Rome: Walking Tour of World War 2 in Rome

Our WW2 walk around central Rome is an eye opening look at major tourist sites from a perspective not often seen by the millions of visitors to the Eternal City.

Meeting near Piazza Venezia we explore signs of the World War Two era that often go unnoticed by visitors. The city of Rome was the capital of Fascism for twenty years, a Nazi occupied city for nine months and finally in June 1944 a city liberated by Allied Forces. Our walking tour of central Rome explains the historical events that took place in many familiar locations of the city and shows how often memorials to the era are to be found hidden in plain sight. We start our tour at Trajan's Column and quickly move to Piazza Venezia, the center stage of Fascist Italy where from his famous balcony, Mussolini would speak to thousands of followers in the square below. We move on to the Ancient Roman Forum where we can still see the impact that Mussolini's obsession with Ancient Rome had upon the city. We proceed to the Jewish Ghetto to talk about the history of the Jewish community in Rome and from there we move on through Piazza Navona to the Tiber River to talk about the Church and its position throughout the Fascist period and the war. Finally we recall the day in June 1944 when the Nazis fled the city and the US Fifth army entered the city to scenes of mass jubilation.