The freedom trails from the Rossano valley, in the area of La Spezia, run in two directions. One goes west, usually known as the Operation Essorbee trail, and runs across the mountains to the Cinque Terre and the sea. In World War Two it was only used twice, both without the final success of a lift-off by sea to Corsica. It also provided the route for the MSMT 20th Anniversary Freedom Trail in 2009.
The other freedom trail, nicknamed “La Ferrovia”, runs south through the marble mountains of Carrara, and was a very successful trail that crossed over the Gothic Line into Allied territory. This was also the ex-filtration trail used by 2SAS Operation Galia in February 1945.
In September 2024, I returned to my home in the Rossano valley with a group of energetic walkers aged between 24 and 75, including Matt Smith of SOE Expeditions, and Rob and Will Hann, the son and grandson of Pct Stan Hann of 2SAS Operation Galia. Matt was with us with a small team to attempt the Ferrovia/Galia trail, which is spectacular but very tough. The rest of us were there to walk some of the parts of the trails that we already knew, to bring back some old memories, and to pay our respects to the fallen. Trustee Omar Bucchioni also joined us.
Staffed by partisans
The Ferrovia began its life when the Germans and Fascists fell back on the Gothic Line in the early autumn of 1944, and was used constantly until the end of the war in Italy. It was staffed by partisans from the La Spezia area, under the command of my father, Major Gordon Lett DSO, and Dany Bucchioni, OBE, the uncle of Omar. They were helped along the route by other partisan leaders from the La Spezia and Massa/Carrara areas.
The trail got its name because of its regularity and success – group after group were successfully guided to safety across the Magra river and through the very harsh but staggeringly beautiful marble mountains. Dany Bucchioni’s partisans had captured a map of the German positions on the Gothic Line, which enabled them to navigate safely through.
We began the event on 7th September with a ceremony at the Operation Galia monument, put up by the local comune ten years ago. A big crowd attended, and we had a visit from the Italian Tricolore Association, who re-enact the actions of my father’s International Battalion of partisans, using many of the original weapons and uniforms of the battalion. The Italian, the British and the American anthems were played to commemorate those who died on the combined Galia and partisan operations.
On 8th September, the walking began. All of us walked the first two hours of the Ferrovia/Galia trail, and then Matt led his party off into the distance for the next few days, whilst the rest of us walked on gentler paths. We visited Vinca, a village on the Ferrovia where the most awful massacre of civilians took place in August 1944, and the partisan stronghold of Sero, the home of Pippo Siboldi, a partisan who impressed 2SAS so much that they took him back with them when they ex-filtrated. After an enjoyable hour in the Siboldi family cantina, we walked the partisan trail down the mountain to Brugnato, a part of the Operation Essorbee trail.
On our final day, we laid wreaths and paid our respects to the four men of 2SAS who were captured by the Germans in September 1943 and were executed under Hitler’s Commando Order at Ponzano Magra and at La Cisa.
Before leaving Italy, I visited La Spezia to pay my respects to all of the partisans from that area, who both guided so many escapers to safety down the Ferrovia and fought hard for freedom. In April 1945, my father and the local partisans took possession of La Spezia, a major military port, after the Germans had retreated, and secured it safely until the Allied Military Government was able to take over. At the same time, Dany Bucchioni was leading his Brigata Val di Vara alongside Allied troops in the battle for Aulla.