THE CREMONESE ROAD: THE PATH OF FREEDOM AND NATIONAL UNITY

Those who travel today along the Cremonese Road, just outside Mantua, may not realize how deeply it is steeped in memory and meaning. Along this stretch of land, nestled in the quiet of the Mantuan countryside, plaques, memorial stones, and monuments tell both tragic and heroic pages of Italian history — from the yearning for freedom during the Risorgimento to the sacrifices of the Second World War.
Every stone and every name engraves into collective memory the long struggle of the Mantuan people for liberty, independence, and human dignity.
Until the early 1900s, the territory of Mantua ended at Porta Pradella, beyond which Curtatone began; therefore, the Cremonese road once belonged to the territory of Curtatone.

The first ideal stop along the Cremonese is at the memorial stone dedicated to Don Eugenio Leoni, just before the Monument to the Martyrs of Belfiore.
On September 11, 1943, shortly after the armistice, the priest — who served at the Church of Saints Simon and Jude — was arrested by the SS for having sheltered Italian soldiers who had escaped capture. After a harsh interrogation, he refused to reveal the names of partisans involved in an action against a German motorcyclist.
Despite torture, he remained silent and offered his life in exchange for the safety of his parishioners. He was executed at dawn on September 12, 1943. Legend has it that he requested to die in Valletta di Belfiore, next to the memorial stone of the Martyrs: his wish was not granted, but his sacrifice became a symbol of faith, courage, and civic resistance.

Continuing along the Cremonese road, you reach Valletta di Belfiore, a sacred place of the Italian Risorgimento, where the monument is dedicated to the Martyrs of Belfiore. Between 1851 and 1855, eleven patriots were executed by the Austrians for their liberal beliefs.
Among them were Don Giovanni Grioli, Don Enrico Tazzoli, Angelo Scarsellini, Bernardo De Canal, Carlo Poma, Giovanni Zambelli, Don Bartolomeo Grazioli, Carlo Montanari, Tito Speri, Pietro Frattini, and Pietro Fortunato Calvi — all men who believed in a united and free Italy, founded on human rights and dignity.
The Ara dei Martiri and the statue known as the Genius of Humanity honor their sacrifice and continue to invite reflection on the enduring values of freedom and civil courage.

The third stop along this route is the monument to the ten Italian soldiers executed at Aldriga, located along the Cremonese, just a few steps from the center of Curtatone.
On 19 September 1943, ten young soldiers were taken from the prison camp of San Giorgio and deceitfully led to a farmhouse on the banks of the River Mincio. Under the threat of German rifles, they were forced to dig their own grave.
One by one, they were tied to a poplar tree and shot. Their bodies were then thrown into the pit they had dug themselves. A German soldier marked a wooden cross with the inscription: “19/09/1943.”

Luigi Binda, Mario Corradini, Attilio Andrea Passoni, Francesco Rimoldi, Giuseppe Arisi, Giuseppe Bianchi, Bruno Colombo, Mario Colombi, Angelo Alessandro Corti, Luigi Pecchenini.
The memorial that now stands at the site of the massacre was inaugurated on 19 September 1947, thanks to the generosity of the Marchesa Maria Fochessati, widow of Guidi di Bagno.
The massacre, initially justified by the Germans as retaliation for an alleged Italian attack, was later recognized as an act of pure cruelty and intimidation — a symbol of the terror that marked those dark days.

The Cremonese is therefore much more than a mere connecting road: it is a road of memory, where the history of the Risorgimento and that of the Resistance intertwine into a single story of freedom, courage, and hope.
Walking along this route means remembering all those who, in different eras, gave their lives for a common ideal: a free, united, and peaceful Italy.