Italy switched sides in the middle of the war, was invaded by both sides, and suffered a devastating civil war.
Plan a history trip →1940: Italy enters the war (June 10). 1943 July 10: Allies invade Sicily. July 25: Mussolini overthrown by the Grand Council. September 3: Italy surrenders. September 8: armistice announced; Germany immediately occupies the north. Italy splits: the Allied-liberated south vs. the German-controlled north (with Mussolini’s puppet Republic of Salò). 1943–44: battles of Monte Cassino (4 battles, Jan–May 1944). June 4, 1944: Rome liberated. April 25, 1945: liberation of the north.
Monte Cassino (Lazio, free): the abbey, destroyed and rebuilt, and the Commonwealth cemetery. Anzio (Lazio): beachhead cemetery and museum (€5). Marzabotto (Emilia): site of the largest Nazi massacre in Italy (770 civilians, October 1944). Memorial and museum (free). Fosse Ardeatine, Rome (free): memorial at the site where 335 Romans were executed by Nazis (March 1944). Museo della Liberazione, Rome (Via Tasso, free): in the actual Gestapo prison.