Italian order of precedence|important officers of the State]], to the chapel of the [[Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Italy)|Italian Unknown Soldier]] (''Milite Ignoto''), buried in the [[Altare della Patria]] in [[Rome]], with the deposition of a [[laurel wreath]] in memory of the fallen and missing Italians in wars.<ref>{{cite book|last= Tobia|first= Bruno|title= L'Altare della Patria|publisher= Il Mulino|year= 2011|isbn= 978-88-15-23341-7|page=109|language=it}}</ref> Speaking at the 2014 anniversary, President [[Giorgio Napolitano]] said: "The values and merits of the Resistance, from the Partisan movement and the soldiers who sided with the fight for liberation to the Italian armed forces, are indelible and beyond any rhetoric of mythicization or any biased denigration. The Resistance, the commitment to reconquer Italy's liberty and independence, was a great civil engine of ideals, but above all, it was a people in arms, a courageous mobilization of young and very young citizens who rebelled against foreign power."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/politics/2014/04/25/italy-celebrates-liberation-day_1cbdd3af-7d02-4c09-8969-74bbe834369d.html |title=Italy celebrates Liberation Day – Politics – ANSAMed.it |publisher=Ansamed.info |date=1944-06-04 |access-date=2014-05-19 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402093024/http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/politics/2014/04/25/italy-celebrates-liberation-day_1cbdd3af-7d02-4c09-8969-74bbe834369d.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Aftermath==
[[File:ANPI LOGO.svg|thumb|[[ANPI]] logo]]
[[File: Bella ciao, Representative Orchestra of Serbian Guards (ROG).ogg|thumb|''[[Bella ciao]]'' (instrumental only version performed by the [[Band of the Guard of the Serbian Armed Forces]])]]

Today's [[Italian constitution]] is the result of the work of the [[Constituent Assembly of Italy|Constituent Assembly]], which was formed by the representatives of all the anti-nazist and [[anti-fascist]] forces that contributed to the defeat of Nazi and Fascist forces during the Italian resistance and the [[Liberation of Italy]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McGaw Smyth |first1=Howard |title=Italy: From Fascism to the Republic (1943–1946) |journal=The Western Political Quarterly |date=September 1948 |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=205–222 |doi=10.2307/442274|jstor=442274 }}</ref>

''[[ANPI|Associazione Nazionale Partigiani d'Italia]]'' (ANPI; "National Association of Italian [[Partisan (military)|Partisans]]") is an association founded by participants of the Italian resistance against the [[Nazi]] occupation and the fascist and collaborationist [[Italian Social Republic]] during the latter phase of [[World War II]]. ANPI was founded in [[Rome]] in 1944<ref name="Chi Siamo">{{cite web|title=Chi Siamo|url=http://www.anpi.it/chi-siamo|work=Website|publisher=ANPI.it|access-date=2011-04-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110502161717/http://www.anpi.it/chi-siamo|archive-date=2011-05-02|url-status = dead}}</ref> while the war continued in [[northern Italy]]. It was constituted as a [[charitable foundation]] on 5 April 1945. It persists due to the activity of its antifascist members. ANPI's objectives are the maintenance of the historical role of the partisan war by means of research and the collection of personal stories. Its goals are a continued defence against [[historical revisionism]] and the ideal and ethical support of the high values of freedom and democracy expressed in the 1948 [[Constitution of Italy|constitution]], in which the ideals of the Italian resistance were collected.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aclibresciane.it/attivita/riscoprire-i-valori-della-resistenza-nella-costituzione|title=Riscoprire I Valori Della Resistenza Nella Costituzione|access-date=22 October 2022|language=it}}</ref> Since 2008, every two years ANPI organizes its national festival. During the event, meetings, debates, and musical concerts that focus on antifascism, peace, and democracy are organized.<ref>{{cite web|title=Festa dell'anpi|url=http://anpifesta.org/|publisher=anpi.it|access-date=22 October 2022|archive-date=24 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100524160027/http://www.anpifesta.org/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

''[[Bella ciao]]'' ({{IPA|it|ˈbɛlla ˈtʃaːo}}; "Goodbye beautiful") is an [[Italian folk music|Italian folk song]] modified and adopted as an anthem of the Italian resistance movement by the partisans who opposed [[Nazism]] and [[Fascism]], and fought against the invading and occupying forces of [[Nazi Germany]], who were allied with the fascist and collaborationist [[Italian Social Republic]] between 1943 and 1945 during the Liberation of Italy from German occupation and during the civil war. Versions of this song continue to be sung worldwide as a hymn of freedom and resistance.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://notizie.virgilio.it/bella-ciao-significato-e-testo-perche-la-canzone-della-resistenza-non-appartiene-solo-ai-comunisti-1541819|title=Bella ciao, significato e testo: perché la canzone della Resistenza non appartiene (solo) ai comunisti|date=13 September 2022 |access-date=21 October 2022|language=it}}</ref> As an internationally known hymn of freedom, it was intoned at many historic and revolutionary events. The song originally aligned itself with Italian partisans fighting against Nazi German occupation troops, but has since become to merely stand for the inherent rights of all people to be liberated from tyranny.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://pstream.lastampa.it.dl1.ipercast.net/lastampa/2015/01/23/d37A1QUG.mp4 |title=ATENE – Comizio di chiusura di Alexis Tsipras |access-date=23 January 2015 |archive-date=20 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200420023001/http://pstream.lastampa.it.dl1.ipercast.net/lastampa/2015/01/23/d37A1QUG.mp4 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://video.corriere.it/bella-ciao-tutte-lingue-mondo-cosi-canto-partigiani-diventato-global/24c02342-a38b-11e4-808e-442fa7f91611 |title=Non solo Tsipras: "Bella ciao" cantata in tutte le lingue del mondo Guarda il video – Corriere TV |language=it |trans-title=Not only Tsipras: "Bella ciao" sung in all languages of the world Watch the video – Corriere TV |website=video.corriere.it}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{History of Italy}}
{{Communism in Italy|expanded=History}}
*[[Italian partisan brigades]], Italian resistance units
*[[Anti-fascism]]
*[[ANPI]], an association of the participants to the Italian resistance
*[[Volante Rossa]], an Italian communist antifascist militia active after WWII
*[[Arditi del Popolo|People's Squads]], an Italian left-wing antifascist militia active during the early 1920s
*[[Lucetti Battalion]], an Italian anarchist partisan brigade
*"[[Bella Ciao]]", the anthem of the anti-nazist and anti-fascist resistance
*[[Mazzini Society]], formed by expatriate Italian anti-Fascists in the United States
*[[Anni di piombo]]
*[[Anarchism in Italy]]
**[[Anarchist brigades in the Italian Resistance]]
*[[German resistance to Nazism]]
*[[Japanese dissidence during the Shōwa period|Japanese dissidence during the Showa period]]
*[[Museum of the Liberation of Rome]]
*[[Francesca Ciceri]], an Italian anti-fascist partisan

