I walked across the passerella in Ponte a Serraglio bright and early on Saturday morning to the Villa Fiori Park.
The park had been set up to resemble a military camp. Tents, supplies were already there and some vehicles, with more to come.
These are well kept vehicles.
The soldiers looked pretty good too.
I think being involved in a war would be wretched. I would like to think that occasionally in the misery, soldiers might have actually enjoyed a lovely spring day away from battle grounds in a green space like this. It is possible that they did, Bagni di Lucca was heavily involved in the fighting. There is still evidence of the Gothic Line, the most northerly of the defence lines built by the Germans, in the area.
This excellent display was organised by the Ass.ne Linea Gotica della Lucchesia.
Bella Bagni di Lucca 
Was it to commemorate a significant day during WWII?
I don’t know. The only information I had was on the poster.
May is considered Victory month throughout many countries in Europe as it marks the final defeat of Nazi Germany on many fronts. Bagni di Lucca suffered enormously during the occupation by Nazi troops. Many people were deported or died. The “Ponte Nuovo” (the one that replaced the “Ponte Vechio” around the 1730’s), the one that links the Brenero Road to La Villa, past the Post Office, was supposed to be blown up. Fortunately, the Nazis did not manage to do it well enough and it only suffered some damage.
Thank you for the information. I know that the bridge in front of our house was destroyed. Many years ago I met some oldish men who said they remember sitting on the hill above Ponte a Serraglio as little boys watching the bridge being blown up. Our building was damaged and now looks quite different from photos taken before the war.
The Nazis used to blow up all bridges in their retreats. Fortunately, they did not try to do it with the Ponte del Diavolo… possibly because vehicles could not go accross it…
They thought it was too narrow, but apparently the Americans had a few narrow jeeps that could cross. Anyway, it us great that it is still intact after about 900 years.