The Liberation of Rome Conference

On June 4, 1944, the Eternal City of Rome was liberated from Nazi occupation. To discuss the events that 80 years ago marked a significant turning point in World War II, historians, academics, and international experts gathered in Anzio last weekend for the conference “The Liberation of Rome.”

In the June 1st session dedicated to “The Italian perspective on the battle for Rome,” Professor Ruggero Ranieri, President of the Sorbello Foundation, presented his paper “Waiting for the Allies: Resistance and Allied Missions Between Umbria and Marche (October 1943-Spring 1944).”

After recalling the crucial role played by the Italian partisans in the War of Resistance, Professor Ranieri illustrated three important Allied missions in central Italy: the Pomegranate mission, targeting the Sant’Egidio airport near Perugia; the Maple mission, aimed at blowing up railway lines in central Italy; the missions of an Italian-Anglo-American partisan unit in the high plain of Castelluccio di Norcia, tasked with sabotaging German lines of communication.

He also remembered how his father, Uguccione Ranieri di Sorbello, as an agent of the British A-Force, took part in important rescue missions of prisoners of war who had escaped behind enemy lines.

“The Liberation of Rome” conference was organized by The Freedom for Italy network, an initiative launched at the end of 2023 to develop new approaches to memorializing events in Italy in 1943-45, build an online resource, and encourage international collaboration.