=== In works of popular culture ===
{{colbegin}}
*''[[The Abandoned (1955 film)|The Abandoned]]''
*''[[Attention! Bandits!|Achtung! Banditi!]]''
*''[[La ragazza di Bube (film)|Bebo's Girl]]''
*''[[Beneath a Scarlet Sky]]''
*''[[Blood of the Losers]]''
*''[[Captain Corelli's Mandolin]]''
*''[[Cloak and Dagger (1946 film)|Cloak and Dagger]]'' 
*''[[A Day for Lionhearts]]''
*''[[Un giorno nella vita|A Day in Life]]''
*''[[The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission]]''
*''[[Escape by Night (1960 film)|Escape by Night]]''
*''[[Everybody Go Home]]''
*''[[The Fall of Italy]]''
*''[[1900 (1976 film)|1900]]''
*''[[The Fallen (2004 film)|The Fallen]]''
*''[[The Fascist]]''
*''[[The Four Days of Naples (film)|The Four Days of Naples]]''
*''[[From the Clouds to the Resistance]]''
*''[[The Night of the Shooting Stars]]''
*''[[Gangsters (1992 film)|Gangsters]]''
*''[[General della Rovere]]''
*''[[Harmony in Ultraviolet]]''
*''[[His Day of Glory]]''
*''[[Hornets' Nest]]''
*''[[La buona battaglia – Don Pietro Pappagallo]]''
*''[[The Hunchback of Rome]]''
*''[[Johnny the Partisan]]''
*''[[Last Days of Mussolini]]''
*''[[Little Teachers]]''
*''[[Long Night in 1943]]''
*''[[The Man Who Will Come]]''
*''[[Massacre in Rome]]''
*''[[The Mattei Affair]]''
*''[[Miracle at St. Anna]]''
*''[[Paisan]]''
*''[[The Path to the Nest of Spiders]]''
*''[[Porzûs]]''
*''[[Rome, Open City]]''
*''[[Tea with Mussolini]]''
*''[[The Seven Cervi Brothers]]''
*''[[The Sun Still Rises]]''
*''[[Ten Italians for One German]]''
*''[[Due lettere anonime|Two Anonymous Letters]]''
*''[[Wild Blood (2008 film)|Wild Blood]]''
{{Div col end}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|last=Colombo|first=Arturo|title=Partiti e ideologie del movimento antifascista in: Storia d'Italia, vol. 8|year=1979|publisher=De Agostini|language=it}}{{No ISBN}}
* {{cite book|first=Renzo|last=De Felice|title=Rosso e Nero |trans-title=Red and Black |year=1995|publisher=Baldini & Castoldi|isbn=88-85987-95-8|language=it}}
* {{cite book|last=Pavone|first=Claudio|author-link=Claudio Pavone|title=[[A Civil War]]|year=2006|publisher=Bollati Boringhieri|isbn=978-88-339-1676-7|language=it}}
* {{cite book |last=Payne |first=Stanley G. |title=Civil War in Europe, 1905–1949 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2011|isbn=9781139499644 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zP4ikZ_o3V8C}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Italian resistance movement|Italian Resistance}}
*[http://www.resistance-archive.org/en/resistance/italy Italy | European Resistance Archive]
*{{in lang|it}} [http://www.anpi.it/ ANPI – Associazione Nazionale Partigiani d'Italia]
*{{in lang|it}} [http://www.combattentiliberazione.it/ ANCFARGL – Associazione Nazionale Combattenti Forze Armate Regolari Guerra di Liberazione]
*{{in lang|it}} [http://www.italia-liberazione.it/ INSMLI – Istituto Nazionale per la Storia del Movimento di Liberazione in Italia]
*{{in lang|it}} [http://www.resistenzaitaliana.it/ Il portale della guerra di Liberazione]
*[http://libcom.org/history/articles/italian-resistance-anarchist-partisans-1943 Anarchist partisans in the Italian Resistance]

{{Italy topics}}
{{World War II}}
{{Resistance in World War II by country}}
{{Italian Communist Party}}
{{Italian Socialist Party}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Anti-fascism in Italy]]
[[Category:Italian resistance movement| ]]
[[Category:Modern history of Italy]]
[[Category:World War II resistance movements]]